A 27-year-old woman is dedicating time and effort to something special for her future children. Nicole, who manages the Instagram account @VillaDeSanti, is a biomedical engineer pursuing her doctorate by day. However, it's her unique hobby, which she's recently started sharing online, that has captured even more attention than her impressive academic achievements.
"I started my baby clothes collection when I was very, very young," she told PEOPLE. "I was maybe 5 or 6 years old when I began collecting the clothes. At first, they were for my baby dolls. My mom encouraged my love for playing with dolls. It started as just that, and over the years, I created a baby clothes collection that I hope will be for my future kids."
Nicole's collection consists of "maybe 100 items total," including both boys' and girls' clothes. "I don't shop that often. Items come and go. Sometimes I'll get something and later decide not to keep it. I'll give it away or sell some things. What I show online is from what I've gathered over the years. The collection is always evolving."
The collection also evolves because Nicole enjoys customizing these clothes to suit her vision.
"Crocheting and embroidery have always been a part of my life. My grandma used to sew and do a lot of embroidery, and my mom did the same, mainly as a hobby, so it was natural for me to pick it up too," she says.
"Lately, I've been applying the skills I've honed over the years to my baby clothes collection. It's fun to explore and learn more about how to use those skills to create a wardrobe for my future kids."
While it's difficult to choose favourites, Nicole has a special appreciation for the items she customizes or, in some cases, makes herself from scratch.
"My favourite personalized items are the ones I've entirely made myself. They're the ones where I have to challenge myself to learn new techniques. There's one particular dress I've shown on my Instagram page, which has embroidered sleeves. That was very challenging. I had to redo the whole thing multiple times, but in the end, I learned so much from it," she says.
"I think that's the beauty of the process learn so much. You put so much time into it and fall in love with the process, and hopefully, fall in love with the product. I spent a lot of time on that dress and put my heart into it."
Regarding thrifting and vintage finds, she adds, "There's a story behind each piece and a reason for obtaining it or something specific that drew me to it. It's just really, really hard to choose."
Nicole recently took her collection to Instagram, hoping to connect with other collectors and build a community.
"Just recently, I started thinking, 'Maybe there are more people with the same dreams, interests, and aspirations as me.' I decided to give it a try and see what others thought and share that happiness," she says.
"It's been interesting. The reason I decided to share it was because I never really saw anyone else talking about it. My friends moved on from dolls around 12 or 13 as their lives became more online, and I never had anyone to really talk about it," Nicole continues.
"It's been really fun. Most of the comments have been very positive. There are a few negative ones, but almost anything you say in this world will get some differing opinions. But it's been very fun. I would say it's brought me a lot of happiness."
Seeing the appreciation for the items she's collected fills Nicole with joy, both for now and the future, when she'll share her outfits with her little ones.
"I really hope that my future kids feel the same love that I felt while gathering all these items for them. Not just in a material sense, but knowing how much they've been on my mind, how much I've anticipated them. I look forward to one day living this dream with them and sharing with them what it means to me."
