JO HAS found her creative thread in Creswick, writes GENEVIEVE BARLOW

Dressmaker Jo Maxwell was looking for a change when she opened a shop in the town of Creswick in south central Victoria and set about filling it with designs she created and produced herself.

Six months on and her outfits – ranging from floaty capes to angled skirts and fitted trousers for the 40-plus woman, to embroidered little girls’ dresses – are walking out the door.

They’re grabbing the attention of passers-by who are drawn by the enigmatic sign featuring her trademark embroidered elephant, dress and chair outside her shop, The Elephant Patch.

Housed in a converted supermarket, the shop also stocks charming old “stuff’ like leather cases, old cotton reels and the odd antique.

“I’ve always collected antiques. My husband used to call it junk,” says the groovily coiffed 50-something Jo.

Twelve months ago, she closed her by-appointment-only wedding dressmaking business, but re-emerged, determined to get on and make something of her talent.

A dressmaker all her adult life, she trained in the craft as a school leaver, worked in a factory and started her own dressmaking business in Gisborne.

She’s also a talented embroiderer and teaches at an embroidery school in Melbourne.

So, as well as housing her dress designs, The Elephant Patch is set up to host embroidery classes.

At its heart is a table big enough to seat 10 students.

Here Jo’s been teaching embroidery to groups of women who team up for a two-hour workshop “to create something special”.

The idea has taken off.

“I get women whose husbands come to the forest resort just out of town to play golf.

“The men play golf. The women come here and do embroidery.”

They’re also keen buyers of her limited-edition garments.

“I buy 10 metres of material at a time and make whatever I can from that.

“Once that’s done I move on to something else, so you won’t find the same outfit anywhere else.”

A devotee of natural fibres, Jo says she’d rather be crunchy in linens and cottons than sweating in polyester.

She sticks with silk, wool and cotton. “I can’t stand synthetics,” she says.

She’s pleased with her progress and her designs.

“All my life, this is what I’ve envisaged doing.”

    Checklist

  • The Elephant Patch in Creswick is open 10am-6pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday and other days by appointment.