Citrus Co. boutique plans to give profits to charities

LECANTO, Fla. — Since she was a toddler, Kathleen Stayton has had a fascination with sewing.

She said her mom would tell a fun story of when Stayton first saw her mom use a sewing machine.

“I was five or six years old and leaning on [the counter], watching her sew and broke the hinge off of it because I was just so into it, I had to have my little eyeballs up where she was,” Stayton said.

It wouldn’t take long for her to start sewing herself to the point where she began doing it professionally at just 15 years old.

Over the years, the passion, according to Stayton, has somewhat faded.

“Now it’s like work,” she said.

According to her, it’s work in more ways than one.

She still sews and does alterations for a living in Lecanto.

It’s work that keeps her going, but she says it’s not what defines her.

First and foremost, she’s a mom, and that’s what’s fueled her latest project that’s in the same space where she sews.

On top of her full-time job sewing, Stayton opened up a new boutique right next door named after someone who means the world to her.

“Victoria Boutique,” Stayton said. “I named it after my daughter.”

Almost two years ago, on Christmas Eve, Victoria died in a car accident. She was just 33. It shook Stayton down to her core, saying it caused her to rethink what’s important in life.

“It makes me shift my priorities that nothing mattered to me more,” Stayton said. “I could have, I would have given everything I own, everything I ever would own to have her back.”

So, rather than open a boutique and solely focus on this business, she decided that the proceeds from the boutique would be donated to two charities — the Florida Baptist Disaster Relief and The Priceless Journey in Odessa.

“If I sell it and I could donate the money, that could do some good,” Stayton said.

Which is why she continues to sew, because this is how she gets an income.

She works upwards of 12 to 13 hours a day sewing and running the boutique.

Even though she’s tired, she doesn’t mind the long hours when it means seeing the dozens of pictures of Victoria that line her walls.

“I got her all over the place so that a lot of people can see her,” Stayton said. “We miss her so much.”

With each thread and each alteration, Stayton’s passion for her daughter’s legacy keeps her business that’s doing so much good going.

Stayton says she also sells Larimar jewelry in her boutique.

She held her grand opening for the business on Oct. 27 and hopes to convert the space into a crafting classroom or a place for sewing lessons once all the merchandise is sold.