Illinois woman goes viral for grandmother’s 1940s fashion designs
- Julia came across her grandma's fashion design sketches during the pandemic
- She learned how to sew and brought Georgie's designs to life
- Julia: "I was blown away by how amazing they were"
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CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Julia, a 27-year-old Illinois resident, came across her grandmother Georgie’s fashion sketches from the 1940s. Inspired by the beauty of the design, she taught herself how to sew and recreated the dresses, surprising her grandmother as a way to bond with her.
After bringing Georgie’s sketches to life, Julia recorded her grandmother’s reactions and shared them on TikTok. Her content has since received over 20 million views.
While she has never counted how many designs her grandmother had drawn, Julia said there must be over 50 different sketches. And now, Georgie is back designing again, so her number keeps increasing.
Julia discovered Georgie’s drawings back during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Her grandmother has mentioned that she went to fashion school, and pulled out a box of her sketches.
“I was blown away by how amazing they were,” Julia said.
She made a TikTok post of the sketches and it went viral overnight. Julia said she received comments from users to create the outfits from the sketches and bring them to life.
Julia didn’t know how to sew but learned how to do it after the incredible response on social media.
Due to the social standards in the 1940s, where it wasn’t exactly encouraged that women could have a career and have a family at the same time, Georgie had to choose to raise a family over her fashion career.
“There was a combination of reasons why she ultimately dropped out,” Julia said. “But because she had her family, it’s kind of a full circle moment. Because she prioritized her family, now she’s able to pursue her fashion design sketches.”
Julia said the first time she revealed a dress to her grandmother was the most emotional because Georgie has no idea. Julia had told her grandmother that she was learning to sew, and then would one day surprise her.
“She really had no idea of how hard I was committing to this,” Julia said. “And then it just kind of went from there.”
Georgie also gets more emotional when her favorite designs are brought to life, Julia said.
Overall, Julia said it’s been the best experience to bond with her grandmother.
