Janome Artisan Spotlight

Isa Kriegeskotte

As Hollywood’s in-demand personal tailor, Isa Kriegeskotte uses Janome and Elna machines to custom make and tailor garments for the world’s most celebrated bodies. Isa became a member of the Janome Artisan program in July 2015. She loves how the Janome and Elna machines assist her in perfecting custom designs; tailoring off-the-rack garments and making everyone feel beautiful and confident in their clothes. 

Fashion runs through Isa’s family. Her grandmother was a renowned pattern maker and fashion illustrator within the New York City fashion scene and Women’s Wear Daily. When Isa was a young girl, her grandmother would teach her how to sew matching “doll and me” clothes. As she grew up, Isa would make her own outfits and custom designed and made many of her friends’ prom and sweet 16 dresses.

Isa grew up in Westchester, NY, but was eager to explore what the rest of the country had to offer. Isa attended Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, GA where she was exposed to art in a large and diverse scope. During her four years at SCAD, Isa studied illustration and fiber arts before she graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in fashion design.

After college graduation, Isa took on a new life adventure in Hawaii. Her landlord’s wife, Tamara Catz, was a talented designer of swim suits and beach fashion. Isa was able to implement her skills working for Tamara as a pattern maker and assisted with general design tasks in Tamara’s design studio. A few years later, Isa was ready to switch gears and move back to New York where she sought out to gain experience in corsetry and applied to work at the New York City Ballet as it was as close to couture in the United State as you can get. Corsetry was a specialty Isa gained interest in while in college, as she custom made corsets and lingerie for her senior project at SCAD. 

Before she knew it, Isa was offered a job and, although not in corsetry specifically, she was able to assist and learn from the talented artisans making the corsets while meeting the responsibilities of her title as milliner and textile expert in the ballet’s costume shop. She made the new headpieces worn in the ballet while restoring the older ones. In addition, Isa worked with experts in New York’s Garment District to source textiles for new ballets; repair and tailor old costumes and work alongside the director to assist in other design duties.

A year after working for the New York City Ballet, Isa began working for Rod Keenan New York, a Harlem-based custom hat designer. Isa worked alongside Rod and his talented team of milliners to make everything by hand in his studio for celebrities such as Mary J. Blige and Brad Pitt. Isa’s time working for Rod Keenan solidified her respect for uncompromised attention to detail and is what first introduced her to the experience of making custom pieces for celebrity clients and working with stylists. 

Over the past 15 years, Isa has been deeply involved in the high-end fashion industry from design to product development, technical design, tailoring, couture, on-set tailoring and styling along with sales. In October 2015, Isa started Tailored & Made – a creative fashion design and custom tailoring business based on her skills and creations. She now lives in Hollywood, CA and works on-set making looks work in the moment to get a shot for editorials and ad campaigns; tailoring for the red carpet and press tours; tailoring and custom making for commercials and film and of course keeping her clients fitted for their every day lives. 

In addition, Isa has worked on numerous projects where she was involved in designing and tailoring celebrities’ garments for special occasions. She will always cherish the experience of bringing Sofia Vergara’s custom wedding design dreams to life. In November 2015, Sofia and Joe Manganiello tied the knot in Palm Beach, FL. Isa was fortunate enough to not only be one of the 400 guests at the wedding, but also help design and tailor Sofia and her family’s garments.

Leading up to the big day, Isa worked from start to finish with Sofia, her styling team and her dress designer to create Sofia’s perfect wedding gown. Sofia’s niece also offered input in regards to the beautifully-detailed lace dress Isa made for her. They did everything from sourcing textiles to coming up with silhouettes together. Isa also made from scratch and collaboratively designed the four flower girl’s dresses and tailored outfits for Sofia’s extended family.

Isa’s Janome Jem Platinum 760 sewing machine is always with her when she is tailoring on-set. She mentioned how it is the perfect portable machine that will never fail her. She uses the Elna eXpressive 920 and EasyCover machines to make professional and creative projects for herself when she is not working on set.

Isa’s passion for custom fashion designing and tailoring shines in her work. Her favorite part of her career is using the world’s best textiles to make something work. Isa mentioned that it is a rewarding feeling to see her own hard work featured in the press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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