Hi I’m Christina.  I’m a former special education teacher turned stay-at-home Mom to, my two energetic apprentices, Adelina and Arlo, and a mini-dachshund named Finley.  After leaving the workforce in 2016, I decided to turn my hobby into a legal business.  My Lovely Muse was born from a transitional stage in my life.  I was in my late twenties, a new mom, and I had just left a career that I had devoted 8 years of expensive education to, while only spending 5 years in the field.  I was looking at years of student loan debt while sacrificing my biweekly paycheck to be at home with my kids.  When Addie was born in 2014, this business had been a dream.  I spent hours and hours researching the legalities of selling clothing in the United States.  Those hours turned into almost 2 years before I officially signed the papers for My Lovely Muse, LLC in 2016.  From there I worked on building my inventory of business materials and supplies, promotional material, sew-in care labels, bookkeeping spreadsheets, establishing an online presence, and continuing to educate myself on small business legal information, social media management, fashion trends, sewing pattern options, etc.  It was overwhelming and expensive!  My brain was constantly running.  I was a wife and mom, but also the CEO and sewist behind My Lovely Muse managing production and inventory, research and development, purchasing, marketing and advertising, accounting, writing, sales, and anything else that came up.  I’m still slowly getting the hang of wearing all these hats, but that’s the beauty in being your own boss.  My children will be able to see me running a business that I created from the ground up.  They will learn the value in creating something from nothing as I work on my sewing machines to create practical apparel for the everyday person out of fabric cut straight from the bolt. It’s important to me that my children know these lost arts and are able to delight in the ability to be able to make something on the sewing machine.  The foundation of this business is based on my mission to rekindle these lost arts, particularly, making handmade apparel through the process of planning a design, selecting sustainable materials, and careful construction.  Beyond being able to sew practical items, I also want my kids to relish in their ability to preserve food that they tended to and harvested all summer long, to make bread from yeast, flour, water, and oil and pasta from flour and eggs.  I want them to know that food wasn’t born on a cold shelf in a supermarket, but from a local farm and from a garden tended to by human hands like theirs.  Opting for convenience and not even considering alternatives has become the societal norm.  I need that to change for the future of my children.  For their health and for their ability to appreciate things and not take so much for granted.  My Lovely Muse isn’t just a clothing brand, but also a family and community focused on being more conscious everyday. So here I am, living my dream and learning far more than I had ever imagined I would just by establishing a mission for my business.  There’s more to come, and I hope you’ll join me on this journey.  Until next time.

Consciously yours,
Christina