Saturday, July 12, 2003. The Times. Weekend/Shopping. “Dress Sense: Knockout Frock”.

“If you have a favourite dress that doesn’t fit or is too revealing, Designer Alterations (0207 498 4360) can let it out, take it up, and in, add sleeves or remodel it. If there isn’t sufficient fabric for reworking, then the company will source something similar or recommend another fabric as a substitute. The price for cutting new sleeves starts at £90, and it also offers made-to-measure clothing.”

October 27, 2004. The Times. Fashion. Page 13.

THE FIXER. Short of being a divorce lawyer, Julia Dee surely has the most recession-proof business yet. Thirteen years ago, when Dee worked on the shop floor at Harvey Nichols, she discovered that alterations undertaken by the store took three weeks. She left, set up Designer Alterations in the middle of a recession and did a roaring trade altering and restoring clothes for cash-strapped consumers who needed to get a new lease of life out of their old clothes. Thanks for Dee.

The Times. Pamper yourself.

Since Father Christmas, for perfectly practical reasons, was unable to deliver the thing I really, really, really want – a whole dressing room to myself – I want Julia Dee, of designer alterations (020-7498 4360, £52 an hour) to sort out my wardrobe. I don’t want her to get all bossy and tell me what to wear with what and what to throw out (though she up for that, too, if asked). But I do want her to put the lot in order.

I want her to go through everything – get things cleaned or washed, sew on buttons, mend hems and holes, hang properly (she’s evangelical about hangers – no wire ones allowed), and generally turn the whole thing into an ordered, sweet-smelling, lavender (or cedar) scented moth-free zone.

She can also do what she does for some high-profile successful working women, and that is take responsibility for keeping the entire wardrobe in tip-top nick, all the time. Each season she sorts, cleans and the stores (for a small charge per item) the out-of-season clothes, thus leaving the cupboards freer for the clothes of the moment.

As the haute parfumier Jo Malone, who uses Julia Dee a great deal, puts in: “It means that you can have your wardrobe twice the size of the physical space your own.”