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WYOMING — The walls of Threads by Voisin are lined with children’s clothes, dresses and shirts.
The shop, located on Wyoming Avenue, is owned and operated by Bernadette Voisin, and the clothes are all made by her.
Voisin, 48, opened the shop, which specializes in alterations and custom dress making, in the fall of 2016 and hasn’t looked back since.
“I love it here,” Voisin said.
She said she has loved sewing her whole life and learned at an early age that it would be a career.
Voisin learned how to sew from her cousin at the age of 14. She said after school, she would visit her cousin, who lived across the street, and she would sew buttons on clothes.
“I would go crazy,” she said. “I just wanted to get on the machine. I was eager.”
Since then, Voisin said she has never stopped sewing and knew it would eventually lead her to a career.
Before the opening shop, she lived in New York and moved to the Poconos from there, and then eventually settled in the shop in Wyoming, a short walk from her home. Voisin said she tried other jobs in the past, but nothing brought her the joy sewing did.
“I wasn’t happy,” she said. “And I’m happy with this.”
Now, more than a year after opening her store, she says business is blossoming, and she looks forward to another year in the shop.
“I’m looking forward to a great year this year,” she said.
Voisin said her client base has grown, and she continues to offer alterations and custom designs.
“I design, cut and sew,” she said. “Freehand, no patterns.”
Since opening the shop, she said she has blown people’s expectations of seamstresses away.
“A lot of people hear seamstress, they think I’m a really old person,” she laughed. “Because nobody does this. (Customers) come in and they’re like ‘I thought you were older.’”
Finding her home in the Wyoming Valley has strengthened her love for her job.
“I feel like a queen here,” she said.
“I love what I do. I love clothes.”
