School of Design

Fashion, sewing, designing, making my own clothes, has always been a big part of my life. I was given a needle and thread when I was three. I learned how to make clothes when I was eight. And when I was twelve, we found fabric in my grandmother's basement and went to Fabricland and bought a pattern - and of course it didn't fit. And since that day, I've never used a commercial pattern. I'm Keli Schmidt. I did the Fashion Techniques & Design Program at George Brown College. It's a two-year program. I graduated in 2006. I heard about George Brown College through a friend of my grandmother. My grandparents sponsored a refugee couple from Vietnam, and the wife of that couple ended up teaching sewing at George Brown College - and that's how I heard about it. I never would have thought I would be here doing this. I chose George Brown because of its practical approach. They're getting you ready to go and get a job. The focus of the program was what I wanted to learn. So that was wonderful, but my favourite class was definitely sewing. I just loved sewing, always sitting in the front row, asking all kinds of nerdy questions. I really enjoyed a lot of my teachers at George Brown. A couple of them really went the extra mile for me. I really feel that these teachers care about me as a person. Uh, my drafting teacher Julie has come to launches of my collections. I also got my first job through a connection from a teacher at George Brown. It was our colour and design teacher who was a world-famous jewellery designer, and we just thought that was so cool. It was really neat to be taught by someone who was actually famous. When I came out of George Brown, I was working for other designers doing product development, so making patterns and sewing samples, helping designers to turn their garments into things that can be sewn on a mass production scale - and that's what George Brown gave me. The lessons I learned at George Brown, the little tricks that the teachers taught us, you know, the little things that you talk about outside the class in the hall or in the lab, uh, they're still so applicable. And I of course use all those same skills in doing my own collection as well. My line is called Cassada. I'm in six different stores now across Canada, and hoping to keep growing the line slowly. It is so empowering to be able to make whatever I want. Anything I want - I can make it.