My name is Theresa LaQuey and thanks to my big sister, Andrea, I am going to do a bit of blogging here myself. Never have blogged before, but I hope it can inspire and amuse you.
Andrea and me a while ago.
Although our mother was a costume designer and sewed for us all, it was Andrea who taught me to embroider, knit and finally to sew. I remember cutting out that first dress with her. I was just 10 years old at the time. It was a Barbie pink and white polyester trapeze dress and I wore it to the cast party of a summer time play we were in together. Little did I know what that would lead to.
Here I am in some of my thrift store finds.
Andrea left for New York City at the end of that summer, and I dabbled in sewing for the next several years. I loved going to the thrift shops looking for vintage, but being a bit tall found getting a good fit challenging. I also used to get very upset when my vintage dresses would die from the fabric being old. It was at the San Francisco Mission District Salvation Army that I had an epiphany, I walked past a huge bin of old patterns. I thought to myself, if there are cool vintage clothes in this store, then there must be cool vintage patterns that bin! Here is when things got interesting for me.
I made this from a 50s pattern and wore it to Andrea's wedding when I was 17.
I found five patterns that I loved, 10 cents each and brought them home to my mother. She loved them so much that we ended up making most of them, a couple of dresses for her and a couple for me. I kept on digging through the thrift stores, garage sales and eventually on line. I now own approximately three thousand patterns.
I loved sewing vintage so much that when I was nineteen I decided to start my own business making vintage style clothing. I sold to a few local stores and a few custom clients. But, I really needed training, so my mother encouraged me to enroll in the apparel design program at Diablo Valley College in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I spent the next three years there, waiting tables forty hours a week to boot. It was fabulous and very tough. They would actually measure your hand stitches to make sure they were perfect. Several times a week you would have to turn in sewing samples while you were working on your projects. Having always been a rather lazy person, the thrill of competition overcame me. Laziness was set aside and I was soon slamming straight A's right out of the park.
To give you an idea of what we studied there, my first year I did fashion art and textiles. Second year was construction, tailoring and fashion history. The third year was the best, flat pattern and then draping. I did modern styles and also vintage inspired styles. To make matters even better, I discovered and then became a member of the Art Deco Society of California. Perfect! An outlet for the things I wanted to create!
I spent the next three years there, waiting tables forty hours a week to boot. It was fabulous and very tough. They would actually measure your hand stitches to make sure they were perfect. Several times a week you would have to turn in sewing samples while you were working on your projects. Having always been a rather lazy person, the thrill of competition overcame me. Laziness was set aside and I was soon slamming straight A's right out of the park.
To give you an idea of what we studied there, my first year I did fashion art and textiles. Second year was construction, tailoring and fashion history. The third year was the best, flat pattern and then draping. I did modern styles and also vintage inspired styles. To make matters even better, I discovered and then became a member of the Art Deco Society of California. Perfect! An outlet for the things I wanted to create!
That's me with my husband and the Decobelles of the Art Deco Society.
After graduation, I was assistant at the San Francisco Ballet's shop, then assistant to a local couturier named Mark Jones. He was a lovely, brilliant and talented man who not only made spectacular gowns but taught me how to do the same kind of beading that was done in the Hollywood studios during the 1930s. After one year, he made me his partner because he liked my work and I had the knack of getting checks out of the clients. We happily worked together from 1989 until 1994, when we sadly lost him to AIDS. To this day I still sign his name in all of my designs.
After Mark's passing, I tried to do manufacturing. I did a line of evening outerwear and some vintage inspired daywear, but I was still having to wait tables because the shops I was selling to were not paying me, I eventually threw in the towel. I decided to do nothing but custom work. This is where my big sister comes in again.
In 1998 on a trip to New York City, Andrea suggested that I bring along my portfolio. She introduced me to Betsy Burger at Simplicity Pattern Company. I got to see the whole operation there and, what with being a pattern hound my whole life, I was in heaven. After showing my portfolio, she asked me what I could do for them and I said a dress for swing dancing. This was my first Simplicity pattern and it did rather well. After 10 years of struggling with brides and society mavens, I just can't emote what a happy turn this was. As I have said many times, thank you sis! (And thanks to all of my teachers at DVC, you made me do my patterns to a 32nd of an inch in accuracy, I think that sure helped).
So this long yarn gets us up to the what I am doing now. I still do custom work for clients and also design for Simplicity. I have made everything from doll clothes and aprons to Steampunk for them. It is always such a wow! I work from my home basement in Oakland California, have a loving husband and a wiener dog who helps amuse the clients when they come for consultations. I also sing with a big band and at various festivals around the country, which leads me to the project that I will be sharing with you over the next month.
Joe, (hubby) and I are going to London, England for New Year's Eve. Our friend, Alex Mendham is now the orchestra leader at the Savoy Hotel. He has asked me to sing a couple of numbers with the band. What to wear, what to wear! I have designed a fully beaded evening gown, perhaps the highest form of my sewing skills. So, as I trundle along on this project, I will post what has to be done to put up approximately 200,000 bugle beads onto silk. I hope you all get a kick out of the project.
Thanks,
Theresa
Thanks,
Theresa
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