So I set up my machines and boxes of threads, scissors, haberdashery and we set design challenges – theme of festival fashion, labels to be worn on the outside (as to think about where and by whom the original garment was made) Working collectively, creating change / transformation and the teams set to work!
It was a lively day and participants fully embraced the challenges, coming up with really inventive ‘fashion hacks’ and working together to realise their designs.
So I thought I’d encourage you to have your own fashion hackathons at home!
Here are my tips and tricks
to consider when approaching your own ‘Fashion Hacks’:
- Make the most of existing fasteners
- Holes & wear are an opportunity for
transformation!
- Mix & match and fuse different items together
- Create ‘multifunctional’ garments
- Play with pattern
Re working your old clothes
is fun and personal. It’s important to tap into your own creativity and sense
of style. Recognize the potential and look at your old clothes from a different
perspective! Some basic sewing skills are necessary. If you have no experience
or are new to sewing, I offer lots of accessible classes at my studio ‘Fabrications’
in Hackney, East London.
Thank you to Fabrications students
for allowing me to share your creations!
Here are my tips and tricks
to consider when approaching your own ‘Fashion Hacks’:
- Make the most of existing fasteners
- Holes & wear are an opportunity for
transformation!
- Mix & match and fuse different items together
- Create ‘multifunctional’ garments
- Play with pattern
Re working your old clothes
is fun and personal. It’s important to tap into your own creativity and sense
of style. Recognize the potential and look at your old clothes from a different
perspective! Some basic sewing skills are necessary. If you have no experience
or are new to sewing, I offer lots of accessible classes at my studio ‘Fabrications’
in Hackney, East London.
Thank you to Fabrications students
for allowing me to share your creations!
Making the most of existing fasteners……I love working with men’s shirts. Not only is the
fabric stable and easy to work with they have lots of buttoning! Often buttons on shirts are set to similar spacing,
so you can button different shirts together to make a new garment or a bell
tent if you keep going! Fortunately I reigned myself in to this ‘cut &
paste’ collaged dress and stuck to 3 shirts! Cutting on this dress was minimal;
the shaping is created through a belted gathered waist band and elastication
half way down the sleeves. You could add darts on the top shirt for more fitting.
Holes and wear n tear are an opportunity for
transformation…..Appliqué (or
patching) is my friend. I have a number of favourite jeans that are works in
progress, as another hole appears on goes a new patch! This can be done discreetly
with similar fabric or show off - make your patching stand out in a crowd! I
enjoy making patches from other old clothes or textiles to create motifs or
‘cheat embroideries’.
I tend to machine on my
patches using a ‘3 step zig zag’ (this is stronger than a regular zig zag) or a
‘Free motion’ / quilting foot so I can sketch / squiggle around and over the
patch. If using a lightweight fabric as your patch, tack some other fabric on
the back to reinforce. Take off the
removable front part of the machine to give you a narrower working area.
Trouser legs can get tricky and on skinny jeans you may have to open up the
seam for access and then stitch back together!
Mix & match and fuse different items together…..Sometimes you might have 2 garments that just aren’t
working for you or they are a bit tired and worn out! Think about combining
them! Louise took an old jumper and cut it down the front and cut off the cuffs
and border from an old cardigan and over locked the components together to make
a new 2 tone cardigan! If you don’t have an over locker use the ‘overcast’ or
stretch stitch on your machine or slip one over the other (for a thicker
cardigan!)
It is possible to mix
different fabric textures and weights but it does require more care and
preparation tacking etc to help prevent movements!
Create ‘multifunctional’ garments….My friend and colleague David Mumford is a very clever
garment upcyclist. (He also mentored at Clotho’s Fashion Hackathon)
Here he is at Fabrications
teaching students the marvels of sewing and upcycling (using men’s shirts) He used to design with the fashion brand
‘Junky Styling’ who were well known for their clever garment reinventions.
Garments that can be worn in different ways are likely to be used more often
over a longer period of time.
Play with pattern……is also a lot of fun! Sometimes the most unexpected combination of
pattern designs harmonises and works!
Here is an idea from another
friend and colleague – Tree from ‘Stitchless TV’. Take 2 vintage tourist scarves to make a raglan
Prada style top. (pictures taken from summer workshops at Fabrications) Tree has a unique talent in taking high fashion ideas and
simplifying them down into accessible ‘speed stitching’, free style cutting
projects for beginners and other home sewers. Many of the projects on her TV channel
use old clothes – well worth checking her out!
I hope you are feeling
inspired to host your own ‘Fashion Hackathon’ at home. Please share your
creations with us,we’d love to see what you re-make!
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