Chanelle Larche is at ease and inspired at a sewing machine.
The local woman has stitched together courses to share her passion with the community this summer.
This week, the professional seamstress has been teaching sewing courses at her alma mater, École secondaire catholique Thériault. Next week is the final classes of the summer course where students will make a messenger bag to take home after. It runs July 18-20 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is for people ages 11 and up.
“I really wanted to give workshops, just not too long sewing classes so they can learn the basics … of reading a pattern and that stuff, so people in Timmins can learn to sew by a professional. A lot of people don’t have that opportunity. I had that opportunity with my mom who is a professional seamstress, so I wanted to give that opportunity to other people too,” she said.
Larche's passion for sewing started young.
It started with hand-stitching doll clothes before she started winning awards for her talents.
“I like that I don’t have to think too much, it just comes to me naturally. I understand it, I don’t need to force myself to learn that much because I learn fast with my hands. I had learning difficulties as a child with communication so reading and writing wasn’t my (strength) and I thought reading patterns was really easy,” said Larche.
The awards started in Grade 7 at École catholique Anicet-Morin and throughout high school she earned hardware in Skills Ontario competitions. At 15, she took the Summer Company Program through the Business Enterprise Centre to start a seamstress business.
SEE: Student stitches together summer business
After graduating high school in 2020, she moved to Montreal where she got her professional seamstress diploma.
Two weeks after picking up her diploma at the age of 19, she got a job at Cirque de Soleil, where she worked for 1.5 years making costumes.
She recently moved back to Timmins to take an English business course and decide where to further her studies.
Wanting to test out her teaching skills and give back to the community, the summer courses took shape.
The first classes focused on technical basics leading up to the three-day course to piece together the messenger bag.
“For the beginners’ basics, it’s really learning about the anatomy of the machine, all the pieces, how your machine works ‘cause that’s what you’ll be using — that’s your tool. We learned all the basics, the hand stitches you need to know to do all the finishes,” she said.
She's happy with how the classes are going and has learned a lot.
"I’m very impressed by especially the kids. I thought they would have more trouble learning, but they ended up being naturals by the end,” she said.
Later this year, Larche is heading back to Montreal to continue her studies and work towards securing her dream job.
“Right now I want to go to Europe and work in an atelier. And I do have some connections there already, so I’m thinking Chanel or Dior,” she said.
There are still spaces for the messenger bag course next week. The details on cost and how to register are on her Facebook page, L'Atelier de Couture-Chanelle.
