Marybeth's Jacket - A True Story

Wordsmithing is a very odd craft. When I write blog posts, or work on my book, it sometimes seems I have nothing to show for my effort. It's hard for me to feel satisfied looking at characters on a screen, or a sheet of paper. This year I have probably spent more time making things -- cooking, knitting, crocheting, sewing -- than I have writing. Writing empties me, and making things restores me. Does this mean I am not really a writer at heart?Last week I wrote every morning, wrestling two recalcitrant chapters into order. Now I have a pile of paper, not unlike the pile of paper I had the week before. In the afternoons, I cut, stitched and ironed fabric, restoring a friend's battered thrift store jacket. The story continues here.

I wanted to do this project because the jacket needed it, I needed real work (the kind that ends with something tangible) and Marybeth is one of those women who always serves the cake at the party and forgets to save a piece for herself. Thank you, Marybeth, for trusting me with your jacket and for being my friend.

DIY Michele Obama Cardigan from Fashiontribes.com

Michelle Obama is making headlines with her wearable, affordable fashion, and now the DIY fashion universe is catching the fever, too. Fashiontribes.com shows readers how to knock off the First Lady's sequins-and-argyle cardigan from Junya Watanabe.

Trashion: my new favorite word

I'll admit being late to this neologism, but quick to embrace it, since it's a great one: trashion, which is fashion made of nearly 100% recycled or secondhand materials. As often happens, I've done trashion before I even knew the word -- witness my amazingly successful (at least with my son) T-shirt messenger bag and laptop sleeve. The word "trashion" results in 85,900 Google hits, so there's lots of sharing and reporting going on out there. Here are  a few links to get you started:

A fun article about making an entire outfit, including shoes and a shoulder bag, out of Starbucks discards.
The Trashion Nation group on Flickr.
The Refashion Archives on Craftzone.com (not all strictly Trashion), but still some great ideas.
Wardrobe Refashion, which reminds me I'd like to sign up again and try some new projects.

Burdastyle: for the emerging homesewer

I meet many folks -- especially young women and teens -- who are eager to learn to make or alter clothing. Like so many Baby Boom women, I first learned to sew from my mother and a rather terrifying middle-school home ec. teacher. Then I taught myself for a few years before heading off to college and majoring in apparel design, where I picked up all kinds of new skills and information and unlearned a few bad habits. But where's the Stitch 'n Bitch for sewers? I've found one prime candidate online: Burdastyle. This site offers free downloadable patterns, photo and video how-to's, a "sewpedia" of terms and (best of all) a series of inspirational challenges and minichallenges.

T-shirt laptop sleeve

Following on the success of my T-shirt messenger bag, I used two more shirts to make a padded sleeve for my son's laptop. Each side is a sandwich of T-shirt fabric, fusible fleece interfacing (it's a bit thicker than the usual type) and a cotton-twill lining. He didn't want a zipper, so I didn't use one, but it would not have been too hard to insert one before the side panels were joined. Skills needed: careful measuring and cutting, iron-on interfacing, machine sewing. Total time: about half an hour.

The good life: refashioning and mending party

The NWL household was a-buzz Saturday afternoon with the sound of sewing machines. My daughter and I each had a stack of projects, and since I currently have two sewing machines and she has none, we scheduling a "sewing party" (to quote my 7-year-old granddaughter). Between 11 AM and 7 PM, we did the following between us:

finished the T-shirt messenger bag
made a laptop sleeve out of two more T-shirts (description coming as soon as I can get it back!)
made a cloth and vinyl photo wallet for K to take to Girl Scout camp
inserted elastic into my son-in-law's too roomy swimming trunks (actually he did 95% of the work on that one)
mended a wonderful vintage apron (late 40s, early 50s)
mended K's night gown
mended K's ruffly tie-dye skirt
turned a floaty triangular remnant into a tulip skirt for a little girl's make-believe
started a terry cloth head wrap made of old towels

Somewhere along the way, stories were told, dinner was served, the dog was walked and origami ornaments were produced.

Total cost of supplies: under $10.
Amount of stuff diverted from the trash: a pile about 3 feet high
"new" items produced: 9

Value of time spent together as a family: priceless.

Who says sustainable living means sacrificing "the good life"?

T-shirt messenger bag

My Wardrobe Refashion project for this week was challenging, but immense fun. My college-student son asked if it would be possible to make a messenger bag for him out of a few of his favorite T-shirts. With his permission, I sacrificed the old bag to make a pattern (and scavenge the shoulder strap). I used fusible interfacing to stiffen it and lined it with canvas to add stability. Eight hours later, he has a new, one-of-a kind bag and is thrilled with the results. So am I!

The actual design was pretty simple; what made it hard was the stretchiness of the T-shirts and sewing the seam binding around the edges, especially when it got thick.



The finished messenger bag, front.

To see more pictures, follow the link to my Flickr photos.

extreme refashioning

If thrift store shopping and refashioning enjoyed the sudden popularity of ethanol, would middle-class green fashionistas drive up the prices and deplete supplies of clothing needed by the poor?

I am participating in the Wardrobe Refashion challenge by remaking little-worn garments in my own closet, while using up my neglected fabric stash. My goal is not only to refrain from buying new garments for the next two months, but to maintain -- or reduce -- the size of my wardrobe by September 1. I figure that by transforming, mending or altering an item a week, I will have eight more options in my closet than I do now. Accomplishing that economically and ethically is what I'm all about this summer.

