I tried adulting and it was fun, but I’m going back to my happy place now.

My “ambition” when I first decided in Grade 10 that I would become a fashion designer/ couturier/ sew for a living was to have a comfy home studio and work from there.

My vision involved a house rather than an apartment, but I like living downtown in Ottawa, so apartment living it is.

Since I moved into our present apartment 2.5 years ago, I’ve been trying to reconfigure my studio situation. For 17 years, I had the perfect layout, but that apartment building became a chaotic landlord mess and we moved.  I share our large open living/dining area with my husband’s office and our living room.  It works, but I’m still finding the best layout.

When given the chance to work in house with Luxe, I took advantage of the offer. and things evolved through a few incarnations, with constant changes, but no steady need to have fittings in huge gowns in my home space.

Fast forward to June 2016, I had signed a short term lease on a studio space in Mooney’s Bay area that worked well with Luxe brides, for whom I was providing alterations services.

The store closed in July.

Without missing a beat, my clients continued to come to me at the Ridgewood/ Mooney’s Bay studio location and some found it wonderfully convenient.

But things continue to change and evolve.

I was approached by another bridal salon to assist with their growing alterations aspect and they are SUPERCLOSE to my home studio. While it’s still early, I am cautiously optimistic.  The work lining up for 2017 makes it logical to stay in my home space and focus on the sewing.

Something I can mention now – the business I was subletting from, came to let me know they were closing and my lease would be ending in early 2017 from their time frame.  And with a 30 day notice in our agreement, I had a week to consider my options – but mostly “when” would I move home.

Thus, on December 1, I gave my notice and scheduled my  move during the holiday break.

I don’t enjoy moving, but I am looking forward to coming back home!

I’ll be taking some time off from sewing from December 23rd to January 3, for both family holiday stuff and actually moving and resettling.

Please keep me in mind for your colourful design needs – I’ve been SO HAPPY designing new pieces for clients this fall in bright glorious colours! I want to keep that flowing while I still help brides in their white and ivory dresses look gorgeous!