Tell us about your creative discipline.

I am a designer and seamstress with a passion for fashion and a flair for difference.

How did you come to be a seamstress?

It was a natural progression. Since the age of two, Mum said I was making doll clothes, teddy bear clothes, and watching fashion shows. I loved the shows with big, flamboyant, different clothing, like the Oscars. I’ve always had a passion for fashion with a personal touch. I’ve never wanted to follow anybody. I knew it as a child, and at the age of ten I started doing markets with Mum, designing and making clothing.

 

Take us through an average day in your life.

I’m a night owl, I wake up around 7:30am – 8am. I make my coffee and my marmalade on toast and I sit in a window in my bedroom, thinking about the day to come. I’m then either in my sewing room or out visiting fabric shops. Spotlight and Moreland are my favourites. They are very good to me, that’s where most of my fabric has come from. I’ve been blessed with fabrics. I spend my day working in here, then my afternoon working in the garden. Then dinner, then back in my sewing room to sort it out for the next day. Head to bed and do it all again.

What music was present in your adolescence and now?

Such a wide variety of music! Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits, Stevie Nicks, Madonna. Multicultural music is something I learned at intermediate and will never forget. All sorts of music.

If you went away from the Bay of Plenty for a while and then came back, what are the first three things you would do?

Catch up with family and the ones that I love. Go for coffee in Greerton or the Mount. Walk the Mount and having a long hot soak in the pool!

I’ve been here for 52 years. I tried moving away four times as a teenager, but I just missed home. I’ve always known that this was my home.

 

Looking back at your teenage self, how would you describe that person?

Having a lot of imagination, bold ideas, and the ability to put them together. I never wanted to be the same as anybody else.

What are you planning for 2024 that no one knows about yet?

Workshops, hopefully! I held night classes back at my old home in Ōtūmoetai where I lived for 15 years. It was wonderful. Four ladies that wanted to learn more about sewing came to my house at night once a week and made their own garments. I also spent a lot of time volunteering at the intermediate and college my two girls were at, and loved it. Loved helping in the sewing room. I looked into being a teacher, but you had to have a four year degree. I didn’t want to go to university for four years, so that put a halt on teaching.

My aim is to bring a passion for sewing into our younger generation, to offer it to those who have missed out.

I also do commissions, and people can come and get fitted here. I’d love to turn this into a shop one day.

 

Who are some of your admired figures from history?

Stevie Nicks and Madonna, the way they were so different. Lady Diana. Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. My mum and nana for showing me how to sew and garden and enjoy every day life no matter what it brings. My gardening is influenced by my creative mind. When I’m looking for fabrics and I see floral, I grab hold of it – or, it grabs hold of me.

How would you define creativity?

To dream and imagine an idea and bring it to life.

What is your dream of happiness?

Enjoy every day life and all that you do. I live that every day. Whatever I do, wherever I go, whatever the obstacles that come my day – I just enjoy the day.

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