Tailor Gardtrell Davis Loves His Job

If you walk into Fabricare Cleaners in Noroton Heights, look past the cashiers and you'll find Gardtrell Davis sitting near a window with his ancient Singer sewing machine, a small transistor radio playing tunes.

Born in 1928, Davis had a thing for sewing ever since he was little.

"As a child, my mother said I always had a needle in my hand. I'd be sewing my brother's socks and my sister's socks, my socks, my daddy's socks," he said.

Davis took a sewing class when he was at Stamford High School, and never turned back.

At fifteen, he began working at the Kingsbury Shop, a dry cleaning and tailoring store in Darien. The owner, Mr. Terzian, treated Davis more like a son than an employee.

"He said I was about one of the best young men he'd seen in his whole life," said Davis. "When I got out of high school in 1946, I didn't have a car to go to prom. Mr. Terzian had a new Buick, and he let me take it to prom."

Terzian is the one who started calling Davis Dave.

"He couldn't pronounce Gardtrell," said Davis. "He said 'I call you Gardtrell—my tongue gets twisted.'"

Davis worked at the Kingsbury Shop for about thirty years. In the 1950s he made uniforms there for the government during the Korean War. In the 1960s, while still working at Kingsbury, he took a class two days a week at Bergdorf Goodman in New York. There he learned how to make patterns and design clothes.

Davis used to run things every March when Terzian went to Florida for the month. "I'd run the store, pay the bills, and if there was a profit he'd split it with me," said Davis. "He was a good man."

In 1976, Mr. Terzian decided to retire. He invited Davis and his wife over for Christmas Eve dinner. "So me and my wife came up for dinner," said Davis, "And that's when Mr. Terzian gave me the shop. When he told me tears just ran down my face ... I couldn't believe it," he said.

Mr. Terzian had given him the Kingsbury Shop business.

Davis ran the Kingsbury Shop until 1989, when the Terzian family reclaimed the property and turned the space into a fish shop. That's when Davis came over to Fabricare Cleaners, and he's been working there ever since.

During his career, he's had high and low points, and he also has a few tips about sewing.

High Points:

Sewing for Bette Davis: "Bette Davis's chauffeur would have his top hat on. They'd pull up in a limousine, and he helped her out of the car and into the store. He'd treat her like a queen."

Designing and making a hat for Spike Lee with "two bibs on it; one in front and one in back. He's a New York Knickerbockers fan."

Marrying and having four sons and three daughters.

Helping kids through volunteer work at the Union Baptist Church in Stamford.

His sewing machine: "This Singer machine here is more than a hundred years old. The only thing that goes wrong with it is the seat [he's pointing to it in the picture]. I just replace the seat and it's like new again." He's used the Singer since the beginning of his career at Kingsbury. The sewing machine doesn't have a built-in electric light; Davis has a utility lamp suspended over it. Could it have been a push-pedal machine, not electric? Davis thinks that yes, it was originally a push-pedal machine, and was converted to electric.

Doing something he loves: "I enjoy doing this ... I can't even tell you. I even go home and work there ... if there's no game on, I go in the back room and start working."

Low Points:

"My worst job ever was a coat I was working on ... this had to be in the 1960s. I was making the lapels smaller, and I couldn't get it right for anything in the world. So I turned around and—God is good—I did it another way. And it came out perfect and the customer liked it. She gave me a $25 tip. In those days $25 was a lot of money."

Losing his wife and two of his children.

Tips:

Davis uses wax on his thread to keep it from knotting.

Davis wraps a bit of wool cloth around his (awesome antique) sewing machine and pokes his needles and pins in there for handy storage.

Future:

Davis is not thinking of retiring anytime soon. And he has lots of stories to tell! You can find him at Fabricare Cleaners Monday through Saturday from about 8:30 a.m. until about 6 p.m.