Woman Recreates Grandmother's Sketches After She Gave Up Fashion Designer Dream for Motherhood in 1940s (Exclusive)

Julia tells PEOPLE she's sewed over 25 "recreations" of her grandmother's sketches

Julia never knew much about her grandma's dream of becoming a fashion designer until a few years ago.

It was in the middle of the COVID-19 lockdown when her grandma, Georgie, who's in her 90s, went through old boxes and stumbled upon her drawings from when she was a teenager in fashion school. Despite her passion for drawing and fashion, Georgie eventually gave up her dreams to pursue her life as a mother.

During one of their long, daily pandemic phone calls, Georgie mentioned the drawings to Julia, a content creator in Chicago.

"She mentioned that she wanted them displayed at her funeral or sent out to a magazine after she passed so that people knew this was part of her life and was a dream of hers once," Julia, 28, tells PEOPLE exclusively.

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At the time, Julia didn't know how to contact a magazine, but she knew how to make a video on social media. She says, "Why would we wait until she passes?" and posted a TikTok of the drawings with a brief description, for the context of the situation.

Overnight, it went viral, garnering 3.3 million views and comments.

Julia saw how excited her grandmother was getting from all of the love and support for her drawings. She was overjoyed when many of the comments mentioned that someone – maybe even her – should take it upon themselves to begin creating her sketches.

The only problem? Julia did not know how to sew.

"I still have never attended fashion school or taken any classes on sewing, but I love my grandmother very much, and I thought it could be a fun bonding experience for us," Julia says. "So I began to teach myself how to sew, mostly using online tutorials on YouTube for free."

Now, a year and a half later, Julia has created over 25 "recreations" of her grandmother's sketches. Julia explains how some of the designs she has created in as little as two days, while others take her as long as six months.

The content creator says the recreations are usually never "exact" since she uses repurposed material and works on a small budget, usually under $100.

"My process for creating a 'Grandma' design is to go thrifting or go through previous projects I’ve already made," she says.

"I take them apart and reuse the fabric, or find fabric that has a similar look to one of my grandmother's drawings. Then begin to create the design to the best of my sewing abilities," she adds.

Julia shares how the first design ever sewed from the sketches, a long purple ballgown, was a surprise for her grandma.

"I have never sewed anything for my grandmother," she says. "Of course, I have offered many times, but she is not interested in that as a designer. She prefers seeing other people wear the designs."

She adds, "In her older years, she’s pretty picky about what clothing she likes to wear so she has her favorites and that’s what she likes wearing. I try to respect her boundaries and if she tells me not to do something, I don’t do it."

Although Julia and Georgie have always been very close, she adds that this experience has added a new layer to their relationship.

"If I have questions about a drawing or how she would like me to create it, I’ll ask her," she says. "But most of the time she says she does not care what I do (in terms of design) and likes it when I put my own spin on her work."

"When I see my grandmother’s face light up when I come down the stairs in something I’ve made, I don’t see her as my grandmother, I see her as the teenage girl who had stars in her eyes and just loved creating," Julia continues.

Back in January, Julia says she launched a vintage-inspired swimwear line based on one of her designs.

"I collaborated with a company called JVB swim to create a one-piece bathing suit and bathing skirt in some of my grandmother’s favorite colors," she says. "That is our favorite memory together so far, and she couldn’t believe that people would be able to wear one of her designs."

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