Sewing machines and sparkles

Press, 25 January 1988, Page 17

Sewing machines and sparkles

Brocade and broderieanglaise, sequins and silk flowers, fur and fringing — all the things you have always wondered where the fashion designers got them, and a few you may never have seen before. Hanging from walls and stacked on shelves, they turn Dress Sundries into a glittering Aladdin’s Cave.

This is the shop where the costume makers find their glamour, where the doll makers find their lace, and where the brides turn a dream gown into reality. Dress Sundries has been operating for about 60 years, providing the little things which few other shops bother with, and giving their expert sewing advice free of charge. It is fair to say

that if you cannot find it anywhere else, you will find it at Dress Sundries, just as long as “it” is remotely connected with sewing.

For the last five years, Dress Sundries has been owned by Mr and Mrs Noel Hayman. In early October of last year, the Haymans also bought the Bernina Sewing Centre, and decided to bring the two shops together to form, as Mr Hayman says, “the sewing centre of Christchurch.” The Dress Sundries shop, which is also about the size of a cave, was not big enough to house Bernina as well, so the search began for new premises. It was eventually decided to stay put and to make Dress Sundries big-

ger. This involved knocking the wall out between the existing shop and its neighbour, forming a walk-through access between them, and considerable renovation work. The result is two shops, still run separately, through which the customer can wander with an increased feeling of space, enjoying the advantages of having machines and materials under one roof.

The plush red carpet leads through the full range of Bernina machines and accessories to workroom and classroom behind, and back again to Dress Sundries, the sewing accessory shop with possibly the largest selection of buttons in the country. '