“Only a few years ago I was a stay-at-home mom who owned too many shoes,” Tori Anna Dyke says with a wry smile. After her two grown sons flew the nest, she wanted to do something more creative than an office job.

“One day I saw this small evening bag in a major department store, but didn’t want to pay the marked-up price for it. I thought, ‘I can make this.’”

After purchasing a designer pattern and fabric which she “tweaked” to her own specifications, Dyke wasn’t the only one satisfied with the result — the endeavor led to compliments, as well as requests from friends.

Now the spirited entrepreneur is making a name for herself in the Mid-coast area and beyond.

Designing that small bag brought back childhood memories of growing up in Gray, watching her mother, Virginia, sew day and night.

Now Dyke felt her own sewing mojo, especially enjoying the pairing of colorful fabrics to create summer bags to sell at local craft fairs.

She was having so much fun; the energetic, self-taught seamstress began thinking about her own cottage industry. With encouragement from her friend, Heidi Sawyer, a Waldoboro sail maker, Dyke purchased an industrial sewing machine as well as half the stock at Narragansett Leather when the Damariscotta company closed its Main Street store.

When Dyke was thinking about her business name and logo, kismet struck again. One evening, she found a dragonfly at her feet in her backyard.

“As I held it in my hand, I felt it was a sign from my dad, who passed away in 2007,” she said. “He always comes to me in dragonflies. I noticed the body and wings formed the letter ‘T’ and knew I wanted to incorporate it in my logo.”

Still working from home in West Bath, Dyke designed and sewed wool and leather bags along with lined wool capes. Continuing to participate in craft fairs, the budding entrepreneur approached Lisa- Marie Stewart — owner of Lisa-Marie’ s Made in Maine on Front Street in Bath and Exchange Street in Portland — about selling her merchandise.

Stewart agreed, giving Dyke support and more confidence to forge ahead.

Although having ideas, talent and energy was never an obstacle, Dyke points out she struggled with confidence issues and not having the knowledge to run a business and market her product.

As a single woman relying on savings to get by, Dyke says, “I went from feeling like, ‘This is so much fun working with all this fabric,’ to ‘Wow! I need to make these numbers work.’”

She got a big leg up by attending a free 60-hour New Ventures course through Women, Work and Community this past spring that “really helped me turn a corner.”

“I learned about pricing, marketing, and most importantly, the instructor, Shirley Hamilton, just helped me feel worthy of success,” she adds.

Dyke’s business includes a unique aspect: She donates a percentage of her proceeds to organizations represented by the trail-blazing women who she says “helped put Maine on the map.”

The women Dyke has chosen to honor thus far include Olympia Snowe; Margaret Chase Smith; Cornelia “Fly- Rod” Crosby, the state’s first Maine Guide; Harriet Beecher Stowe; Molly Carney, North America’s first female ship’s captain; Abbie Burgess, Matinicus Rock’s famous lighthouse keeper; and friend Heidi Sawyer, one of the state’s last traditional sail makers.

When Dyke sent a limited edition bag to Snowe, naming it, “Olympia,” she received a personal, handwritten thank you letter.

This past spring, Dyke moved her growing business from her home to a spacious studio at Mill Two in Fort Andross.

Her goals in the coming years include setting up shop in a more visible space on Brunswick’s Maine Street and eventually opening at least five boutiques on the Atlantic coast between Rockland and Newport, R.I. — to not only support herself, but also to employ others.

For now, you can find Tori Anna Dyke creating her oneof a-kind bags and capes at the Fort above Waterfront Flea Market in Suite 220.

The studio, which she shares with fiber artist Beth Carr, is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Her products can also be found at House of Logan in Bath, Camden and Boothbay Harbor, The Mix on Maine Street in Brunswick, and at The Maine Center for Craft in Gardiner. Dyke can be reached at 650-1268, Tori@toriannadesigns.com, or find her on the web at www.toriannadesigns.com and www.facebook.com/ Tori- AnnaDesigns.

KAREN SCHNEIDER, of West Bath, is a freelance writer. She can be reached at iwrite33@comcast.net.