Chanel, Nina Ricci… The new seamstress of Grand Bourgtheroulde was trained in a prestigious workshop

“I’m going to have to change my opening hours!” » The laughing eyes, the frank smile, Fabienne Benedetti quickly relieved the stress of “a first day back to school”, Friday January 3, 2025, during the opening of her sewing workshop: Le P’tit Déin Grand Bourgtheroulde (Eure).

The store was always fullthe customers follow one another and the orders too. “I have had around twenty clients, it’s incredible,” rejoices the seamstress, who will have to reduce the opening times to be able to start sewing.

L’atelier took a liking to the pizzeria Pizz Partyin the Grande rue, liquidated in November 2023. Fabienne seized the opportunity to return where she grew up, until she was 18. It was in the village that she discovered sewing, passed down by her father, an Italian tailor. “I would have liked to be a stylist, but it couldn’t be done. I make drawings, creations. I still fulfilled my wish to be a seamstress,” she confides.

A haute couture workshop in Gros-Theil

At the age of 17, after school, she joined the Gros-Theil haute couture workshopopened in 1989 and abruptly closed a few years later. Chanel, Nina Ricci, Cloé, Jean Paton…The private workshop, named JS Almeidamade robes de cocktail for prestigious brands. The workshop was created by Maria Flor and Manuel Almeida, a Spaniard and a Portuguese who arrived in Gros-Theil in 1986. Maria had worked as a seamstress and pattern maker in Paris, before striking out on her own. Her husband took care of the workshop’s accounts.

We made evening dresses, we worked with beautiful fabrics like organza, it was magnificent.

The couple settled in Gros-Theil and asked for premises at the town hall; the old presbytery was loaned to them for a year. Then, in 1990, they opened their own workshop, along the Amfreville road.

Fabienne cut her teeth therefor two years. “It was a very good school,” she remembers. The workshop was doing very well, around twenty seamstresses were busy, under the orders of Maria Flor. “We made evening dresses, we worked with beautiful fabrics like organza, it was magnificent. » A rail on the ceiling made it possible to hang the dresses, produced in series in different sizes.

After two years, the managers closed the workshop overnightwithout warning. “We went on strike, we didn’t understand what had happened. I was so sad it ended », recalls Fabienne with bitterness. A few days ago, the seamstress went to Gros-Theil, and found the workshop, now abandoned. “We see it from the street, in a field. It was so funny to me! »

“I have wanted to settle in Bourgtheroulde for years”

After this experience, Fabienne worked for several years with a retoucher before going solo in 2006. Rouen, Sotteville-lès-Rouen, Le Grand Quevilly… The seamstress had several workshops, but always kept in the back of her mind the desire to return to the lands of his childhood.

“I have wanted to settle in Bourgtheroulde for years. I had seen the mayor, but it’s not easy to have premises,” she explains. She then “missed the boat”, since another seamstress had set up shop, and Fabienne did not want to duplicate… Until a few months ago. “I wasn’t in a good place at Grand Quevilly, it wasn’t working. I inquired and the place was free, in Bourgtheroulde! »

Since last week, Fabienne is back, with all her years of experience. “My specialty is that I retouch wedding dresses. I know how to work with flowing, delicate fabrics. » The seamstress also works with leather, and does alterations on clothing and furnishings.

Le P’tit Dé is open (for now) Tuesday to Friday: 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m., Saturday: 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. – 6 p.m. h 00. 223 Grand Rue, 27 520 Bourgtheroulde / 07 49 47 81 82.

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