I became interested in fashion when I was a young girl, I just did not know it yet. My grandmother, Wanda Rochelle, taught me how to sew my dolls’ ripped dipper back together. You see, my grandmother owned a drapery shop in Lawton Oklahoma when I was little. When I visited her, I would help her straighten and pin the fabric. She even kept a box of scrap fabrics that she would let me play with. I even, dressed my cousin up like a bride in the shop, he’s traumatized (Giggles). In middle school I took home-eke class to learn how to sew. I remembered how much fun I had sewing when I was little. I learned how to sew pillows and became fascinated with making things.
It was not enough, I wanted to learn more. So I took classes at the technology school (fashion/interior design). This is were, I learned how to make clothes from store-bought patterns. I would mix and match patterns to create my own designs for random costumes. I was not satisfied. I wanted to make my own patterns. It wasn’t until a conversation with my teacher. We were discussing a sewing project ( it was a daily thing). I was making a masquerade dress for my Halloween costume, and could not find a pattern. I wanted to make it anyways. As the instructor shook her head, she told me, “ You want to learn skills that I am unable to teach you. If you want to learn how, you will have to go to school for it”.
My teacher encouraged me to go to college for fashion design. Witch was a good thing for me because, at the time, I wasn’t planning on going to college. Yes, I was the kid that had no idea what she wanted to be when she grew up. I did not know you could go to college for fashion design. I had thought that sewing and making clothes was only allowed as a hobby. (Project runway was not invented yet.) It was like a whole new world had opened up for me and for the first time I thought about my future. I wanted to be a fashion designer.
On January 2004, I packed my bags and moved to Long Beach were I started class at Brooks College. I graduated with my Associates Degree in fashion design. For some reason, I did not feel prepared. I felt that my work lacked something. So, I found Woodbury University who offered a bachelors degree. I attended for three years, before moving back to my home town Midwest City. Since there is not a degree program for fashion Design in Oklahoma. I decided to take graphic design classes at the local college, Rose State. If I could not study Fashion I could at least get more aquatinted with the soft wear we used to design with. Yes, Fashion Designers do use the same software as Graphic Designers.
The last few years, I had to set designing aside due to heath issues. Now, I am healthy, I can continue designing again. But were do I go from here? There is no Fashion Design jobs in OK. Realizing this dilemma, I decided to turn my living room into a studio and to work on line.