Ms Thomas lives at Nelson Bay and owns other shops at Forster, Taree, Bateau Bay and Coffs Harbour.

"I was talking to staff in the Forster shop when a lady overheard me wanting to open up another outlet," she said.

"She talked about how wonderful Mudgee was. So I came for a drive and fell in love with the place.

"It had a real feel about it - something special. I was so blown away with how nice and courteous people are.

"Everyone is so lovely."

Ms Thomas had never been to Mudgee and felt her clothes would be unique and the perfect fit. Addictive is located on Church Street and officially opened on Saturday, July 10.

She has been selling clothes for the past 35 years and it became her mission to create dresses for larger women.

"I could not buy what I wanted to sell for ladies, a dress that would fit a 16-18, so I decided I had to come up with styles myself," she said.

"I couldn't find a dress anywhere, as it was a very hot summer there were women who wanted a sundress in bigger sizes."

Ms Thomas made a few trips to Bali to work out how to get her vision put in fabric.

"I didn't even know how to sew a button on a shirt," she laughed.

She came back to Australia with larger-sized dresses and women loved them.

Ms Thomas then upped her game in search of an outlet to regularly make her clothes. She headed to the fashion city of Milan.

"My first trip I came back empty handed, it was so hard to find outlets," she said.

With determination, she found an outlet that has worked with her designs for the past 20 years.

Ms Thomas said 70 percent of the clothing in her shop was Italian made: "original designs from myself, mainly linen and silk".

The rest of her shop is stocked with Indian-cotton sundresses for the warmer months.

Ms Thomas hoped to bump into the woman she met in the shop that day and thank her for the hot tip about Mudgee.

"To the woman who inspired me to set up a shop here in Mudgee ... I would love to catch up over a coffee," she said.

"I hope we can get in touch one day."

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