Take several t-shirts or other pieces of clothing in coordinating colors, cut them up, and then combine them to form a new wearable object. Those are the main steps involved in what the kids and I have been calling Franken Sewing, otherwise known as t-shirt mashups, refashioning, or ecofashion. The idea is to create something new and wearable from something that otherwise would have been thrown away. It's fun and it makes sense on a whole lot of levels. It extends the idea of reduce/reuse/recycle/rebuy to fashion, an industry that traditionally isn't a "green" one. And as an exercise in creativity, it fires up all those right-brain cylinders because it's like creating a wearable collage.
My introduction to refashioning came a few years ago when my daughter and I saw notices for a SewGreen contest to create a new design out of old articles of clothing. We were all heavily into Project Runway at the time, so the little instigator urged me to enter the contest. (She thinks I'm the Sewing Queen because I've made Halloween costumes for her off and on since she was 2.) This year we actually entered the contest. The challenge was to use old cotton t-shirts and/or denim to create a new item. My daughter and I conceived of and sewed (mostly I sewed) a hoodie, a shirt to layer under the hoodie, and a last-minute jean skirt. Inconceivably, the two shirts won first and second place in the teen category.
It was pretty much a fluke how the hoodie came together. While browsing the men's t-shirt section at the Salvation Army, my young ecofashionista and I found a strange orange t-shirt with "Ask A Bug" in bold black letters on the front and a huge stink bug screen printed on the back. We both thought it was funny, so into the cart it went.
It took me a while to work up the courage to actually attack it with scissors, but I finally did so. Two things were a given: my daughter wanted a hoodie, and we knew we wanted the bug to be on the front rather than the back. With no other plan in mind, we cut the sides open, took a big chunk off the bottom, cut off the neck ribbing, and then trimmed the sides for a closer fit. My model patiently stood there while I draped the very sorry remnants of the once robust t-shirt around her. We played around with some color combinations of the t-shirts we had, but nothing seemed to work well. We were a little discouraged by our initial experiment.
A week or so later I had to drop off my mom at the airport in the city, and on the way home my toddler and I headed over to the Salvation Army to check out their supply of wool sweaters for a felting project.
Just as I was heading to the cash register because my son was ready to melt down--a combination of fatigue, hunger, general terrible-twoness, and his failure to appreciate the valuable life lesson I was teaching him by exposing him early on to sustainable fashion--we walked down the women's shirt aisle, and a black-and-white striped t-shirt caught my eye. I grabbed it and two other orange shirts nearby.
That incredibly fortuitous last-minute purchase became the hoodie's side stripe (a solution for having trimmed too much off the sides!), sleeves, hood, and bottom edge (a solution for having trimmed too much off the bottom!) So, it all came together from some happy accidents.
My daughter also wanted a fitted tank-style shirt to layer under the hoodie. We took a men's XL shirt and cut off the sleeves and neck and cut the side seams open. This time I was a little more strategic and cut a little less off the sides than I thought was necessary. I sewed up the side seams, and the shirt was initially too loose, but luckily that's an easier problem to fix than having it too tight. The sleeve openings were too big and gappy, so I took sleeves off an old t-shirt of mine and they became the sleeves for her new shirt. The whole process felt like two steps forward, three steps back and was very discouraging, but eventually it came together nicely.
The jean skirt that completed the ensemble was a very last-minute project. I started it the morning of the contest deadline. Having never made a skirt before, I had no idea what I was doing. I ended up cutting the legs off two pairs of jeans, opening them up at the seams, and then sewing them together into a tube. I made a waistband and, after studying a pair of old jeans, attached it the same way. The thick denim was really hard to sew, especially when four layers came together at the waistband. So my stitching was really rough looking, and my zipper was shoddily attached. But I made a skirt with no pattern, out of almost nothing, and in almost no time (OK, wait, that doesn't sound like something to be proud of).
While my daughter was keeping me company down in the basement when I was sewing away on the denim skirt, she told me that she would never have the courage to just jump in without a pattern and start cutting and sewing as I had done. She made it sound as if I was awfully brave. In fact, I think I was pretty foolhardy to attempt the project with almost no skills, and I was unsure of myself at each step and made many mistakes. But what I was proud of was that I kept at it and found solutions for the problems that I created from inexperience. It was very frustrating thinking of an idea, implementing it, and then having the three-dimensional structure not translate into what I intended. But figuring things out as I go along and making lots of mistakes seems to be my creative path right now, though I hope that will change as I get more experienced and adept at sewing techniques.
And surely all of this sewing will eventually rewire the parts of my brain dealing with spatial relationships so that the translation of flat fabric to wearable design comes more easily. Please?
There are lots of web sites related to ecofashion, and my co-designer and I consulted a few of them before we attempted to create the hoodie. The SewGreen site has a page with a few sites that are great introductions to creating t-shirt mashups. This site in particular provided lots of inspiration.
