A long time ago, in a very, very far away land...

No, I am just joking. Here is my story even though it starts when I was only a little girl in Pretoria.

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My grandmother used to sew and it always seemed so complicated to me even though I spent days cutting up aprons to make wrap-arounds for "fashion outfits". I used to play with my aunt's old lace curtains that she threw out for days by pretending they were wedding dresses. I even made Barbie doll clothes in secret while I was in high school because sewing wasn't cool back then.

 

In 2001, the year after I finished matrick, I met the man of my future. Due to a rocky childhood, I was still not sure where I wanted to be in life.  We moved in together a while after that to start a future with direction.

In 2002, on my 20th birthday, Ferdi popped the big question, and of course, the answer was yes.

Not long after that Ferdi got a job opportunity in (then, called) Pietersburg. I was shattered, because I just found meaning and now he has to go away. 

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We ended up moving into a friend's house together. One evening Ferdi came home with a horrible suggestion. His colleague's wife was a (then) fresh fashion designer, working from their garage and she needed help. She was not going to pay me at all, but at least I could get out of the house and figure myself out. I was furious! 

My fiancé was expecting me to do something I did not want to do and without payment! I still remember him asking me: "Where do you see yourself five years from now?"

Well, in the end, I went for the opportunity, and this designer was very nice to me. She allowed me to make a corset, and I was hooked!

This little venture of Ferdi and me did not last six months, and we had to return home.

 

Back in Pretoria,  I started taking online courses on fashion design and studied in my free time. Ferdi and I got married in 2004 and in 2005 when my dear friend got married, she trusted me to make her most beautiful dress.

In 2006 I worked as a seamstress and co-teacher on apparel construction for my mentor and fashion designer, Landi van Aardt. My little princess was born in 2007, and I decided to start my fashion journey.

I named it "Holtzanne Creations" - only because it sounded fancy when I mixed my name and new surname, lol.

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During the next five years, we had two more children. They are both boys and they have a rare disease called Cystic Fibrosis. With this immune-compromised and life-threatening situation in our lives, my mission and vision to make dresses only got so much stronger, since I had to stay at home with my children anyway.

In the meanwhile, I made wedding dresses, matrick farewell dresses, bridesmaid dresses, and many, many more.

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​Then COVID-19 hit our planet...

This was when I discovered how much I loved making little dresses for little people! 

I made my first 10 flowergirl dresses and it was just like a wedding dress, just smaller, and quicker to make! My sisters struggled to find jackets and matching accessories for their flower girls and this was when I decided to go for the tiny ones.​

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After talking to fashion designer, Simon Rademan over social media during our national lockdown, I realized that women need a boutique for their flower girls. With his stamp of approval, I was convinced that this was the next step in my career. I also started giving sewing workshops for the home-school community. More and more people started requesting sewing lessons and this opened up another door to the future.

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So here I am, looking at the world through a little girl's eyes, and all I can see are pretty dresses, matching jackets and accessories, and a boutique. Small enough for young girls to have a ball and big enough for mom to join them.