I learned how to sew in elementary school and was taught by my mother. I have 2 sisters, I’m in the middle and we are about a year apart. Mom sewed many of our outfits growing up and I did too until I left high school. After college when I started working, I had an aunt very much into fashion and she liked to take me shopping and give me advice. I really appreciated that and learned a lot about dressing elegantly but simply and with quality, never too over the top! As I‘ve grown up, my personal style has changed too, but really not too far from what she taught me. In my clothes, shoes and accessories I don’t follow trends but do want to look “modern”, always striving to be put together in a casual/cool/understated way. I love fabric and all the possibilities for fabulous looking clothes and home accessories! When I shop for myself today, I gravitate to natural fabrics – I love linen, cotton, wool and silk, and detest polyester, and not too fond of sequins, beading or animal prints either! I love clothes with clean modern lines and interesting seaming and details in these fabrics.
I love fabrics and clothing based on repeating motifs, not just an overall floral for example, but an interesting repeated pattern, often very graphic and architectural. Of the clutches in my shop, the Ginkgo and Dragonfly clutches are representative of this. I had a silk blouse that I loved some years ago with a repeating pattern of painted china plates overlayed on one another as if they were displayed on a wall. So intricate and detailed, but with a unifying theme and pattern.

I love fabrics that somehow tell me a story or make me make up a story about them! You’ll see some of these in my clutches such as the Windsor Castle toile, the Gryphons, the Merchants of Boston flag clutch, the taupe linen Thai clutch, or the Aviation and World Map clutch. I do love history and traveling and often gravitate toward Asian and European inspired designs and themes in my fabric and clothing choices. This love of history was an inspiration to creating my line of natural linen clutch wristlets with various images transferred on to the face of the wristlet. I used historical design themes such as art nouveau and asian art, and other images with a historical reference or point of view.

I started my etsy shop while I was unemployed for a time – it was a good way to keep myself busy and motivated and maybe to make some money. I am employed fulltime now, but continue with my shop as I love sewing and creating and hope to offer clutches and accessories in unique fabrics that others will really enjoy too. The hunt for fabulous fabrics is really the most enjoyable part for me. While I do want to make sales, it’s more important to me to make things I like and that reflect my style and that I would be proud to wear, rather than make items in some fabrics that are trendy and popular, but in my opinion are way overdone and not that interesting. I’ll soon be introducing a few new clutch frame sizes and styles – and the hunt for fabulous fabrics continues!