About Us

Having developed a fairly ridiculous career in food / cake / cookbooks, it’s kind of easy to forget that I had a whole *other* career before this.

The Start of My Sewing Career

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. In my case, it was the birth of my first career! I was raised first by a single mother, and then by my retired grandparents. Figure skating isn’t the most financially appropriate for someone in my position to be in, but somehow we made it work.

The easiest way for us to save money was to make my skating costumes at home. My mother’s first attempt was horrendous... I’m still not sure what happened. She had plenty of talent at sewing, but this was... urm, not up to *any* kind of standard.

It was a knee length, full circle skirt. The “panty” part of it was huge and bulky, sagging like a diaper. A black and white checker print spandex diaper. I was so embarrassed to wear it, and ended up getting one store bought “practice” dress.

At $80 or $90, I was afraid to wear it - it was by far the most expensive item of clothing I’d ever owned at that point. Instead, I took a pattern from it and made my own practice dress from it... and then another.

Going Pro... as a Kid

Soon - at the age of 11-12 ish - I was taking orders... first for simple practice dresses, quickly evolving to fancier competition outfits. I’d use some of my profits to buy little ads in competition program guides, and I’d have my friend Leanne model my work for fliers. (Fun fact: she went on to become “Ford Supermodel of the World” a few years later!)

Eventually, I moved on to design and create custom grad (prom) gowns and wedding dresses around age 16, spending less time on the spandex. Formalwear got boring for me a few years later... I missed the bright colors and patterns of spandex, and the freedom I had with design.

Going back to spandex after that... oh boy, did I ever get some freedom! In addition to skating dresses, I also started to work with drag queens, fitness athletes and professional wrestlers.

While skating dresses are pretty crazy compared to bridalwear, it still doesn’t hold a candle to ... multicolored hologram flames stretched across someone’s butt! It was also exciting to see my outfits on such mainstream TV as WWE shows. That was definitely a first for me.

Expanding Out From Skating Dresses

I don’t remember how I got started into doing synchronized swim costumes - I actually made those before I made any regular swimwear! - but it seemed like the perfect compromise between what I loved about skating costumes (designing around music / programs), and the wrestler costumes (just going crazy with color and design).

Oh, it was fun. In the few short years I did it - before once again having to move on to something new! - I made hundreds of different competition suits. I made them for recreational and competitive athletes locally... then nationally, then around the world.

I’ve sewn for Olympic athletes, and the Canadian National team wore my outfits to the Pan Am Games one year. Very cool. Around that same time, I put out a line of recreational swimwear, and actually had a sales agent.

I showed my line in the Toronto Fashion week market, hired models, and worked with big name photographers. Jeanne Beker showed up to a swimwear shoot I was having for my line... way out in the middle of nowhere.

It was all very surreal for me, back then. Truth be told, it feels a little weird to look back at everything I did back then, now.

Stepping Back

As has been my pattern since I was a kid, I soon succumbed to a combination of boredom and burnout.

I’ll basically take something up on a lark, be interested... play around with it a bit, get really good at it, and then... I guess it just all becomes routine. When it feels like I’ve been doing the same thing for just a bit too long, I have to just dump it all and move on to something more entertaining. So, I did.

I was 25. I was also so fried from all of the long hours trying to just keep up with orders, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with spandex ever again. I stopped taking orders, and I discontinued the sewing manuals that I’d written along the way. I took up event floral design, and eventually cake design... and on to cookbooks.

Back to Spandex... Sort of.

A few years later, things went full circle. I felt like I had all of this knowledge sitting in the back of my head - and in forgotten folders on my computer - just gathering virtual dust and cobwebs. I decided that it was time to revisit them.

I’m so happy to be able to teach others how to make all kinds of garments from spandex. Spandex Simplified: Synchro Swimwear was my first re-released* sewing manual, but was chronologically the fourth that I wrote. Originally written in 2004, all of the information provided was still current and applicable.

It was soon followed by "Sewing for Skaters", and then 4 other sewing manuals. Subjects covered included gymnasts, fitness competitors & Bodybuilders, cosplay and wrestlers, and recreational swimwear.

Back to Spandex Costuming...

A few years after releasing the books, I decided that I missed sewing. Also: I was getting to the end of my cookbook life span. The career changes get very "Doctor Who", you know... I can feel the change coming.

I happily went back to costuming for my synchro swimmers, pro wrestlers, and figure skaters.

Finally... A Blog!

Time passed, things happened - including a pandemic, and having my tendons destroyed by an antibiotic - and it was once again time to move on. Long hours of sewing are too much for my current tendon situation.

So, I started this blog. Eventually, it will host EVERYTHING that I've written about in the books - updated - along with new posts along the way.

I hope that you not only learn a lot from these posts, but also have a lot of fun with it.

With just a few basic skills, spandex can be SO much fun to work with! I hope you’re able to get the same sort of joy from working with it, that I've experienced over the past 30 years!

- Marie

*Well, this one was "sort of" a re-release. While the other "re-release" books were published and sold well, this one was finished and never published. It was time to change that!