projects > miniature clothing project

Details for commissioning your very own miniature garment

1. The person selects a garment or garments to be miniaturized and contacts me regarding the price. Pricing depends on how much detail is in your selection and what your selection is. Once all is agreed upon I will ask you to send your selection with Paypal, check or money order to my address.
I will schedule your piece or pieces as soon as I receive the package and then begin the process of turning your original garment into a miniature of itself.

2. I stay as true to the large garment as possible to insure the integrity of each piece. In other words, I will use the fabric from the larger collar to make the smaller collar, the right sleeve of the larger garment for the right sleeve of the miniature garment and the larger front placket for the smaller front placket. I even use the larger breast pocket of a shirt or blouse for the smaller breast pocket, insuring that what you are seeing and feeling is a true miniature of the original. The process takes many hours, depending on the type of fabric used from the original, together with its patterning to create a miniature piece that flows smoothly. I use any original detailing for its miniature. Your garment becomes a replica of it's original in every way.

3. These pieces are considered miniature sculpture, relics of memory from clothing that is significant to the owner. Some people surrender articles of clothing that once belonged to a relative who has passed and some select clothing that has a special meaning for the owner or their friends and relatives who are still with us. Some select a garment as a way to remember a significant event or time in their lives. All of these selections work to extend memories or many are made for gifts.

4. By allowing the client to be a part of the selection process, I allow chaos into my work. I never know what I am going to be working on, with respect to materials and forms. I enjoy the challenge of allowing a collaboration to occur between the owner and the work at hand. I have worked with many people in many ways to express what I feel they expect from a piece, allowing me an inside look into the psyche of the garment and what it means to the owner.

5. I am able to make as many as 4 pieces from a single garment. As an example, I was recently commissioned to make three miniaturizes of a jacket for a lady who was going to give two of them to her first cousins as a gift. This jacket belonged to their grandmother who wore it to all three of their high school graduations.

6. I have miniaturized everything from a friend's favorite shirt to dresses, house coats, pajamas, sweaters, jeans, jackets, coats, prom dresses, wedding dresses, tshirts, men's suits, coveralls, uniforms including airline and boy/girl scout uniforms, cassocks and even zoot suits.
I have miniaturized girls 90 year old lace dresses, 1880's Prairie Dresses, a 80 year old Scottish men's dress shirt and Frank Lloyd's daughter Catherine Wright's pearl beaded sweater from the 1930's. Dolly Parton has one of my miniature dresses.

7. Depending on the number of pieces I am working on at any given time, please know that I usually execute a garment within a couple of weeks from the time I have it in my hands.

8. At times, a client's garment selection may include patterns or fabrics that are more difficult to interpret into smaller sizes. With this in mind, I best interpret the meaning of the original garment into the miniature with a respect to the flow and the impact of the original piece.

9. I will be asking you about our story behind the piece/pieces you chose to include in my "Miniature Clothing Project." These stories become an integral and very important part of this project. I use these stories for artist's talks around the country and they are sometimes displayed in exhibitions along with the pieces that they are about.

10. At this point, I have completed over 400 items and I am working on getting a book deal with my "Miniature Clothing Project" and I will be including many of these stories. Would you like to be part of this project?

I would love to work with you.

My wholesale prices are as follows:
Shirts, Blouses, Simple Dresses $500
Slacks, Jeans, Jackets $450
Pajamas (2 piece) $450
Prom and cocktail Dresses, Coats $600-$800
Wedding Dresses, Tuxedos Depends on details. $600 +

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I am open to new questions about this work.

Regards,

Jon Coffelt