We have some sad news to share with our dear clients.
Kaye, one of our longtime master tailors and friends, died peacefully in her home last week.
We know most of you were not able to officially meet her in person, but you knew her through her fine sewing. She worked for Ivey Abitz from 2009-2020, and she has sewn thousands of bespoke garments for us. If you have several Ivey Abitz garments in your closet, then you most likely have special one-of-a-kind garments that were sewn by Kaye.
Our other dear and incredibly talented tailors have also learned from Kaye over the years, and thankfully her legacy carries on through them with their attention to detail and dedication to mastering my challenging and intricate designs.
I will miss working with Kaye in her impressive Brooklyn sewing studio she dedicated to Ivey Abitz since 2009. I will miss her dozens of calls while she was working on projects for us from her sewing studio and I was in my design studio. Phone calls were her versions of texts and emails — she was proudly “old school.” I’d put her on speaker phone, and we’d go over things together. Our dogs know Kaye by the sound of her voice; they knew her as Auntie Kaye. She knew how to stop Artie from barking. She knew how to turn Harry’s head by singing an impromptu Broadway tune. She knew how to spread love and joy through everything she did — especially through a sewing project.
Her sudden death has admittedly shaken me to my core, and it will take awhile to process the enormous loss. I truly loved Kaye. She wasn’t just a coworker. She was a friend. She was part of our family. I will miss her quirkiness, talent, and love. But I have to trust, just as she believed, that she isn’t gone—she’s just gone on before. She’s now with her dear dog/daughter Mandy who died in 2009. She mentioned her often, and she missed her so much. The thought of this brings a smile to my face and gives me peace.
— Cynthia Ivey Abitz