Hollister teen uses sewing skills for senior citizens, soldiers
and babies
Unlike most teens her age Dominique Flores, 17, is on the brink
of being an entrepreneur. She plans to combine a love of sewing
into a business that will provide some college money after she
graduates from San Benito High School.
Hollister teen uses sewing skills for senior citizens, soldiers and babies
Unlike most teens her age Dominique Flores, 17, is on the brink of being an entrepreneur. She plans to combine a love of sewing into a business that will provide some college money after she graduates from San Benito High School.
Flores’ inspiration for her business came out of a family tragedy. When her grandmother Leda Voropaeff had a stroke that left her paralyzed on the left side of her body, Flores came up with the idea to alter her clothing by replacing buttons with elastic and snaps to make it easier for her grandfather, Victor Voropaeff to help his wife with dressing.
That experience is the basis for an Internet business she plans to start that will sell her handmade clothes to senior citizens The yet unnamed company will have the tagline, “Dominique: Designs for Living.”
“They will help older people feel better about themselves,” Flores said.
Her designs will start at $20 and up for a blouse or shirt.
“The clothes will help them keep their dignity,” said Flores’ mother, Bonnie Flores Voropaeff. “It will make it possible for them to manage [their] clothes easily.”
Flores, a senior at SBHS, has been sewing since she was 9 years old. She has sewn more than 100 pieces, including quilts, scarves and outfits, she said.
She first became interested in sewing on a visit to Judy’s Gifts and Awards in Hollister.
“My mom used to have a business a few doors down, so I would go there to get candy,” Flores said.
On one visit, she watched a customer tying a quilt. The store’s owner, Judy McCord, told Flores she could learn to make quilts by taking a sewing class.
“She came in and was hooked,” McCord said. “She’s been with me [taking lessons] ever since.”
Soon she started working with wool, a difficult material to use.
“I’ve made one wool outfit every year since I was 10,” Flores said.
“It stretches, and if you don’t do it well, the material will pucker in the wrong places,” her mother said.
The outfits Flores makes are often three pieces – a blazer, shirt and a skirt. The outfits resemble private school uniforms with large buttons on the blazer and one dark color such as forest green. Her shirts are made of a lighter shade that complements the blazers and a plaid skirt that combines the colors in the rest of the outfit completes the ensemble.
Flores has competed in contests with her wool items for three years.
She was a winner at both the state and district levels this year for the first time. She is representing California in the national “Make It With Wool Contest” in San Antonio, Texas Jan. 25 to 27.
“It’s a very stiff competition,” Flores Voropaeff said. “You can get marked down for things like not having the outfit pressed properly.”
Flores’ costs in attending the competition will be offset in part by the $300.00 Louise Hatton Memorial Award she recently received.
The award is in the memory of Hatton who taught sewing to Hollister youth for 50 years, according to McCord, and was given out for the first time this year.
Her mother is proud of her talent.
“When someone takes home ec in high school, they might make a skirt and blouse in a few years but she’s [Dominique] been making full outfits for five years,” Flores Voropaeff said. “She’s been doing this for so many years, she has no idea what she’s doing is difficult.”
Flores has used her sewing talents to help others in projects she has worked on as a 4-H member. In San Benito County, most kids in 4-H are involved with livestock, said San Benito County Director/4-H Advisor Pat Johns.
“They do not become as deeply involved [as Dominique has] in other projects like sewing,” Johns said.
In 4-H, she and other members sewed blankets for babies in the Intensive Care Unit of Salinas Valley Memorial Hospital. These blankets were presented to parents so they would have something to wrap their babies in while leaving the hospital, Flores Voropaeff said.
Flores also led a 4-H project in 2006 where members sewed and sent 75 “Cool Scarves” to troops in Iraq. The scarves contain polymer beads that soak up water.
“They will keep them cool for hours,” Flores said.
As for her future, in addition to starting her own business she wants to eventually complete a master’s degree.
“I’d like to be a school counselor because I like people, especially kids my age,” she said.
