The Story

The Mad Dressmaker is a woman-owned brand creating small batch heirloom quality pieces that will stand the test of time in quality and timeless silhouettes.  Made in California USA, The Mad Dressmaker strives to bring happy pieces for strong, independent  women who like to have fun with their style and the young at heart.

The Mad Dressmaker a.k.a. Mad Dre, is a dreamer with an entreprenuerial spirit who has rediscovered her original passion for making the most amazing pieces of clothing that only exist in her imagination... so far. 

Inspired by Maria making playclothes out of drapes in The Sound of Music, she set out to learn how to sew like the generations before her.  After learning hand stitches in Girl Scouts, she began making herself frocks and garments that she would dream up,  by hand. 

After going to college for business, she ran a boutique hotel + spa in the picturesque small town of Calistoga in Napa Valley California.  While running the hotel as GM, she knew her passion to do her own thing would eventually prevail. 

She starting dreaming up the business of a happy place with the most amazing garments

she could dream of in classic silhouettes in fun and happy fabrics.

10 years after making the business plan for the happy place, Mad Mod Shop, she opened the shop in the Barlow in Sebastopol which she buillt out from studs with friends and family.  3 years later, the need to find a bigger space was evident and the love for Calistoga was calling her home, specifically the hankering for Raviolis from Checkers in Calistoga.  With dinner set at Checkers and her siblings on the way to meet there, she arrived to find an Closing Sale sign on the boutique next door.  It was the most charming, historic, beautifully tiled building that gave her vintage theater vibes and instant goosebumps.  As the sibs showed up, she said she'd meet them inside and immediately contacted the mayor of Calistoga to get the scoop.  You see, at the time, Calistoga businesses did not turn over and there was never a vacancy that was listed as it was always leased before the need to list.  The mayor said the space was not going to be listed but that the tenant was in charge of narrowing down the interested parties for the owners of the building and would present them with three top candidates the next morning.  He gave her the number of the tenant and said, "Here's her number, we want you back!" 

Huzzah!

We got the perfect spot in the middle of Calistoga's main street for this happy place!  

Revisiting the original dream and the amazing sketches of the garments that would be offered,

Mad Dre realized that these garments did not exist in the real world...yet. 

Next it was off to start learning the trade of patternmaking from Apparel Arts in Oakland to gain the skills

to pattern the designs that live only in her imagination... so far.

And so, The Mad Dressmaker begins.  With 7 designs under her belt and more making it from imagination to paper,

you will see more amazing small batch designs come to life.

If you take anything from this story, remember this, always follow the hankering for your favorite ravioli,

you never know what magic may unfold.