Remade to measure
Leeds dressmaker and seamstress Kim Fozzard talks to Stephanie Smith about her ingenious work creating complex replica, wedding and special occasion clothing.
ENGINEERING for the body is how Kim Fozzard describes her work. From a Freddie Mercury yellow military jacket to a replica 1940s wedding gown, if there is a special outfit or costume wanted, she can make it especially for you. Kim calls herself simply a “dressmaker and seamstress” but this fails to capture the ingenuity and skill she brings to her work.
“Every job is so different and, at the end of the day, if it has been put together, it can be pulled apart and remade,” she says. “I do look at Google and YouTube, and I have got loads of reference books, but pretty much it just becomes common sense to me.”
Kim’s creations can be seen and worn at the M&S Archive at the University of Leeds. Working from old photos and sourcing original patterns, she has made several replica garments, including shop uniforms, 70s kaftans, maxi dresses, a 1940s men’s utility shirt, and a 1950s twinset, most styles in both adult and child versions with back buttons to make them easy to slip on and off in between taking selfies.
“It was an interesting process sourcing suitable replica fabrics where original vintage and antique fabrics were not available,” she says. “It’s trying to get into the bones of a garment and work out how it is constructed, with loads of research. The background work is the challenge,” she says.
Kim has also worked with wedding planners, boat and vehicle owners, sports clubs, interior designers, nurseries, horse owners, hair salons and within theatre and TV.
A favourite commission was from David Bowie tribute artist and fan Chris Riley, who asked her to make him jackets inspired by ones the music legend wore on tour in the 2000s, designed by Alexander McQueen. She has also made a design inspired by Madonna’s Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra.
Kim works from her studio at the home in Roundhay, Leeds. She is married to manufacturing engineer Mark, and they have two sons, Alfie, 23, and Freddie, 18.
Largely self-taught, she was born in Keighley and was raised in Haworth, where she lived with her father on Main Street until she was
11. “Haworth, in those days, going back to the Seventies, was full of bohemians and teachers and creatives and artists. My dad was always painting and he had a printing press in the cellar,” she says, adding that he used to work for the Daily Express as a compositor and was a signwriter. He sadly died a few months ago. “We lost touch for nearly 30 years and then his carers sent me a message,” Kim says. “I’d tried to find him. We got reunited two-and-a-half years ago.”
Kim’s mother worked as a wardrobe mistress in the theatre. “I used to help her as a dresser in my school holidays in various towns and cities across the UK,” Kim says. “We were from a long line of seamstresses and tailors. Father was a very talented art
ist but sadly lacked the business acumen to make a real go of it. I guess creativity runs in the family. We were always makers and doers. It was mainly out of necessity, make do and mend. It was the Seventies, it was hard, there wasn’t a lot of money about, plus it was a hobby to me as well, drawing and sewing. I was an only child and it was just me and my dad. I did a lot of things on my own.”
Kim went to Hunmanby Hall Boarding School, near Filey (it closed in 1991), and then on to Scarborough Tec to study Fashion and Textiles. She drifted into the print and marketing trade until 11 years ago, when she decided to try to achieve a better work/life balance and pursue her love of sewing and dressmaking.
Encouraged by Mark, she applied for The Great British Sewing Bee and was invited to London to audition, but fell at the last hurdle. However, the experience proved to be a springboard for her new career. “Chatting with the other parents in the playground, I realised there appeared to be a gap in the market for local sewing services,” she says.
“I was soon met with a flood of enquiries and it became apparent I could possibly scrape a crust from this sewing business. I then built my own website and since then I haven’t looked back. I was 46 before I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up.”
At first she thought she would chiefly be taking on small alteration work. “Quickly though, requests came in for a very broad range of projects such as complex dressmaking, clothing conversions, repairs, soft furnishings, sample work for start-ups, boat and vehicle upholstery and pretty much anything I can stick a needle into,” she says.
Quality and finish are key for Kim. “The inside of a garment should be as well finished as the outside,” she says. Her customers are all genders, ages, shapes and sizes. “Many clients I now consider as friends. My business is very self-generating.”
Kim still offers alterations and repairs, dressmaking from commercial patterns, as well as replica clothing and remaking vintage clothing for a modern, flattering fit. She also advises on colour, cut and shape for clients. She loves reusing old textiles, makes soft furnishings and has even made dog clothing (which required research into canine anatomy).
“There’s nothing finer than a good old womble round charity shops and fairs for vintage textiles and buttons, or great quality clothing which can be adapted to fit. My seamstress superpower is I can spot a silk or cashmere garment at 1,000 paces. I also actually get quite physically giddy in fabric shops with all its potential and possibility.”
Kim aims to continue to learn new techniques. “It’s a never-ending learning process,” she says. “The variety of work is great and constantly challenging. I’m always learning. No day is the same.”