My introduction to refashioning came a few years ago when my daughter and I saw notices for a SewGreen contest to create a new design out of old articles of clothing. We were all heavily into Project Runway at the time, so the little instigator urged me to enter the contest. (She thinks I'm the Sewing Queen because I've made Halloween costumes for her off and on since she was 2.) This year we actually entered the contest. The challenge was to use old cotton t-shirts and/or denim to create a new item. My daughter and I conceived of and sewed (mostly I sewed) a hoodie, a shirt to layer under the hoodie, and a last-minute jean skirt. Inconceivably, the two shirts won first and second place in the teen category.
It was pretty much a fluke how the hoodie came together. While browsing the men's t-shirt section at the Salvation Army, my young ecofashionista and I found a strange orange t-shirt with "Ask A Bug" in bold black letters on the front and a huge stink bug screen printed on the back. We both thought it was funny, so into the cart it went.
It took me a while to work up the courage to actually attack it with scissors, but I finally did so. Two things were a given: my daughter wanted a hoodie, and we knew we wanted the bug to be on the front rather than the back. With no other plan in mind, we cut the sides open, took a big chunk off the bottom, cut off the neck ribbing, and then trimmed the sides for a closer fit. My model patiently stood there while I draped the very sorry remnants of the once robust t-shirt around her. We played around with some color combinations of the t-shirts we had, but nothing seemed to work well. We were a little discouraged by our initial experiment.
A week or so later I had to drop off my mom at the airport in the city, and on the way home my toddler and I headed over to the Salvation Army to check out their supply of wool sweaters for a felting project.
Just as I was heading to the cash register because my son was ready to melt down--a combination of fatigue, hunger, general terrible-twoness, and his failure to appreciate the valuable life lesson I was teaching him by exposing him early on to sustainable fashion--we walked down the women's shirt aisle, and a black-and-white striped t-shirt caught my eye. I grabbed it and two other orange shirts nearby.
That incredibly fortuitous last-minute purchase became the hoodie's side stripe (a solution for having trimmed too much off the sides!), sleeves, hood, and bottom edge (a solution for having trimmed too much off the bottom!) So, it all came together from some happy accidents.
My daughter also wanted a fitted tank-style shirt to layer under the hoodie. We took a men's XL shirt and cut off the sleeves and neck and cut the side seams open. This time I was a little more strategic and cut a little less off the sides than I thought was necessary. I sewed up the side seams, and the shirt was initially too loose, but luckily that's an easier problem to fix than having it too tight. The sleeve openings were too big and gappy, so I took sleeves off an old t-shirt of mine and they became the sleeves for her new shirt. The whole process felt like two steps forward, three steps back and was very discouraging, but eventually it came together nicely.
The jean skirt that completed the ensemble was a very last-minute project. I started it the morning of the contest deadline. Having never made a skirt before, I had no idea what I was doing. I ended up cutting the legs off two pairs of jeans, opening them up at the seams, and then sewing them together into a tube. I made a waistband and, after studying a pair of old jeans, attached it the same way. The thick denim was really hard to sew, especially when four layers came together at the waistband. So my stitching was really rough looking, and my zipper was shoddily attached. But I made a skirt with no pattern, out of almost nothing, and in almost no time (OK, wait, that doesn't sound like something to be proud of).
While my daughter was keeping me company down in the basement when I was sewing away on the denim skirt, she told me that she would never have the courage to just jump in without a pattern and start cutting and sewing as I had done. She made it sound as if I was awfully brave. In fact, I think I was pretty foolhardy to attempt the project with almost no skills, and I was unsure of myself at each step and made many mistakes. But what I was proud of was that I kept at it and found solutions for the problems that I created from inexperience. It was very frustrating thinking of an idea, implementing it, and then having the three-dimensional structure not translate into what I intended. But figuring things out as I go along and making lots of mistakes seems to be my creative path right now, though I hope that will change as I get more experienced and adept at sewing techniques.
And surely all of this sewing will eventually rewire the parts of my brain dealing with spatial relationships so that the translation of flat fabric to wearable design comes more easily. Please?
There are lots of web sites related to ecofashion, and my co-designer and I consulted a few of them before we attempted to create the hoodie. The SewGreen site has a page with a few sites that are great introductions to creating t-shirt mashups. This site in particular provided lots of inspiration.
And thank you to my friend and fellow blogaholic Maya, w
ho was the well-deserving SewGreen contest grand-prize winner for her denim baby kimono set with booties and stuffed elephant (see photo at right) (and whose kids' tea table and chairs set was a top 20 semifinalist in the Design Sponge DIY contest), for telling me about the following cool ecofashion links:
Organic cotton, sustainable style, fair labor, and civil rights, what a great combo! And the reverse applique tutorial would be fun to try: http://www.alabamachanin.com/Journal/Projects/ProjectsBlock6.htm
Green fashions to buy, and for inspiration
*THE MOST* adorable refashioned kids' clothes. I must make ALL of these!!
And, just for fun:
make your own menstrual pads (woohoo!)
(I know, I shouldn't make fun, and the good4girls project is very much worth supporting.)
Keep creating!
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