A gentle cross breeze coming from wide windows lifts and flutters the line of simple dresses hanging from a pole suspended from the ceiling. The colors are mostly neutral, but a few sparkles glint in the afternoon sun. Trisha Ginter lowers soft music playing from the radio and sits at a table laden with sewing machines, sergers and spools of thread. She recently moved into the space off Beach street in Vineyard Haven with her clothing business, Frock.
Shoppers at Frock will see right away that this is more than a dress shop. Ms. Ginter makes her clothes on site in the open space with high white walls, plenty of windows and porch where she set up her ironing board.
A rack in the shop is already full of dresses.
“I try to design pieces that are simple in shape that people can then bring into their wardrobe and make it their own,” she said. “So I expect people to take our clothing and then make an outfit out of it once it’s in their own closet. I feel like that’s where the individuality is. Everybody who comes in and tries the clothing on looks different and wears it differently, and it’s really wonderful to see personalities come out even with the same garment on.”
There are no sizes on the items; Ms. Ginter said she does quick fixes right on the spot. If a larger alteration is needed and she has the fabric, she’ll even make a new one.
“I think because I am here sitting and sewing and making things, I just started to understand that, and of course I already knew this because I am a woman, but every single woman has a different body shape,” she said. “So I worked really hard to develop patterns that even in the size they are on the rack, fit a multiple range of body types and sizes.”
Frock had its roots in Chester, Conn., nearly 20 years ago with the help of a partner, seamstress and designer Laura Williams. When Ms. Ginter and her husband recently moved to the Vineyard, Frock came with them. Frock will continue to carry some of Ms. Williams’s designs.
“I love doing this. I’m very grateful and lucky that I get to do this here,” Ms. Ginter said.
She has been around fabric all her life. When she was a child, her grandmother was constantly making things and her mother always made her special dresses for holidays. At age 12, she taught herself how to sew on a machine that sits on her work table today. Later she enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York where she studied wedding design. Eventually, wedding dresses became too much and she turned to something simpler.
At Frock, customers climb a set of stairs to reach the shop and are greeted by dress forms displaying Ms. Ginter’s designs. She began sewing on the Island on July 7. She said she sews two to three garments a day, never buys more than 10 yards of a fabric at a time, and will often make pieces from leftover scraps, creating one-of-a-kind items. She does have a few staples, though, including her stretch lace dresses which she has been making for more than a decade.
“You can dress them up, you can dress them down,” she said. “You could go to a barbecue in one with flip-flops, a jean jacket and a scarf. I make different colored slips to go underneath them. They’re easy and they’re comfortable, they feel like jammies.”
She also has been using a lot of raw-edged linen.
“I love the non-boundary on the raw edge,” she explained. “I like the texture. It creates a nice dimension against the finished linen.”
When customers come into Frock, Ms. Ginter wants them to have fun and play. “Try the clothing on, just even for kicks, just to see,” she invited. At the end of the day, she said she just wants to make clothes. She has no plans to expand because the more time working the business side, the less time for sewing.
She said she is doing what she always wanted to do, which is, “just to go to work and play and make clothing.”
To catch Ms. Ginter in her shop, stop by Frock at 13 Beach Street, Vineyard Haven from Wednesday to Saturday between noon and 5 p.m. At any other time, it’s up to chance.
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