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Lise L. is our first profile in our new feature "The Fitting Room"! Lise is a former English teacher and costumer in the Santa Barbara, CA area with decades of experience in designing and sewing. She is proud of her work and literally thousands of garments, but was and still is always questing after pure artistic expression. She studied with a professional quilt maker in Oregon, worked with a tailor in Chicago and her skills steadily increased the longer she kept at it. After decades of costuming and hectic deadlines, Lise is now retired (but still working hard) and looking to fill her precious free time with creative whimsy and find the newest niche she can call home! |
 | Early Inspiration
"I have stitched constantly through my life since my Grandmother put a fat cushion on a chair next to her and proceeded to teach me how to sew when I was five or six. Not so unusual, at that time most women knew how to sew and made clothing and house goods. But the moment my needle touched cloth I knew I had found my first love." |  |
Over the Years
"I went through the typical gamut of doll clothes, stuffed animals and dolls, clothes for my children, pillows, drapes, quilts, beach shows, art fairs, and popups. I did a short turn on Etsy and participated in all of our city's "craft shows"." |  | World of Costuming
"I stepped off into the all consuming and heavily addicting world of costume and ended up costuming huge productions at our local high school for almost two decades (high schools with money stage productions just this side of Broadway - expectations were higher than high), working for our live theatre as stitcher, dresser, and wardrobe head, and stitching for the costume departments of UC Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara CC and Opera Santa Barbara and the Music Adademy also." |
 | Act II
After decades of costuming (and back breaking work), Lise realized it was time to downsize to one roomful of findings, fabrics, patterns and notions! "As all of the fabric stores began to move out and close, I raided my dwindling stash time and time again-desperate to make something beautiful. That is where I learned much about designing garments that are "patched" with different colors and patterns. Somewhere in this mess of existence is a small girl who still loves to sit and make little girls' faerie dresses, costumes for dark and glorious productions, hundreds of designer catnip mice, anime getups for the comic-cons, and designer garments that are one-of-a-kind." |  |
