When I say I have a lifetime of sewing experience, I mean it. Needle and thread have been my ride-or-die since age three, and as it turned out, my way of recovering from life’s B.S. and paying it forward to other people equally frustrated by trying to fit into a world that wasn’t made their size. My upbringing in small town Minnesota was a scrappy do it and make it yourself lifestyle. When I saw my babysitter doing embroidery, I started stitching pictures the same way I drew with crayons. My mother taught me valuable sewing skills she learned from her mother, college and private classes, and from the experience gained making clothes and Halloween costumes for her three children (which I carried on doing for my son). Thanks to her patient coaching, I crushed many 4-H sewing competitions.

While pursuing my other artistic passion of dance in an arts high school and as a college dance major, I naturally took on double duty as performer/costume designer for many of our productions. While dancing with dancers of mixed physical and intellectual abilities, I made one of a kind costumes for each dancer, tailored to their specific physical forms and ways of moving.

Life has been a wild ride—plot twists, detours, and a few sucker punches. When breast cancer came for me in 2008, I said “hell no” and successfully fought back with everything I had. After opting for a double mastectomy without reconstruction (I wanted to skip the complications that implants would have added onto my life), I faced the harsh truth: finding clothes that fit and felt right was a nightmare. That experience sharpened my perspective on just how much mainstream fashion fails so many of us.

So in my mid-life, I decided to start Katy Celeste, LLC, to do what I love my own way and make unique clothing that fits the misfits and brings out the genuine spirit of every person I sew for.