My latest project was a pair of well-loved but little-worn shirts. I loved the fabrics -- one is a celery-colored linen shirt with faggoting trim and the other is a cotton-linen plaid in gorgeous blues and greens. The problem with both: the sleeves are too short. I'm 5'9", and it's a common issue, which I usually solve by buying Tall sizes or 3/4-length sleeves. But I was too weak to resist these two, and seldom wore them, as a result. Less than an hour's worth of work, and I have a lovely celery green 3/4 length shirt-jacket (I added some machine embroidery on the collar and cuffs in a very light pink) and a fabulous short sleeve plaid shirt.

Look ma! My pants stay up now!

My second foray into refashioning is even more boring than my first -- I inserted elastic into the waistband of a pair of lightweight denim cropped pants. I bought them on sale last summer because they were just what I was looking for (right length, deep pockets, transitional weight fabric that would take me into fall) but they had one flaw that revealed itself on the first wearing. They fit great in the dressing room, and for about the first hour after washing. But by the end of the day, the waistband was riding lower and (even more annoyingly) so was the crotch. I was wearing them less than twice a month, usually on laundry day -- and certainly NOT out in public!

Here's the fix:

I cut a piece of elastic wide enough to fit in the waistband and about an inch and a half shorter than the distance from one from belt loop to the other, going around the back of the pants. I threaded it through the waistband (using the time-honored giant safety pin method) and tacked it down by machine right under each belt loop, so the stitching is not visible.

Degree of difficulty: sharp scissors and sewing machine basics
Materials: about 24" of 3/4" elastic and thread to match pants
Time: about 20 minutes (could have been less if I had the TV off)

Results: pants that stay up and get worn twice a week, including to my favorite local brew pub.

T-shirt salvage project

I started the Wardrobe Refashion challenge with a salvaging project. My college-age son bought a very cheap T-shirt which shrank in odd ways after the first washing, turning it into a hip-length trapeze top with more fullness in the back than the front. Normally, this would have spelled " dust cloth", but he really liked the design and asked if it could be fixed. The solution was to open up the side seams from waist to arm hole and take it in unevenly (more in the back than the front). The best part of this project was trying out my newly-acquired Singer 6268 (ca. 1984) which has an overlock stitch (my mid-1970s Kenmore doesn't). It worked beautifully and my son was so thrilled he's been wearing it a couple of times a week. (Gotta love 'em, right?

The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

I, Jo "Nice White Lady" Paoletti, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of
"new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 / 4 / 6 months. I pledge that I shall refashion,renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated,recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that my thriftiness brings!

Signed JP, the NWL.

T-Shirts, continued

Given the popularity and ubiquity of T-shirts, over the last 35 years, it's possible that some of us have several years' supply in our closets and drawers. The best way to reduce our fashion footprint is to increase the milage (wearage? I am liking that word) of the things we already own, so thinking of ways to extend the useful life of T-shirts and other lightweight cotton and cotton-blend knits could be an excellent start.

I offer few ideas that have popped up here and there.

1) T-shirt cutting, which is repurposing shirts by slashing, decorating and generally getting creative with them. If you are feeling creative (and you are over 18), you can enter Greenloop's T-Shirt Cutting contest.

2) layering them under sheer or lacy tops. This is working well for my two-year old shirts which are still wearable but have aged enough to make them less appropriate for work and dressy occasions. I wore an old turquoise tank under a salmon-colored thread lace sweater the other evening and got lots of complements. Last night I noticed a friend sporting a solid color T-shirt under a long-sleeved white shirt in a burnout patterned fabric.

3) Transforming children's beloved but outgrown T's into decorative items such as pillows and quilts.

4) Framing your favorite rock concert or protest event T so you can enjoy the memory on your wall, where it will last longer than on your body.

repair, refashion 101 -- buttons

Mending, it seems, has become a lost art! So before running out to buy a new, organic hemp shirt to replace an otherwise wearable one that's lost a button, consider the green virtues of repairing and refashioning. If the garment didn't come with a spare button, and you don't have a button box (how sad), you'll need to seek out a fabric store and look for a good match. Buttons come several on a card; you can either buy them to match (and put the extras in your button box) or you can jazz up your shirt or cardigan with a new set in a completely different style. I have even seen lots of refashioned clothes featuring mismatched, multicolored buttons that look amazing.

Don't know how to sew on a button? It's easy as pie.

Value Village: Fashion Destination

One place to find sustainable fashion is one of the many new eco-boutiques popping up on the retain landscape. There, you'll find the latest styles, fabricated of organic or recycled materials and offered at prices comparable to the eco-oblivious specialty shop next door. But the savvy shopper knows that great ethical fashion and great prices coexist at your local thrift store. Happily, the thrift industry is wising up to its role in green consumption, as evidenced by the Value Village website, which showcases VV's commitment to the environment and the importance of consuming reusable products and donating unwanted items instead of discarding them. The best part is that the VV website LOOKS like a fashion website. (Contrast this with Goodwill Industries, which emphasizes its charitable activities and bargains.) Note the Fashion Links, which take you to some great resources on styling and refashioning thrift finds -- or perhaps just reviving something that's languishing in your closet. ETA: This is the Value Village chain based in Seattle, also known as Savers in Canada, NOT any of the many other "Value Village" stores on the east coast. (My, it's a popular name!)