Skirting a Home-Decorating Dilemma

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Fear of needles is nearly endemic. The number of American adultswho sew has declined by about 29% in the past 10 years, accordingto Mediamark Research & Intelligence. In a study released thisspring, about 7% of adults in the U.S. reported having done generalmending or sewn a garment from a pattern in the past six months.
But the Internet is teeming with people who can dart and darn,pinch pleats and pin tack. Custom-sewing services are an option forcasual home decorators seeking a special look. These virtualworkrooms take orders for a wide range of household items -- duvetcovers, bed skirts, pillow shams, curtains and valances -- madefrom fabric chosen by the customer.
In our case, we wanted a sink skirt for our laundry-room sink tohide the sink's pedestal and plumbing. Sink skirts also can be usedto create some extra storage for detergent and other things. Weturned to the Internet to find four services that could sew a sinkskirt to match the powder-blue walls and fun fabrics in our laundryroom.
Our email query to J&M Sewing, in Auburn, N.Y., on a Sundayafternoon was answered within hours, and the owner, Melanie White,directed us to her site where we could order a sink skirt. Usingpulldown menus, we noted the width and height of the sink and otherspecifications (fabric lining; a split in the middle; Velcro tapeto affix it to the sink). Fabric options were limited to about adozen that were in stock, but we had the option to mail in our ownfabric. We selected a dog-grooming theme print, entered ourcredit-card number and placed the order. It couldn't have beensimpler.
When the piece arrived about two weeks later, we were thrilled. Itwas expertly sewn, fit perfectly and even came with launderinginstructions. And at $58.59 for fabric, labor and shipping, it wasalso the most affordable skirt of the services we tested.
Ms. White says business is bustling because she personally sewseach item. "I love to sew," she said from her workroom. "I'm a verycreative person, and I'm also very fussy."
The owner of Sew-It-All described her work in the same way: "I loveto sew," said Alicia Pucci, a San Francisco Bay-area seamstress anda home-economics teacher who takes on sewing projects of all typesas a side job. She generally takes only small jobs and says shesometimes has to turn away work.
Visitors to the Web site (sew-it-all.com) can see Ms. Pucci's work,but functionality like online ordering and pricing guides arelacking. Still, she was very responsive to our email query, askedexcellent questions and helped us figure out how much fabric tobuy. For somebody who needs help creating a look or describingtheir project, Ms. Pucci's strong communication skills ensure thatthe vision matches the reality.
Fabric and notions are purchased separately and shipped to Ms.Pucci's workroom. We mailed her 3½-yards of fabric, alongwith a photo of the sink and a sketch of the project, withdimensions. We received a gorgeous, perfectly executed sink skirtabout three weeks later, along with the leftover fabric. We paid$65 for labor and shipping (labor is $50 an hour), so with the $30in material, our skirt cost $95.
The sink-skirt search wasn't entirely seamless, however. Of thefour services we contacted, Vogue Fabrics Inc. -- the oldestcompany and the one with the largest workroom -- gave us the mostfrustration.
Based in Evanston, Ill., family-owned Vogue is mainly known as afabric store, offering thousands of prints and styles. Its Web site(voguefabricsstore.com) touts custom services, but an online querysent on the sink skirt seemed to confound everyone at the company.Moses, a helpful representative, called to confirmed thedescription of the project, the dimensions and took our fabricchoice. Then we placed the order, or so we thought.
Two weeks later, when we called back for an update, we were told noorder had been placed. After being transferred to a number ofpeople and sending a number of emails, we got through to Joan, whotold us, "This is the first I'm hearing of this order."
Still, Joan proved to be the go-to person. We gave her thedescription and dimensions -- the fourth time was a charm -- andshe gave us pricing information and took a debit-card deposit. Twoweeks later, Joan called to say the skirt was finished and beingshipped. It arrived and was sewn according to plan. The cost:$94.33.
When told of our experience, Charlotte Sussman, a manager at VogueFabrics, apologized for the customer-service snags, saying thecompany is working on implementing a Web-ordering system. "We willbe growing so people can fill out a form online and submit it tothe store," she says. But for now the best avenue is to make aphone call.
On the plus side, Vogue offers hundreds of fabric swatches tochoose from -- and Ms. Sussman says the online selection will beexpanded in coming months.
Fabric is the greatest strength of Susan Sargent Designs Inc. Thecompany's colorful, whimsical prints were created by Vermont artistSusan Sargent and are sold in her Manchester store. Visitors to theWeb site (susansargent.com) can view swatches online and contactassistant manager Erin Kaukas to detail their custom project andget an estimate. But, like Vogue Fabrics, the final order andbilling information are best given over the phone.
The skirt arrived about six weeks after our initial email inquiry-- the longest of the services tested. The piece had been completedearlier, but after inspecting it, Ms. Kaukas was unhappy with thestitching and sent it back to the workroom. "If the stitching isn'tperfect, I'm not happy," she says.
This piece was also the most expensive of the skirts, costing $206in fabric, labor and shipping. Still, the vibrant colors andgeometric designs make this the most visually arresting of theskirts, offering a little personality to our lowly laundry room.