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Business & Tech

Local Designer Specializes in "New Again" Fabrics

2011 Spring Fashion 101: The flowers aren't all that's being given new life this spring. Adorable new styles are being made from materials with a past.

Beverly Livermore didn’t mean to become a fashion designer. It was her passion to create that led her to local boutiques. She’d simply made more apparel than she could ever possibly wear, yet she didn’t want to stop sewing. So bringing for you Beverly Jo Creations to the market was a way for her to continue her habit. 

Lucky us.

 Not only are Beverly Jo designs unique and adorable, much of what she creates is environmentally conscious. Livermore’s creativity is sparked by imagining what could be done with perfectly good fabrics on “retired” clothing. 

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 “I look at old things and see how they can be made new again,” she said.   

When her husband would give her old suits to take to Hi-Hat Resale at 227 Hamilton St. in Geneva, she instead squirreled them away, knowing she’d eventually find something to do with the fabric, which was still in excellent condition. She did the same with her three sons’ dress pants and khakis as they rapidly outgrew them. 

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The hand-me-downs still go to a charitable purpose, because Livermore donates her sewing profits to charity, including to a sewing school in Honduras, and Glenwood School  in St. Charles, where she also teaches sewing classes pro bono.

Livermore takes a cue from the fabric itself in her designs. 

“I use the fabric to its full potential," she said. "If the pattern in the fabric calls for it, I’ll finish the edge off in a scallop, rather than a straight edge. If the salvage is interesting, I like to keep it visible in the garment.”

Her latest creations are accordion skirts, a trendy new twist on a 1980s pattern for tennis skirts. It’s a fresh and flexible look that can be dressed down or up and is convenient for packing since it can be folded up like an accordion.

The style lends itself perfectly to Livermore’s penchant for mixing various textiles from previously worn clothing because the skirts are made from strips of different, but coordinating, men's suit and pant fabrics. Men's trousers have never before looked so good. You can find them at The Meeting Place, 15 S. Third St. Geneva, IL.

Another exciting area that’s keeping the seamstress busy these days is wedding dress rehab. She’s helping brides to be able to wear their mother’s gowns—yes, even those that don’t fit or have yellowed over time. Some of the dresses get a simple update, such as removing outdated sleeves. In other cases, Livermore takes salvageable pieces of the vintage gown and incorporates them into a whole new design.

Looks as if my mermaid-style, poufy sleeved atrocity (circa 1991) may not be doomed to spend eternity in the creepy see-through preservation box, after all.

Livermore been sewing since she was 10 years old, when she was given a sewing project in 4H.  She credits her mother for teaching her about sewing and instilling a lifelong love for it. By the time Livermore was in college, she was making almost all of her own clothing. 

“About the only thing I bought were sweaters and jeans.  Everything else I made,” she said.

Although she studied clothing and textiles as part of her education degree from Eastern Illinois University, she taught foods when she graduated. It was when she left work to stay home and raise her children that what she saw as a hobby grew into something more.

At first she used a guestroom and an area of the basement as her workspace, but her expanding productivity led her to eventually take over an upstairs room and porch, which she’s now converted into a light-filled sewing studio in her St. Charles home.  

Her first experience selling with merchants was with Chris Kefer at her studio, at 107 s. 2nd St. in Geneva. Currently, in addition to the Meeting Place, for you Beverly Jo Creations can be found in Berlin, WI at the Saving Grace Salvage Company. As the name implies, the store specializes in giving new life to discarded items, so Beverly Jo’s contemporary fashions made from “materials with a past” fit right in. 

Look for for you Beverly Jo Creations soon at Special Delivery at 220 S. 3rd St.—she showed me the most adorable design for baby bloomers she’ll make out of men’s dress shirts.  To contact Beverly Livermore regarding her designs and wedding dresses, you can e-mail her at foryoubeverlyjocreations@gmail.com. Shop her fashions on-line at her Etsy store.

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