Hello and welcome! My name is Natasha Chernavska and I am happy you stopped by! Originally, I am from Russia. I came to US in 2004 and love it.
Here's my story...
Fashion design was always my biggest passion! Ever since I was 6 or 7, I have been creating wardrobes for a crowd of paper dolls that I carved out from magazines or drew myself. I made cool outfits for them considering their age, type and character. I was looking around and studying outfits I saw everywhere – on the streets, on TV and in movies. I remember having lots of fun doing it till I was about a teenager.
I also had a few real dolls. I used to sew clothing for them. My mom helped me. She was a wonderful seamstress and showed me the basics. I continued learning in labor training class in middle school. I loved to sew and make clothing for myself and my friends. Especially considering that I was a plus size girl since I was 7.
Years went by. For a while I was building career in journalism, and then in marketing, and didn’t do much visual arts. I also stopped making clothes. But occasionally I would still draw a sketch or two of different clothing ideas.
United States plus size clothing market is much more luscious than Russian. But I still had hard times finding something I liked. It all came up to trying to find something that fitted my body and didn’t look completely awful on my figure. However, I still couldn’t build a wardrobe that would express my personality.
In 2014 I lost a bit of weight and went from size 18-20 to size 12. I had to get new clothing. But no matter how much I looked, I still couldn’t find almost anything so “me” that I would really want to wear. This really inspired me to get back to my childhood passion. I started sewing again. It made me ecstatic.
I couldn’t believe, that for years I have been putting aside something I loved so much! Lots of ideas flooded my mind. I couldn’t stop! Soon, I have created so much clothing, that I didn’t even have time to wear. But I didn’t want to stop. I was inspired to make clothing to other people and created a few items for my friends, which they loved! They say, that in life we need to do something which is absolutely impossible for us to avoid doing. That is our bliss. That is our “thing”. I realized, that all these years I was miserable because I have stayed away from making clothes.
Some of the clothing that are being sold in this store were sewn using a regular sewing machine, when I still didn’t have a serger (overlock). I have a simple serger now. I am in real need to upgrade my serger so I could do complex seems and hems.
Almost all iGotCurves fabrics come from Los Angeles fashion design houses. I pick the most interesting pieces with interesting patterns and those that will look flattering on a curvy body.
I am in this almost completely by myself. I am doing everything including fabric shopping, sewing, shooting the clothing. I designed all iGotCurves items. And I still have lots of ideas that I have not yet implemented.
However, I am really happy that I have friends who help me to make this happen: Kat Johnston, Tatyana O’Toole, Guzel Delmont. They participated in modeling of the items. Tatyana also helped me a lot with photography.
When you are buying items in this store, you don’t buy from a company, you buy from me. You help me survive and keep creating more wonderful clothing and jewelry. And you also help me keep being happy! All I want is that my creations could bring this joy and happiness into your life!
Please, feel free to contact me any time.
Love yourself right meow!
Natasha Chernavska.