Michele Erceg stitches quality and creativity together
Story by ANN MARIE FRENCH
Michele Erceg came to Saratoga Springs on a
date. She fell in love with the man and the city. Or was it the city and then
the man? Either way, Erceg said the city spoke to
her, with its architecture, history and walkable
downtown.
“I had never experienced anything like it in suburban New Jersey,” she
said. “It was everything I had been looking for. You could walk to restaurants
and shops. There was architecture. There was history, and it was alive.”
So she bought a Victorian home on York Avenue. The previous owner had
been using the home as a pair of rental units. Erceg
knew it was in poor shape and began the 10-year renovation process.
“I’m a carpenter’s daughter,” she said. “I did this major Victorian
renovation — designed it and built it with my own two hands.”
She salvaged a tin ceiling from the dump for her half bathroom and
found an original manufacturer to provide the remaining ceilings for the house.
Whether it was flooring, porches or plumbing, Erceg
had a hand in it. The inside of the pink, Victorian home has been decorated in
Victorian style with ceiling medallions, crown molding and wallpaper patterns.
Erceg learned to sew at age 9 and graduated
from college with a degree in home economics and sewing education. But, when
the time came, she decided not to join the teaching profession.
“I never went into the public school system. I realized teenagers had
no interest in learning to sew,” she said. “I figured I would do something
interesting for a few years and then return to teaching as a grown-up.”
Erceg’s found her “interesting” job — as a
stewardess for Eastern Airlines. Working four days on, three days off, she flew
around the world — and loved it. A few years turned into two decades before the
company went bankrupt and closed.
Erceg said her interest in sewing never
stopped, and by the time she found herself without a job, she had already laid
the groundwork for starting her own business using those skills. The way Erceg saw it, she had two choices — she could make women’s
dresses or window treatments for houses. Given her own
love of architecture, it was an easy choice.
She picked up jobs as they came, ever appreciative of a customer’s
referral. Most clients would seek her out after seeing her work elsewhere or
hearing about her work from a friend. She worked in an upstairs room while the
remainder of the house became her showroom.
“I do love when clients come to my home,” Erceg
said. “They can really see the quality of work and attention to detail.”
Erceg’s home is decorated in true Victorian
style, with antique furniture and curio cabinets throughout to show off her
collection of vintage handbags and Mardi Gras beads. The curtains serve as
examples of her work and offer clients an opportunity to really examine her
work right down to the stitching.
“It’s made well,” she said. “If it doesn’t look right, I take it apart
and do it again. Everything I know how to do I know because I did it wrong the
first time. I’ve learned something from my mistakes. They are valuable
lessons.”
It was several years before she gave any thought to giving her business
a name. To be truthful, Erceg had not given it much
thought until she was interviewed for a newspaper article. The article was
printed under a headline touting her as having the “best dressed windows in
town.” It stuck.
Best Dressed Windows in Town is the oldest business of its kind in
Saratoga Springs. The business has changed since 1986, accounting for the needs
and styles of her clients. Erceg’s Web site, www.bestdressedwindowsintown.com,
provides visitors a virtual glance at her work.
She also has expanded the business to include blinds, shutters, and
shades. Erceg can coordinate an entire room,
including slipcovers, pillows and cushions in addition to the windows.
Erceg has hundreds of fabric samples and
albums full of photographs of her previous work. She said each of the patterns
available to clients stem from about a dozen traditional designs.
“Everything else is a variation on an old-fashioned design,” Erceg said. “It is all about the details. It’s how you put
the elements together.”
Erceg said she also works with clients who
bring in “specialty fabric” to her. Most common are sheet sets. Erceg said people find a bedding set they fall in love with
and purchase the additional sheets to make curtains. Others have brought to her
antique quilts, vintage tablecloths and even a fur coat to use.
The fur coat turned into pillows, and the other things became window
treatments. Erceg said people often assume window
treatments require using fabric. Not so, she says.
“Window treatments don’t necessarily mean hanging fabric on a pole or a
rod,” she said. “It can also be a collection of anything hung artistically.” Erceg’s favorite example is birdhouses. She has on display
28 handmade birdhouses crafted by her father.
Erceg hasn’t given up on other sewing
interests, either. She has made Victorian period clothing for a variety of
local events, crafted costumes for dogs and even a wedding gown and tuxedo for
horses.
Her clients keep Erceg busy, leaving a few
personal projects in various stages of completion. What are they? Curtains, of
course!