MiVT: Miss Allaneous

MILTON, Vt. (WCAX) - There are very few things that Deb Wells of Milton finds more engaging than sewing.

“I sew every spare minute I’m not doing anything else. I sit at night and I’m puttering on something,” she laughed. “I literally always have a needle in my hand.”

Mentored by her grandmother, she recounts times of needles, thread and fabric littering her childhood home. She’d sew anything she could get her hands on.

“When I was a teenager, I started working on friends’ weddings,” Wells explained.

Since then, the rest of her career been happily ever after. She opened “Sewly Yours” at the top of Church Street, a carefully curated bridal boutique.

“[In] 2008, [I] decided to make a big change and focus specifically on the accessory portion of my company,” she said.

Wells had spent years buying accessories from other vendors. But, with her skillset, decided to give herself a try. She made some veils and accessories to bring to market.

“My first attempt at it, when people had expressed interest in what I do, came back as a complete failure. And I thought, ‘OK, let’s try this again,’” she recounted.

She closed up her Burlington bridal boutique in 2014 to spend more time with family. Instead, she built a studio on her property in Milton that would allow her to focus on her brand, Miss Allaneous. She no longer does dresses, and isn’t taking appointments at the moment. Instead, she spends her time creating stunning veils and accessories.

“Most of my laces are French laces but lately I’ve actually been working with a Ukrainian mill that’s been really important to me for all the reasons that make sense,” Wells explained.

Veils of various lengths, intricacies and price points decorate the shop. Wells is preparing the one-of-a-kind works to take to a bridal market in Chicago later on this month in the hopes that stores will pick up her pieces. Outside of that show, Wells says business is two times where it was pre-pandemic. She also explains that right now, extremely long veils are all the rage.

Sold in 40 or so stores all over the country, Miss Allaneous pieces cannot be bought online. The closest shops are in Boston and Portland, Maine.

“It was really important for me to buy that way, and so when I wanted to present my own designs, my own veils and accessories to stores, it was really important for them to know that it was made, everything was designed and crafted right here in Vermont,” said Wells.

She will take custom orders from the shops she does work with, making veils from antique laces, or finding the right color scheme for each bride. Sometimes that means ordering lace from dress manufacturers to match the veil exactly to the dress.

“When somebody looks at something I made and say they’ve never seen anything like that before, that’s the best compliment,” she said.

While every bride wants to look beautiful on the big day, Wells says it’s the veil that’s the icing on the cake.

“Anyone can wear a white dress,” she said, ”you put a veil on, it becomes a whole different thing.”

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