More accurately, I started sewing (or attempted to) on a Bernina "toy" given to me by my aunt Denise who owned a sewing machine shop. The people around me were always using their hands to create things : my mother is a talented knitter, her mother as well. My father works wonders with wood, creating furniture and making an entire kitchen for my Mom. My paternal grandmother, Antonia, also had a Ber
nina sewing machine and used to make Barbie clothes for me. I later discovered that many of my ancestors on my mother's side used to be seamstresses. They were sailor's wives and supported themselves while their husbands were at sea. While knitting held little appeal to me at the time (too slow), I quickly discovered that I could make a skirt for my dolls by cutting two panels in a old sweater and making two seams. I visited my paternal grandmother twice a year. I loved watching romantic movies with her, which is where my passion for historical costumes comes, I guess. Watching these ladies wearing gorgeous dresses was much better than to follow the love story. I started creating era inspired dresses for my dolls. I babysat for a whole summer when I was 16 so I could buy an expensive porcelain doll to dress. At 17, I tried my hand at sewing for myself, using a Burda pattern. This led to various discoveries : sewing for real people was a lot harder than sewing for dolls, the fit of the patterns was hazardous and made for a lot of alterations and adjustments. Meanwhile, I was not doing to bad at school. I went to an engineer school and chose a textile specialty to keep up with my love of textiles. In 2001, I graduated, married my boyfriend, and started working as a logistics manager in an embroidery company. I loved my job, working in a family owned company making such lovely products was very nice. In 2004, I gave birth to triplets, two boys and a girl. They kept me busy for a while, and I also got back to my job. In 2006, my husband was offered a job in Thailand, so we all moved there for almost 4 years. It also allowed me to put in motion a plan I had had for a while. I was not working, and my kids were going to school everyday from 8.30am to 1pm, so all my mornings were free. I used that time to follow a pattern making class in a Thai school for a whole year. This, combined with many years of sewing, making mistakes and learning from them, finally got me were I wanted to be : being able to create lovely, well made clothes from anyone's measurements. I opened my Etsy store then, and was also working for expat women, with non asian bodies, who were not happy with the work of local seamstresses. After going back to France, I opened another shop on alittlemarket.com. Times were financially tight and I had to find a day job to help my husband support our family. I recently lost that job and am actively working on making my online business successful.
