My mom, Diane Lacaille, is an artist and is amazing (check out her work here!). She raised us to believe in creativity. My dad is a dentist and like all dentists he is a complete weirdo. He learned to play the bag pipe (badly) at 60 years old. He also writes books, poems and now songs. He is a great singer and guitar player. So basically, just the bag pipe is terrible, and maybe his new motorcycle but that is for another day.
I grew up with an encouraging artistic family. My mom introduced us to everything: to drawing, painting, papier-mâché and sewing. The two that stayed with me are drawing and obviously sewing. My mother gave us a lot of liberty when it came to artistic expression. I look back to the clothes my mom bought me, made me or helped me make, and I laugh. In elementary school I loved seventies fashion. I had seen a pair of bell bottoms with tons of scrap fabric that made the “bottoms”. At first my friends teased me a bit but I was so happy in my pants (and weirdly confident) that they started loving it too. One girl even asked her parents to go and buy her a pair!
In high school I went trough a phase where I loved the Payne Stewart sense of style. If you don’t know, he was a golfer that played with knickers and high socks. My next move, naturally, was to cut a pair of nice trousers just below the knee and sew an elastic so they would gather nicely at the calf. I then bought fancy high socks to wear with it. I do not understand how I didn’t get teased to death. I also love skirt and knee socks. Completely normal high school behaviour.
I think my love of pattern making comes from the same place this weird adventurous girl found joy. I create patterns that make me happy. Some are for sentimental value and some are what I wish current fashion had more of. Skilled dressmakers designing garments meant to survive years of wear. Not fast fashion that ends up in landfills after a season. An outfit that can be passed on to younger siblings and cherished for years. A garment well made that would still be able relevant after 30 years. My patterns are a mix of vintage, retro and modern to hopefully survive the test of time. Wouldn’t that be nice.
Andee
Xoxo
