About TOKYO BLUES
Over the past 30 years I've earned my living with a needle and thread - usually the needle is attached to a machine. I had the makings of an entrepreneur in grade school, going door to door hawking my goods. I loved making those little loopy potholders, and I guess I've been a little loopy ever since.
At sixteen I learned to sew and in six months I earned money and a reputation, of sorts, sewing costumes for rock and roll bands. Years later I moved to Boston with babe in arms. The babe being nine months old I needed to work at home and that I did. You guessed it...sewing, When my son was a bit older I started selling elephants that I made from recycled denim and sold them from a push cart in Boston's Quincy Market.
I knew it was time to name my business. Not wanting to use the word denim, and lock myself into sewing with it forever, I headed to one of my favorite places, looking for inspiration.
The main branch of the Boston Public Library was a short walk from where we lived and knowing that song titles were copyright free I headed for the basement, hoping to find something I could use and that I would love as much as I loved the name of the hip little haberdashery my friends Alice and Peggy ran in Ann Arbor.
My son laughed aloud in that shop for the very first time when he was five months old. Perhaps he was laughing at the name of the shop because he knew when he learned to talk he would never get it right. Hardly anyone did. La roo dads and Doo Lang often turned into Roo Lang and Doo la or some such.
I was looking for a catchy, fun name but it had to be something people could remember and I wanted it to have some connection to my work. When I found the Irving Berlin song, titled “Tokyo Blues,” I knew my search was over.
Later, a tailoring shop in Boston turned into a decorating business. Wanting to be even closer to my beloved ocean I moved to Newburyport in 2001. The little denim elephant has come out of hiding, watching over me while I embellish and embroider the custom pillows and sachets that are my passion.
