My name is Christina Parise and I have been in the fashion industry for 30 years, both in my full-time career and my part time designing.  Apparel design, construction and sewing have been part of my life for as long as I can remember.  I grew up with a grandmother that was a life-long seamstress and had a regular clientele for whom she made custom clothing and did alterations. I spent my early years at her house playing with her fabric scraps and taking advantage of her breaks to jump on her sewing machine. The summer of my junior year in high school I made my first wedding gown. Somehow my grandmother had convinced one of her clients to let me make her daughter’s wedding gown, under my grandmother’s guidance. I look back on it now and wow, what confidence that client must have had in my grandmother!

In high school I made prom gowns for myself and my friends.  I always knew that I wanted to make a career out of sewing and fashion. I attended college for Fashion Design and landed an internship with a clothing designer in Philadelphia.  I have since spent over 2 decades working in the fashion industry.  I spent my early career with an upscale children’s clothing company managing their domestic production.  I then spent 2 decades with VF Corporation as an apparel buyer for their retail stores.  I spent a week of every month in NYC meeting with trend services, apparel manufacturers and merchandisers curating an assortment of apparel for our stores that would be embraced by our customer.  My background in design then led to working with those same NYC contacts to develop and launch Lee & Wrangler ladies tops that were exclusive to our stores.  With the challenges that 2020 brought to fashion retail, I made a career change to the uniform industry.  I am now developing apparel for law enforcement and fire personnel.

Throughout my entire full-time career, I have always had my own designing business on the side.  My passion has always been in women’s formalwear.  I have helped many brides turn the dress of their dreams into reality. I have made costumes for local high school and community theater groups and special occasion creations. I have done all kinds of alterations to off the rack apparel.

I pride myself in being able to look at a picture of a garment and recreating that gown exactly as it appears or with the changes my client and I have discussed.  I can help guide you through design elements that best suit your figure, fabric selection, color choice and all the options you have in front of you when creating our own gown.  Please browse through my photos as I have tried to show some of the ideas, photos, or sketches clients have showed me upon starting a project along with photos of their finished creation. I would love the opportunity to discuss your vision and dream dress with you.

If creating a dress from the ground up is not for you, then I am available to help you with alterations or design changes to your off the rack gown, bridesmaid, or mother’s dresses.

In Fall of 2021, after living in Berks County Pennsylvania all my life, my husband’s job has relocated us to North Carolina.  It was hard to leave all my clients in PA that I spent 30 years working with, but I am looking forward to building relationships with some great new clients in NC!! If you’re interested in alterations or custom work, please contact me here.

For my Pennsylvania clients, if you’re looking for a new go-to for alterations or seamstress work, I’d love to recommend @patternsandplum. She’s following in my footsteps and brings incredible talent and attention to detail to every project. You may already be familiar with her work through Rainy Day Handmade. She’s based in Upper Darby, PA, and I know you’ll be in great hands with her!