New sewing entrepreneur Paula Loimula advises that you shouldn’t miss out on buying a piece of clothing you like at the flea market just because it’s the wrong size.
Always when the baby slept Paula Loimula advanced his dream, one pinprick at a time.
She worked as a Marimekko salesperson and was on maternity leave for the second time, the family’s first child was in daycare.
Loimula’s dream was to establish her own sewing factory and produce party dresses that would be works of art made slowly and by hand. In order for him to demonstrate his skills to customers, he would have to make one suit as a model.
Loimula had graduated a couple of years earlier, in 2018, with a master’s degree from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. The training to become a zoning-based clothing designer had lasted four years. Before that, he had graduated from Omnia in Espoo as a clothing artisan.
“After high school, I wanted to work in the craft industry and I thought that if I planned two years at a vocational school and even after that I like the field, I would apply to a university of applied sciences,” says Loimula.
Paula Loimula lost her handicrafts-loving grandmother when she was six years old. “When I was little, I looked through my grandmother’s closets and found a small handmade purse, which was completely embroidered with small cross stitches. It was a treasure for me and I always secretly admired it. The wallet disappeared, and no one but me even remembers that it existed.”
On the same day that Loimula graduated as a seamstress, she took her first maternity leave from Marimekko.
He already got a permanent position as a salesman during his studies and calls the company his safe haven. Marimekko was a flexible employer for students, they could do as many hours as they had time or wanted.
The first one the timing of the maternity leave was perfect for Loimula, because she was not yet sure in which direction she would go professionally. She focused on the baby and learning about motherhood and started studying embroidery.
Paula Loimula will soon also finish art books. She is enthusiastic about French hook embroidery, or luneville. This is where the three-dimensional rose pattern that comes into the bag is completed. “I make one leaf per hour and this rose has twelve leaves. In addition, you have to make green leaves and small leaves and small flowers. It’s still a bit difficult to know how long this will take as a whole, I’m doing this as my own project after work.”
“After having my second child, I knew how it works, and I was more confident as a mother. My confidence in my own professional skills had also grown and I knew that I wanted my own sewing shop. But I didn’t dare to set it up alone.”
The flame wanted a party dress made entirely by hand, without a single machine stitch, for the start page of her portfolio.
She cut small pieces of lace for the dress and connected them together with a net fabric. She attached 10,000 sequins to the dress and decorated the bust with pearls and crystals.
Fortunately, the work was so quiet that it didn’t wake the baby.
The evening dress was completed in March 2021, after half a year and two hundred working hours. It looked great on the model that Loimula ordered for the shoot.
And that’s where it looks now, in a shop window on Helsinki’s Mechelininkatu. On the other side of the window is Loimula’s dream that came true in April, sewing factory Mechelen.
But it wouldn’t have happened without another woman.
His name is Elena Guseva.
After receiving After the evening dress was ready, Paula Loimula started doing sewing work on the side for an entrepreneur who was about to retire and wanted to outsource part of the sewing to outsiders.
Elena Guseva also worked for the same company.
Paula Loimula and her business partner Elena Guseva became friends at their first meeting. Guseva is also a jewelry maker and milliner.
The women started talking and found that they were interested in the same things. They loved the meticulous tinkering.
Loimula had learned the French luneville, or hook technique, with which the big European fashion houses embroider all their party dresses. Guseva masters the cone lace technique and uses it to make jewelry.
“We immediately got along with Elena, she is very friendly and very professional. I already told her on the first day we met that we should start a sewing shop together. It was also his dream.”
In December 2021, the women were already so far along in their plans that Loimula dared to resign from Marimeko.
Sewing machine Mechelen specializes in party dresses, but accepts all sewing jobs. In the middle of the interview, the young man picks up the shirt he shortened.
“I have to buy shirts that are too big from now on so I can come here again,” the man says, but he doesn’t want his name involved.
Shortening the shirt cost thirty euros as a quick fix.
Paula Loimula has made the brooches in the picture and the insoles to be attached to the suits using the luneville technique. Elena Guseva makes jewelry using the cone lace technique.
Particularly women are excited about tailoring. Loimula once got excited about it thanks to her friend’s mother. The woman often bought clothes at the Opera flea market, even though they were way too big for her.
“I took the clothes into pieces, reduced the armholes and side seams, and reassembled the pieces to match the woman’s measurements. I also made a wedding dress for her using the same technique. That’s when I got excited about creating party dresses.”
You look at flea market clothes with new eyes when you realize that you can take them to be reduced and repaired.
“There are also flea markets that sell branded clothes. With a pair of shape pleats made in the back, jeans two sizes too big can be made to fit perfectly.”
Loimula is wearing an outfit that she made with a few euros from a silk dress she bought at a flea market.
“The armholes of the dress were torn. I cut the dress in half and made a skirt out of it. I made a top from another old garment and decorated it with straps and a waistband I cut from the dress.”
Paula Loimula made the outfit she is wearing from a silk dress she bought at a flea market for a few euros. “We bought almost all of the furniture in the sewing shop used and reconditioned it to look like new. Elena also made that yellow decorative rose herself.”
But has Paula Loimula been able to do the work in her sewing room that she once dreamed of, party dresses?
Is.
In April, Loimula got a tip from a friend that two people participating in the Venla gala urgently needed a party dress.
“I gathered my courage and contacted them through Instagram. I presented them with my portfolio, and they both ordered an evening dress for the gala.”
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Paula Loimula designed the evening dress for the Venla gala for producer Carita von Rutenhjelm. “I made two sketches for him, the combination of which formed the final result. Carita liked the second draft of the corset-bodysuit combination, but wanted a more flowing skirt at the bottom. The outfit has a lot of technical solutions, for example the belt was embedded inside the skirt.”
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