Sewing Studio
Located in Marda Loop in Calgary, Sewing Studio offers a wide variety of services including clothing alterations and repairs, dressmaking, custom sewing and tailoring.
Pride in Every Stitch
Owner Eva Gugala is proud of the three trained seamstresses she employs and the high quality of the work her shop produces. While she loves doing all kinds of projects, including repairing tent zippers, Eva especially enjoys the challenge of remodeling and making clothes from scratch. She recalls when a bride asked her to remodel her grandmother’s antique wedding dress. After a week of strategizing, Eva came up with a plan. She recreated the top, added a sash and put a lace overlay on the top of the dress. The bride loved the revamp. “The bride sent me a picture from her wedding,” Eva says. “For me, this is the biggest reward. It’s what keeps me going, even when I’m working 12- to 14-hour days.”
For the Love of Sewing
But when Eva was 15, the last thing she wanted to do was sew. “My mom pushed me to go to the Technical School of Clothing in Poland,” says the professional seamstress, who immigrated to Canada in 1988. It wasn’t until she got hold of a German sewing magazine called Burda that she stitched together a different story. “The first time I made my own blouse and I took it to school, everyone asked where I bought it," says Eva. "That was the moment I started to like sewing."
Eva’s dedication to her clients has earned Sewing Studio a loyal clientele who thank her by adding to the shop's in-store antiques display. The donations started when she put an antique Polish iron on a store shelf. “I have wonderful customers who have also become my friends. They always come back.”
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