Buying a customized dress through Etsy?

Some of you may have seen my previous post about cultural dresses and how I want to avoid spending $1,000-1,500 on a Thai dress from my aunt in Thailand. I don’t care if it’s not real Thai silk, since I will wear it only for an hour or two. Anyway, it’s really difficult to find in my area, so I’ve been in contact with someone who can customize a Thai dress on Etsy.


This person is based in Thailand. Her dress style she has on the listing is really pretty and cheap! It’s not 100% silk which I’m ok with. I would like it maybe a burgundy and gold color or just gold. With a different sash, see red dress below. She says she can do it, but I want to see a design of how it would look to my customization. How does that work on Etsy? Do they just draft it up, put together a mock up? I’m a bit nervous since this person is a fairly new seller and only had two reviews. The inspiration look I want.



My other plan is to check out the only Lao/Thai seamstress there is in town. She is Lao (very similar culture) so she doesn’t have as much Thai dresses but is having a shipment come in next week so I can take a look at the selection. She doesn’t do customization though. She just buys dresses pre-made and alters then because it’s different than Lao cloning I guess.