U

NOS

MEMBRES

By CHRISTY LAPI

Audette Lepage of Cassidy
went into a store some time ago
and couldn’t find a pair of jeans
to fit her well enough to be com-
fortable.

It’s probably a common ex-
perience. But Audette took ac-
tion in an uncommon way.

She decided to make her own
jeans of her own design for her-
self and her family. And then
she decided to branch out as a
cottage industry.

“‘Talways had it in the back of
my mind to make jeans,’’ she
says. ‘‘I like a challenge and I
thought jeans were a challenge.
I decided to go for it.’’ -

Audette has always enjoyed
sewing. ‘‘My mom was a sewer,
and my grandmother was a
sewer,’’ she says. It seems it is a
family trait.’’

Audette and husband Gaston
left their Quebec home 10 years
ago, spending five years in Ed-
monton. After a brief stint in
Victoria, they moved to their
Cassidy home four years ago.
Gaston is now manager of the
Ladysmith Pay-Less Gas Sta-
tion.

Last April, Audette decided
to begin making jeans on a com-
mercial custom-made basis.
Wearing j jeans is not only fash-
ionable for those who follow
trends set by Calvin Klein and
Gloria Vanderbilt, but wearing
denim is also practical i in a world
of the shrinking dollar.

Audette notes, with a smile,
that the more denim fades the
better people seem to like it.
“‘When it fades we wear it be-
cause it still looks good.’’

But, ironically, finding a good
supply of denim turned out to be
her biggest problem.

The major manufacturers
were reluctant to wholesale to
an individual. ‘‘If you are not
interested in buying 10,000
meters of it, they don’t want to
talk to you.’’

Jeans maker Audette Lepage and four-year- old ‘SC
Sacha model hand-crafted denims.

But eventually she found a
firm in Edmonton willing to sell
from its ample supply of a large
variety of denims. Anybody who
figures denim is denim hasn’t
taken a close look. It ranges
from 100 per cent cotton, to a
variety of mixes of cotton and
polyester.

With her supply of denim as-
sured, Audette revved up her
sewing machine and got to
work.

Jeans personalized by in-
itials. jaa with tiny red stars
edging up the seams. Women’s
jeans with a diagonal stripe up
the pocket. Men’s jeans with a
decorative arch on the pocket.
Overalls with an anchor emblem
on the side. Children’s overalls
with a tiny train with button

wheels tooting along the front.
Audette even expanded her
business to include denim vests,
denim western-style skirts, and
denim wrap-around skirts.
Although she does sew suits
and other custom-made wear on
demand, her real love is jeans.
They fit. They are comfort-
able. They are practical. And
they don’t cost an arm and a leg.
It’s tough to ask more of your
clothing.

14-Wednesday, November 14, 1984-
‘THE LADYSMITH-
CHEMAINUS CHRONICLE