Tailor find perfect fit with new business
Tailor find perfect fit with new business
Friends encouraged Bunakova to open her own shop
EPHRATA — Svetlana Bunakova has wanted to make clothing ever since she was a little girl.
When she was about 10 or 11 years old, her father took her to visit her grandmother.
"She couldn't speak, she couldn't hear," Bunakova remembered. "My dad said to me, 'This is my mom. She's sewing everything, for man and women clothes.'"
Through her own experiences, Bunakova believes that her career in fashion is in her genes.
"This is my dream when I was very young," she said, noting that it took a lot of time and education. "I'm just so happy, (it's) what I love, and I do (this to) make people happy."
Bunakova opened her Custom Sewing and Alterations shop in Ephrata in May 2005, using the time to prepare for her full-time opening In January.
She had been working inside another business, but when it closed, friends and customers urged Bunakova to take a chance and launch her own.
"We'd see her working in her dining room trying to make dresses for people," friend Becky Lnenicka said. "I said, 'You should go into business.'
"I realized that other people need my help," Bunakova said.
Bunakova moved to Ephrata about 10 years ago from Russia with her electrician husband of 19 years, Andrey. They have three children.
It was in Russia where Bunakova received her professional degree as a tailor and fashion designer. She spent 10 years in the industry there.
"When I moved to United States, I tried to find some things what I know, what I learn, and how I can help people," she said, noting that she does everything people need, from covering chairs to making a camel costume for a church's Christmas pageant, and any kind of alteration.
Lnenicka said her daughter had been looking for bridesmaid dresses, but could not quite find what they wanted.
"They came and told Svetlana, and she sketched it out," she said. When asked if she could actually make it, Bunakova replied in the affirmative. "She made it without a pattern. They picked up the fabric they wanted, and she was able to make what they wanted."
Bunakova said she spent three years working in the very far north of Russia, a commute seven to eight hours by train. She would work on suits, coats and other items for Russian government officials.
In her country, people prefer to buy clothing designed for an individual person, Bunakova said, while in the U.S., they buy things that have already been made. Bunakova said people in the U.S. were at first afraid of the prospect of an individual tailor, but now people are beginning to simply bring her fabric and their requests. Those familiar with her work continue to seek her out, she said.
Bunakova recalled a person who brought in a fabric for a dress, and another fabric to provide a collar and lining. But the material was a little different, so Bunakova asked for a chance to find the best fit for the original material.
"When I bring the fabric and show her, she was so excited," Bunakova recalled. "She was so happy when I find this fabric match for her color dress and this design."
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