Creative

Garment Recycling: Construction and Deconstruction

FT FD CG 290 Summer III 2012 Taylor Seitz Professor Sabrina Fichi Department of Fashion Accessories and Technology Florence University of the Arts

Deconstructed Designs
Karl Lagerfeld

Bless Dries von Noten

PixieMarket

Nicholas K
Evil Twin

Nicholas K
Nicholas K is an American label established in 2003 by Christopher and Nicholas Kunz. The label features many unique creations and designs of a reconstructed, grunge look that is still wearable off of the runway. The most common carrier of the label is Free People, which can be found in a few US department stores, as well as Free People shops and online. The pictures here show many samples of the Spring 2012 Nicholas K collection.

Inspiration
My inspiration for this collection is idea of being eco-friendly and green within fashion. Many designers ,such as Nicholas K, have created garments that are recycled or have the look of reconstruction to them. Rather than just give my garments the look of reconstruction, I want everyone to see that I actually took recycled clothing and turned them into a new look. The photos at the right are photos of waterfalls that inspire my way of thinking green, literally and in the sense of nature and earth friendly. I chose photos with blue undertones because of the amount of denim in my collection.

First Project: Slippers

Fabric & Color Board

Navy Blue

Denim

Sketch

The Process Creating the Pattern

1. Lie out a pair of jeans that has a nice pattern or design on the pocket. Consider slipping your feet into the pockets to ensure a good Zit. 2. Pin pre-made pattern pieces onto one leg of the pants, catching both layers. You can easily create by tracing the soles of a pair of pre-existing slippers or shoes. Front

Back

The Process Cutting out Fabric

3. Cut out the back pockets, leaving a 1.5 cm seam allowance. 4. Flip the pockets over and remove the inside piece, leaving only one layer of jean the pocket.

5. Cut out the soles, leaving 1.5cm of seam allowance.

The Process Sewing

6. Use tracing paper to mark the seam allowance after the piece is cut. 7. Pin the pocket pieces to one layer of the soles, making sure to pic just the edge of the pocket Zlap in line with the seam allowance on the soles.

8. Sew the pieces together.

The Process Sewing

9. Next, lie the sewn pieces on a couple layers of interfacing. Pin them down, then cut in line with the sole. 10. Sew the interfacing to the sole, following the seam allowance and edge of pocket as before.

The Process Sewing

11. Now, pin the other layer of the sole to the bottom of the interfacing, right side facing up. Sew along the seam allowance, leaving a small gap for reversing the shoe. 12. Trim the seam allowance halfway, catching all layers. 13. Flip the shoe, sew the opening closed by folding the edge under to match the seam allowance.

The Process: Embroidery

14. Once the shoe is Zinished and all edges have been smoothed out, decide on an embroidery to add to the top. It can be anything that you choose. 15. For this shoe, I will use a lace embroidery folded in a way to create the look of Zlowers. 16. Take a piece of lace that is about 7cm long, line up the bottom edges and sew them together in a circular way.

17. Attach the piece to the top of the shoe with a few small stitches. 18. Repeat this three times for each foot, arranging the lace in the center.

The Final Product:

Second Project: Dress

Fabric & Color Board

Cotton

Cotton

Violet

Purple

Sketch

The Process Cutting the Fabric

1. Start with a strapped dress and any blouse. Lie out the dress Zirst and Zind the center of the front and the back. Pin in place if necessary. 2. Cut along the centers, separating the dress into two pieces.

The Process Cutting out Fabric

3. Next, cut the blouse on the side seams, separating the front from the back. Do this on both sides. 4. Match up the edge of the blouse to the newly cut center front and center back of the dress.

The Process Sewing

5. When lining up the edges, make sure the bottoms of the garments match up. 6. Fold down the remaining amount at the top of the longer garment so that it matches the other and Zinish it by sewing. If necessary, trip some away Zirst. 7. Create the seam by over locking the two pieces together.

The Process Sewing

8. Trim the top of the blouse that extends past the top of the dress. 9. Finish the cut edge by over locking and folding it over, then sewing using a zigzag stitch.

10. Finish all of the edges using the over lock machine, then fold under and add a zigzag stitch.

The Process Sewing

11. Place a pin tucked pleat in the front and back where the fabric puckers and hand stitch. 12. Attach a new set of straps in the color or style of your choosing for the left arm .

