WHAT MAKES OUR SMOCKED AND EMBROIDERED DRESSES SO SPECIAL?

Uniting timeless French style with traditional hand smocking and embroidery, our dresses are one of a kind. It is the love put into each design and care for details that makes Charlotte sy Dimby so special! As Leonardo da Vinci said “Details make perfection, and perfection is not a detail.”

Discover below the secrets behind our dresses!

Limited editions

Handmade within our own atelier

Designed, cut and sewn within our own atelier, each dress is handmade with care. Total control of the whole production process and entire freedom in our creativity enables us to fully express our skills and creativity.

Our designer, Monique Ramahay, fondly nicknamed "Queen of Smocks", selects all our fabrics herself and decides on each smocking and embroidery pattern. Her ideas are then brought to life by our passionate team of experts. Small in number but highly dedicated, our team is constantly striving to improve so as to offer the best to your children.

Traditional smocking

For more than three decades, the secrets of smocks, which is the art of embroidering  geometrical or figurative shapes on top of tightly pleated panels of fabric have been passed down from one generation to another within our own atelier. It is in the home country of our brand’s founder, Monique, that this craftsmanship is kept alive.

Pioneers in marrying nouveau French style with the precious smocking art of Madagascar, we are committed to the safe-keeping of this heritage. 

Before smocking, our fabrics are manually gathered using a traditional pleater. Through meticulous gestures, we obtain consistency and equal distance between the pleats. 

For striped and checked fabrics, we pleat the fabric entirely by hand so as to put forward one colour. The same goes for velvets. The inside must look as neat as the outside.

Of all colours, sizes and shapes, smocks offer an infinity of possibilities. Vast playing field, they are renewed every season and enhance our creativity. All are entirely handmade providing a polished and high quality look to our dresses.

Handmade Embroideries

Couture craftsmanship

We believe that there is no age to enjoy well-made, high quality garments. Children deserve the best too! Time-honored know-hows of dressmaking are practiced up to the very last detail.

Our hems are stitched by hand to obtain a completely invisible seam.

Each button is covered with fabric matching the colors of the smocks and sash. This color harmony gives a beautiful finished look to our dresses making them as pretty in the front as in the back.

All our dresses also come with what is called in French two “boutons de courtoisie”, meaning two spare changing buttons. These are discreetly sewn within the side seam of the dress.

Some of our dresses also have an additional button at the collar level closed with a loop ensuring a perfect fit.

Fabric is also essential aspect of our designs. Very concerned about children’s well being and comfort, we select them with great care. Fabrics must be beautiful to the eye and soft to the skin. All our fabrics are chosen by the designer herself and then tested by the atelier. We mainly use cotton and for party dresses like to add a little fantasy by using silk, organza or tulle. 

Our Netti dresses even have an additional tulle underlayer sewn upon the lining creating a wide and airy skirt.

 Our signatures

 All our designs are born in our atelier. We are constantly creating new smocks and dress shapes. However several signature symbols make our dresses stand out!

Our Amandine sleeves are a treasured Charlotte sy Dimby feature. The three elegant rose bud embroideries add a chic and romantic style. Subtle and discreet, the colors are in perfect harmony with those of the smocks.

Last but not least all our dresses have a very special sash with a unique butterfly wing shape. With lining in the same color as the self covered buttons, the sash brings a high end detail to our dresses, it has become one of the brand’s signature.

Discover how to tie our bow.

A heart and soul

Beyond creating pretty dresses, we have at heart to share love and joy through our designs. Our dresses are a way to celebrate childhood in all its tenderness and innocence.

Nothing makes us happier than seeing our dresses worn with a smile; taking part in your special moments delights us.

We like to think of Charlotte sy Dimby as a family, a community held together by our belief in the magic of childhood.

We love to interact with families, support mothers and share our ideas. Follow us on Instagram and read our journal to get inspired and take part in our world.

May our dresses bring you much joy! Wear with love!