Creative Fabric Project

Today I was in a mini fashion-show-of-a-kind for everyone who participated in a January workshop on creative uses of fabric and patternmaking, so I thought I'd share my final project here. Most of us spent the three-day workshop learning how to make a particular skirt from Tokomo Nakamichi's book Pattern Magic. Nakamichi's pattern-making process was really inspiring to me, particularly in the way that she encourages prototyping sculptural, 3D patterns with paper and then recutting the paper to form new pattern pieces. The skirt pattern we were working from used the same technique as Nakamichi used in this dress, the otoshiana (or "drop-hole").


source

So I set out to make a skirt with a drop-hole. I constructed it out of denim, since I needed something sturdy to hold the shape of the skirt and that was the heaviest material I had in my stash. While I've sewn clothing from patterns before, this was the first time that I ever drafted a pattern (given only the dimensions in a book), altered it to fit me, and turned it into a wearable garment. A really good learning experience, I think!

And then...well, the drop-hole in the skirt looked to me liked it needed to have something coming out of it. So I added a speaker cone in the hole, and a pocket to hold a little amplifier circuit, batteries, and an mp3 player. So now I have a skirt that can also play music. (A very, very heavy skirt, because of the weight of the speaker). A bit silly, perhaps, but it was a fun project!

Quick and Easy Refashioning

After a month and a half of being completely busy (opera rehearsals and performances in Boston, flying out to Chicago the day after we struck the show, opera rehearsals and performances in Chicago, getting back just in time for the start of the lab's sponsor week, immediately followed by a set of concerts and lectures my group was involved in), Sunday was my first completely free day in a long time! And as Monday was Patriot's Day, I had the day off then as well. I think I'm not entirely sure what to do with free time, now. I did some apartment-cleaning, watched the Boston Marathon on television, and ran errands.

I also finally started tackling the pile of clothing in the corner of the apartment that's waiting to be refashioned. Someday I'll post pictures of that pile... (It is, in fact, a large pile.) First, I made two summer skirts from old men's dress shirts that used to be my brother's. They were both quite nice shirts, with light fabric and asymmetrical blue stripes.



I just cut a line straight across each shirt under the arms, then folded down the top of that cut piece, and sewed it in place with a channel big enough to thread some ribbon or bias tape through. Stuck a safety pin through one end of a piece of ribbon/bias tape, fed it through the channel, and tied the ends at the center where the shirt buttons meet.



And presto, two new summer skirts! The ribbon can be tied into a bow and worn out front, or tucked inside the skirt. (both of these could use a good ironing, I think...)




But today, it's cold and rainy and not nearly the summer weather I was imagining with those skirts. So I'm wearing another simple refashion in the form of a gray jersey tunic top that used to be a men's shirt. I just cut off about 6" off the end of each sleeve and rehemmed the edges...belted, I think it can pass for intentionally loose rather than just too big. For me, I've noticed that sleeve length is the major thing that signals whether a garment looks like it fits me or not. If the sleeves are too long, I look like a kid wearing my mom's clothing. So a simple sleeve trim here makes this comfortable top wearable!


Gray shirt: Express Men's from the brother, refashioned. Skirt: INC, thrifted. Boots, vintage via Ebay. Necklace, estate sale. Earrings, handmade. Belt, thrifted. Tights, LOFT.


So this outfit's comfortable and warm, which suits today's weather. Can't wait for the next warm and sunny days later this week! Is it spring yet where you are?