Bobbette Hope Cofield

Bobbette Hope Cofield is BobbieCo Designsbyeye, Bobbiefield Clothes for Work & Play.


This is Dedicated to my Mother:
Lee Branch 07/16/1945 - 10/24/2011  


Born & Raised in The Boroughs & Long Island, New York 1964. I was born in the era where there was much turmoil when it came down to being an African-American living in this society called the the United States of America, still is to a great degree. I considered myself of  African, Mexican, and  Blackfoot descendant living in this society called the United States of America. I didn't see myself as an American due to how People of Color were being treated.  


All together there were 6 children being raised by a single parent in a drug infested environment. My Mother always stated to me that I was the quiet one, but she could feel me thinking all the time. She had to keep me enthused and intrigued.


At 12 years old my mother introduced me to crocheting, then she introduced me to knitting, and then I started cutting up sheets and pillowcases and tablecloths and making outfits. This was a gift bestowed upon me by God that I truly believed saved my life. When my mother exhausted the possibilities she then took me to a fabric store,  and once I walked in the store I knew I was in My World.  The colors, textures, and textiles started calling my name.  


My first pair of pants only took me 12 hours to design and sew. I put zippers and pockets and buttons and drawstrings and wore the pants to school the next day and everybody liked them; not that I was looking for their approval. We were poor and I got sick and tired of wearing the hand-me-downs of my two older sisters clothes.  I started putting permanent creases in the front and back of Lee and Levi jeans in the early 70’s. I started getting clients while in school and I only charged like $2 for permanent creases. To make a long story short I was getting recognized but not knowing I was getting recognized for my gift. Sewing was my Survival Tool. Designing, creating, and sewing was my escape, that was My World.


I would come home from school and make clothes because believe me there was too much drama. This is how I closed myself off to everything and everybody:  my sewing machine. I still have my first sewing machine given to me by my cousin Professor Griff at 12 years old and it still works.


I left my mother when I was 16 years old. I had no other choice. I lost my 1st child at 17 years of age due to being mentally, psychologically and physically abused by the father of my deceased son.


I raised 7 of my sister’s children being that my sisters adapted to the environment we were raised in.  That's another long story, but in lieu of all this,  it was very difficult for me to handle everything all at once. I was taking care of children going to school, healing from the death of my child, while assisting my mother and my two sisters in rehab. It was hard.


It took 35 years of my life. During that day, time, and era (80's-90's), crack came out.  African Americans were standing strong, but also falling hard on their beliefs. Terrorist acts were strong and the Hip Hop & Rap Culture in New York were a Target and an Escape at the same time.


I started working in factories in Westbury Long Island, NY for this male designer. I would come to work with my designs. This designer copied my designs in leather hide skins and that pissed me off. I was young, I was surviving, it was difficult, and that's how I got into leather.  But for the record people, if I hadn't met this Beautiful Sister, Cynthia Hartley Cisco, the name BobbieCo Designsbyeye may have never been. After the death of my first born Son, I was truly lost, and I was only 17 years of age. I was lost, and homeless.


At the tender age of 19, I met this Beautiful Sister and she gave me Support, Direction, Guidance, Hope, and a New Vision on Life. Cynthia Hartley Cisco believed in me, and/or what she envisioned in me and came up with my Designer Name: BobbieCo Designsbyeye.


I asked her "Why Designsbyeye?" and Cindy stated (this is what I called her) "Because you design clothes by eye, with your Third eye, which is a gift from God!!!"


Cindy stated, "You never went to school to learn this craft, God blessed you with your third eye. You see Mentally. Nothing about your Designsbyeye is Visual."


Peace and much love to my beautiful mother Lee Branch, sleeping peacefully in Heaven for being my first teacher and also to my sister Cynthia Hartley Cisco for her guidance and support with my gift.


This is just a short synopsis of how BobbieCo Designsbyeye came about.