About this episode
I am a huge fan of this week’s guest - the brilliant Erica Schmitz . Erica is an obsessed garment sewist who founded MyBodyModel , a website that makes customized fashion drawing templates (also know as croquis) based on your measurements. It all started because she wanted to draw her sewing ideas, and was frustrated that she couldn’t find any fashion illustration templates that looked like her. She began development of MyBodyModel in 2017 with crowdfunding support from 725 backers (nearly all women!) who believed in MyBodyModel’s mission of body-positive design. Through MyBodyModel, Erica is committed to increasing visibility and appreciation of our wonderful diversity of body shapes. She wants to help women have more fun and confidence in dressing our bodies in a way that expresses our own uniqueness and personal style - rather than trying to conform to some outdated social construct of what our bodies “should” look like. Starting to use MyBodyModel helped me to understand so much more about what designs worked well for me and my shape after wasting years designing and making clothes that would only really suit someone with disproportionately long legs LOL! We talk about common misconceptions that we have about our bodies and how to start to celebrate your own style . If you ever needed any excuse to re-live the fun of playing with paper dolls then this episode is for you. Useful links and resources: “5 Ways Sewing Can Help Us Love Our Bodies” - This excerpt is from an article that Erica wrote for Sew News Magazine MyBodyModel’s community blog is a rich source of inspiration around personal style, wardrobe planning, sketching, & body-positivity including guest bloggers from our wonderful sewing and knitting community, ranging in age from their 20’s to their 60’s! “Sketch & Tell” live interview series , available on MyBodyModel's IGTV , where each guest shares about her personal style evolution & how sketching on her body model templates has been part of that journey. My 3x3 Capsule Challenge using MyBodyModel SPECIAL OFFER: It’s always FREE to enter your measurements and see your body model preview - and it only takes a few minutes. You can even edit and make adjustments for free. To download your body model package, enter promo code SEWMINDFUL (all capital letters, all one word) for 10% off your own printable & digital fashion sketchbook , featuring your own personal body model croquis. Connect with Erica : Website address | https://mybodymodel.com/ Facebook page | https://www.facebook.com/mybodymodel/ Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/mybodymodel/ Twitter | https://twitter.com/mybodymodel/ Youtube | https://www.youtube.com/MyBodyModel Pinterest | https://www.pinterest.com/MyBodyModel/ Connect with me : Instagram & Facebook ! Support the show