In spring, a young man’s fancy may turn to love, but a woman’s fancy turns to... clothes. As in: “I hate every single thing in my closet. If I have to put on one more sweater or pair of long johns or Bean boots, I will flippin’ lose it.”

Daria Norvlaan doesn’t have that problem, see.  She’s a local fashion designer from Damariscotta with a mean sewing machine. She just has to imagine what she feels like wearing for spring, summer, fall or winter, and simply orders the fabric, cuts it, sews it and applies her own signature silk screen designs on it. Presto — an entire closet filled with new, sleek, and even eco-friendly designs appears.

She runs her own label, Luksin Designs, primarily on Etsy, featuring “earth friendly clothing, made from organic cotton and other sustainable and eco-conscious fabrics. Designed, hand sewn, dyed in small batches and hand silk screened with original drawings, all on the coast of Maine.”

Typically when you see “hand-sewn,” and “earth-friendly” in the same sentence, the image that comes to mind is one of those unflattering grain sack sewing pattern designs, like something you’d see in the Sears sewing department in the 1970s.

But it’s 2013 now, a whole new world for hand-sewn designs, and Norvlaan’s creations are both edgy and retro, like her 1940s-style black dress with the gold Maine pine tree design on the left buttock as well as clingy, natural and sexy, like her tencel racer back tank top.

Speaking of the ‘70s, apparently all the upscale stores in cities from Anthropologie to Macy’s are hell bent on bringing the God-awful dashikis and Boho caftan dresses back from the 1970s this spring. Every single scrap of clothing in these stores feature tripping-on-acid patterns, long flowy maxi-dresses and Love Child billowy tops.

With the '70s fashion era, a very little goes a long way. For Norvlaan, finding the best in a trend takes a subtle eye.

“There’s kind of a '70s sensibility in some of my designs, like the maxi dresses, or tight high-waisted jeans with a capped sleeve tees,” she said. “But I’m not doing any big crazy prints. And I’m not trying to get in on the trend. It’s just because that’s what I personally feel like wearing.”

For example, she pairs suede fringy cowboy boots with a black clingy cocktail dress. Or she’ll create a supple, sturdy black leather bag with a hint of swingy, leather fringe.

A native Mainer, Norvlaan began her career at the ripe age of eight when she began making her own Halloween costumes on the sewing machine.

“As long as I can remember, I’ve always made stuff or altered stuff,” she said.

She went to the Maine College of Art for sculpture and has forged an entrepreneurial path with her designs ever since. First, she began selling to wholesalers, but quickly discovered that the profit they extracted resulted in a higher markup on her clothes — something she didn’t want to pass down to the customer. Now, in order to keep her prices lower, she operates entirely out of Etsy and through indie craft fairs all over the eastern seaboard or through venues, such as the Maine Boats, Homes and Harbors annual event.

“It’s kind of intuitive the way I go about making a dress,” she said, explaining the process. In the winter, she’ll order large rolls of organic cotton, wool or tencel, which is a natural fiber extracted from eucalyptus or beech trees and has a silky, Rayon type of drape to it. Tencel is also eco-friendly as the chemicals used to break down the fibers are natural, nontoxic  and recycled, as opposed to making rayon or bamboo in which the chemicals used to process the material are harmful when dumped into the environment.

In her little studio in Damariscotta, she goes to the task of cutting each initial design by hand.

“I’ll make about five prototypes, one at a time,” she explained. “Then, depending on what shows I’m going to, I’ll make about 15 to 30 of each piece using a cutting machine.” 

She then hand sews most of her own creations, outsourcing certain pieces to a small cadre of stitchers she employs. Next she’ll hand dye the garment, create a unique design for it and silkscreen it herself.

She even hires a professional photographer to shoot each design, which she will often model herself amidst stormy or gritty Maine fishing backgrounds.

In a few weeks, Norvlaan will roll out her spring collection, including a new line of faded Art Deco pastels.  Then she’ll hit the road and do some shows in Philadelphia and Brooklyn.  When we often talk about the creative economy and who its pioneers are, Norvlaan is a one-woman band in this way, from start to finish. Stay tuned to her Etsy page to see what she’ll unveil next.

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com