Dressmaker

Cutting fabric for a dress using a pattern.

A dressmaker is a person who makes women's clothing, especially as an occupation. The activity or occupation is known as dressmaking.

A seamstress is a woman whose occupation is sewing and making clothes, and the term can be used for a dressmaker. A tailor, by comparison, makes, repairs and alters clothing, particularly garments such as jackets, trousers and coats.

Terminology

In the 18th century, a dressmaker could be called a mantua-maker. The term originally referred to a maker of mantuas and later came to be used more generally for a dressmaker.

Modiste is an older term for a person who makes fashionable women's clothing.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Dressmaker". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2026-09-28.
  2. ↑ "Dressmaking". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2026-09-28.
  3. ↑ "Seamstress". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2026-09-28.
  4. ↑ "Tailor". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2026-09-28.
  5. ↑ "mantua-maker, n." Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2023-03-02. Retrieved 2026-02-21.
  6. ↑ "Mantua maker, mantua woman". The Dictionary of Fashion History: 171–171. 2017. doi:10.5040/9781474269728.1660.
  7. ↑ "Modiste". Cambridge Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 2026-09-28.