Designer Rene Hill has stitched up a major cut of the market in clothes alterations.

Now she’s had to take a studio space in Hamilton and leave her job as in-house tailor at a Hamilton clothes store last month to cope with demand.

She has also had to hire an assistant to deal with the demand for her expert services.

Ms Hill said: “Business is booming — that’s the only way to put it.

“People like the fact I turn things around quite quickly — they come and their items fit and they’re finished well and they just keep spreading the word.

“It’s all about word of mouth and Facebook posters.”

Ms Hill was speaking in her workshop on the second floor of Hamilton House in Queen Street — surrounded by some of her own creations and designer clothes awaiting alterations, where she sees clients by appointment only.

The skilled seamstress left a job as a features writer at The Royal Gazette in 2011 and cut a new path as a designer, setting up Rene Hill Originals, a range of accessories including woollen scarves, purses and jewellery made under fair trade principles.

But she said that her Originals range had had to take a back seat as her new venture has taken off, although she said she hoped to resume production next year.

Ms Hill has shown her own designs at the small boutique fashion week during New York’s Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week in 2013, as well as fashion shows in Bermuda, including the 2011 Premier’s fashion show.

Ms Hill said she learnt to sew at school — but when she went to live with an aunt, a professional seamstress, in New York when she left high school in Bermuda in the 1980s, she learned the tricks of the trade from her and it sparked a new interest in the craft.

Ms Hill explained: “My aunt was working for designers and she would send me down to 5th Avenue to pick up bags of pre-cut fabric. She asked me if I wanted to learn how to sew and she taught me.

“She said I was a natural — but I never thought I would do it for a living.”

Now she’s branched out into light upholstery and the repair of woollens that have been damaged by things like moths and wool alterations.

Ms Hill said: “Because of my background in woollens I can take something and make it smaller or larger. We provide a full service here.”

Now she is looking at expanding the business with a made to measure service for men and women at some point in the future.

She added that — ironically — the recession may have contributed towards the boom in her business as people look to save money on buying brand new clothes and opt for alterations or revamps instead.

Ms Hill said: “It does help and it’s helped a lot, but probably about 50 per cent of the work is new clothes and the rest is stuff people want taken in or altered in some other way.”

She added that appointments can be made by calling 535-0154 or e-mailing INFO@ReneHillOriginals.com.

Ms Hill said: “People do just rock up with a bag full of alterations. But this is almost like being a reporter again — always on deadline. I take their stuff, put it aside and make an appointment for them.”

And she admitted she has had to deal with some strange requests — including a male client who wanted his pants altered to disguise bow legs.

Ms Hill said: “I figured out a way to alter his trousers so you didn’t see the bow legs. He’d taken them to other people and no one was able to figure it out.

“It’s physics, really. You work out how the fabric moves and get it to fit properly.”

And she added: “As long as people are happy when they leave here, that’s what counts.”