A Tour Through My Old Sketchbooks!

I’ve possibly ranted about this before. I’m fed up hearing about cultural appropriation. If the whole world stops wearing kilts and tartan. Then I might be willing to listen to the “ argument “ there, I feel so much better now

Thanks so much! Going to watch some of those now!

The Rachel blouse sketchbook might have been a drag to make, but it is beautiful to look at! I would happily wear anything in it, even the wilder inspiration pics. And I like the idea of voting on a future project from the sketchbooks. Thanks for taking time out from writing to give us a new video. The days feel a bit long right now, with nowhere to go and no one to go there with.

I love sketchbook tours! On a totally unrelated note though, if you ever have the time, I'd love a video from your perspective on dressing vintage. Like how long it took you to get to a place where you would call your wardrobe vintage, what you did in the in between phase, how you honed your interest in certain styles, etc. You're my main inspiration for how I want my style to feel but its a little daunting.

Fascinating - I love ‘behind the scenes’! And I’m glad you’re having a writing week - I’m deep in the final self-edit before I send to an editor and I’m missing actual writing.

I thought many of your sketches were really cute, and look forward to seeing some of them come to fruition. The 18th century inspired dresses could be fun, but I wonder if the effect would be ruined if you just wore modern underwear instead of stays...it would change the silhouette but could still be interesting.

Are you decluttering via your Etsy shop, if so I'm at the front of the line!

I love seeing your interest in bringing historical designs into modern silhouettes, especially in the separates. I enjoy your interpretations of 18th century bodices with the shapes of the skirts so that they look fresh. It makes sense that you return to favorite shapes in your vintage-inspired designs. I like that your ideas on paper and in your sewing projects have an identity. So many of the clothes of today's 'fashion' look anonymous. Your work inspires me to grow in my own taste.

Hey, there were some really interesting designs in there. You could have patrons vote on a selection of them and then make the winner/s up.

1:00:18 Yes, please make that outfit! That jacket with all of the style lines would be spectacular, especially if there were some color blocking involved. Thank you for showing us your sketches. That’s a lot of work and creativity over many years, and I’m glad I got to share it. It gave me some ideas for different ways to incorporate design elements that I didn’t realize could go together. I’ve been meaning to learn how to do fashion sketches, and paper with a person outline already on it would be really useful.

Really enjoyed going on the tour of your old sketchbooks! It's like a little window into your fashion mind :) I would love to see you make some of the items, especially the ones that you sketched multiple times. And I learned what a croquis is! I never knew that's what the fashion figure template is called. I have an undergrad in psych and a master's degree in professional counseling, and worked as a therapist for a few years before I burned out super-young. (I'm a stay-at-home parent now). But, it's always both weird, and fascinating, to go back and read my old research papers, look at my old notes, and gasp, sigh, listen to old tapes of counseling sessions. Ugh, that is the absolute worst! :) :)

I've never sketched my ideas out, but after seeing your notebooks, I feel inspired. I think sketching might be especially helpful for fine-tuning design proportions, but for that I'd probably need to make myself a custom croquis. Have you ever made your own Bianca croquis - and if so, any tips? Good luck with the writing! <3

I really loved to see the evolution in your design and your creativity. Can't wait to see that final design, you pulled out, made. Thank you for sharing the croquis. Time saver. I'm so doing that! Also can I just say how cute it is to hear you say Dries Van Noten (as a Dutch speaker) It sounds so much better with your American accent😊

This was a fun video! It definitely gave me flashbacks of the weird balance of useful and useless projects we had to do in costume design classes in theatre school.

For my Postgrad I had to design 6 magazine spreads (mine were insired by art nouveau literary journals :D). It took me a couple of sketches of each spread to come up with the final versions, but still I had to pretend it had taken me a million tries to come up with them and fill up a sketchbook with dozens upon dozens of fake WIPs and failed attemps and discarded iterations to "illustrate my process" - even though that had not been my process... And I didn't even get to keep the sketchbook in the end! Oh well...

I really enjoyed seeing this. You should totally make some of your old designs, that would be fun to watch.

Thank you so much for sharing your designs with us. I really, really like them. I'd definitely wear all of them, including the combining Elizabethan/1800s designs for today wear. That is actually what I'm trying to do at the moment - make a garment with Elizabethan elements. Why not, I say. Would love to see you make any of these designs that you've revisited. Yes please! Thank you for the heads up about the croquis already printed. Now that's a time saver. I'm wondering if you do the design first and then decide on the fabric, colors, etc., OR are there times when you see a fabric and know what you'll make from it? Interesting to know that design process. Stay safe and look after yourself. Sending best wishes from Down Under ❤️🌺🇦🇺😎

I hear you complaining about assignments, and I can't help but think, why is it students who are PAYING for their education, don't demand to have something taught that THEY feel is useful. Especially in High School even middle school. If you don't have a parent to advocate for you... yah, I still have my own PTSD from schooling, LOL Thank god my kids are now grown, I'm sure their schools feel the same way (snicker)