WESTBROOK – Located in her office, Dr. Christine Blake’s Westbrook shop helps those who need gowns to afford them.

WESTBROOK – When Christine Blake was a child, her family didn’t have a lot of extra money to spend on non-essentials, like formal gowns.

Years later, her own children are allowed to play in the gowns that Blake sews and designs at her office – the same office where she also practices medicine.

Blake is not only a family-practice physician in Westbrook, but also runs a dress shop, Christine Blake Designs, on the weekends. And even she admits it’s an unusual combination.

“Most people in the medical world have some type of creative outlet. I’ve never heard anyone say anything negative about it, but it is surprising,” she said.

The busy mother of four, with a fifth on the way, recently moved her shop into her Stroudwater Street office to cut down on overhead costs and be able to offer the dresses at affordable prices, the real goal of her shop.

Dresses at the shop are sold for a discounted price, going from $200-$500 for a custom-designed and hand-sewn gown, and much less for an already made dress. Blake doesn’t take any of the money made from the sale of the dresses – her assistant gets half and the other half she uses to fund her efforts to give dresses to young women who need them.

“We sponsor all sorts of things. I’m helping sponsor St. James School graduation [in Biddeford] this year by the sale of communion dresses,” she said.

The first dress she ever donated was made to look like a pink cupcake at the request of Kristen Korda, who won Maine Outstanding Teen 2009 in the dress and now works with Blake in her shop.

“I came from really humble beginnings. I was raised by a single mother and a church community. I couldn’t have found the success I have now without their support,” she said. “They taught me it’s really important to use your talents to give back to people. I teach Sunday School, I do whatever I can to give back.”

Blake, 39, said when she was attending medical school at the University of New England, she had the choice to start a path where she would make a lot of money, but instead she went into family practice so she could help people.

Blake began to make dresses for her dolls when she was 9 years old. By the time she was ready to attend her own formal events, like pageants and proms, she was not only able to sew her own dresses, but also to design the fabulous frocks.

In 2008, Blake began to donate her dresses to scholarship winners and people from single-parent homes who have a dream dress in mind but can’t afford it, much less any dress. Blake donates dresses to the Maine Academic Scholarship Program, Shannon Folsom Miss Collegiate America, and the Mrs. Maine pageants, and she sponsors many other programs at the Muskie School of Public Service at USM and American Heart Association.

“The best feeling is when you make someone’s design come to life, when they see it on the mannequin for the first time and their face lights up,” Blake said.

Blake has a long history in pageantry. She started when she was 16 and was the 2010 Mrs. Maine America winner

Blake has at least 500 gowns in her store on the weekends. Some of them are homemade, some of them are from large dress company Jovani and some are from a wholesale warehouse where Blake can order specific gowns based on what’s selling best for the year.

“I was a little skeptical at first,” said Korda about moving the store into the doctor’s office. “At the end of the day it’s about being able to make our dresses affordable. To me it doesn’t matter where you get the dress, it’s about the dress itself, and our gowns are just as pretty as the ones you can find at the hottest stores.”

Trending this year for prom gowns, she said, are bright colors like blue and purple gowns with form-fitting tops with mermaid-style bottoms or full, taffeta-filled skirts.

Even during weekdays, the office waiting room has a few gowns lined up against the back wall.

“It’s kind of fun for the patients to flip through instead of looking at magazines. It’s definitely different, only in Maine can you go to the doctors and get a dress at the same place,” Blake said.

Dr. Christine Blake creates and sells formal wear at her medical office on Stroudwater Street in Westbrook. Sales help fund the physician’s efforts to give dresses to young women who need them. Photo by Rich Obrey

Dr. Christine Blake