The Process Embroidery

12. Add an embroidery piece to the front over the new pleat.

The Final Product:

Third Project: Skirt

Fabric & Color Board

Navy Blue

Denim

Sketch

The Process Creating the Pattern

1. Lie out a pair straight legged jeans. 2. Cut straight across one leg of the jeans where the inseam begins. 3. Flip the plants one leg into the other to line up the cut for the next leg and cut.

The Process Cutting the Fabric

4. Fold one of the legs in half and cut into two even pieces at the knee area. Repeat for the second leg. 5. Remove the inseams from all four pieces. 6. Cut and re-position the inseam at the bottom of the waist section to align it properly. Straight stitch the seam.

The Process Sewing

7. Align the four pieces of the pants, in an order such as, bottom of leg one, top of leg one, bottom of leg two, top of leg two.

8. Measure each piece to an amount that matches and trim each accordingly

The Process Sewing

9. Attach each piece together with a straight stitch using the machine. Then, attach the last piece to the Zirst creating a tube. 10. Pin the tube to the top part of the skirt by attaching the bottom of the tube to the inside of the bottom edge of the skirt. 11. Flip the tube attachment up and pin the top to the skirt and bottom of the tube to create the bubble look. Attach with a hand baste.

The Process Sewing

12. Create the pleats in the front and sides of the skirt by adding folds to the tube portion. 13. Create a bunch in the back of the skirt by using a basting stitch. 14. Attach the tube to the upper portion of the skirt using a zigzag or straight stitch.

15. Add tulle into the bottom part of the skirt for more volume 16. Blind stitch the opening in the bottom portion closed using a hand stitch.

The Process: Embroidery

15. Add an applique to the back pocket of the jean of your choice. Here, I added a crocheted cell phone holder.

The Final Product:

Fourth Project: Shirt

Fabric & Color Board

Turquoise

Cotton

Sketch

The Process Cutting the Fabric

1. Lie out a crew neck t-shirt. 2. Cut straight across just below the neck on the front of the t-shirt ONLY. 3. Cut off the sleeves on an angle that extends from near the neck to the armpit.

The Process Cutting the Fabric

4. Cut straight across the back of the t-shirt at the armpit. 5. Remove the strip of overlocked seam from the bottom.

The Process Creating Details

6. Make knots in the strip and cut into two, or use a fancy ribbon or chain that you like. 7. Align each piece to the corners of the front top of the shirt and afZix with a hand stitch.

The Process: Finishing the Project

8. Finish the edges of the shirt on all sides. 9. If necessary, take a tuck or pleat in the back of the shirt as pictured.

The Final Product:

Fifth Project: Shirt

Fabric & Color Board

Brown Black

Cotton

Sketch

The Process Cutting the Fabric

1. Lie out a crew neck t-shirt. 2. Find the middle of the front and back of the shirt in order to create proper cuts across the sleeves and neckline. 3. Put one side of the shirt into the other to create the equal sides.

The Process Cutting the Fabric

4. Cut along the sleeve, removing it at an angle. 5. Remove the neckline creating a scoop neck on the front 6. Remove the back neckline creating a V shape in the back. 7. Cut at an angle on the back of the shirt creating a diamond shape. 8. Add a teardrop shape cutout on the back of the shirt, and bunch the meeting point of the sleeves together using a hand stitch.

The Process Creating Details

9. Add a piece from the sleeve to the back where there is the bunch. 10. Add a bead over this piece for detail!

The Final Product:

The Mini Collection:

Glossary of Important Terms

The green fashion movement: garment recycling within the fashion industry. Reconstructed clothing: the practice of creating new clothes from existing garments in various ways. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle:

Deconstruction: garments that are unZinished, coming apart, recycled, transparent, and grunge. Eco-Fashion: presents recyclability, but machine producedso the argument holds little weight. Deconstructionism: undoing fashion to create new pieces of deconstructed fashion. Le Destroy: rebel style of fashion associated with deconstructionism. Anti-Fashion: rebel form of fashion used to negatively critique normalized fashion codes. Zeitgeist: spirit of the times Ontology: the branch of metaphysics used to deal with the nature of being Margiela: fashion designer described as the Zirst major deconstructionist designer in the 1980s Derrida: French philosopher that created deconstructionist theory in the 1960s.

Reduce: saving energy by lessening the amount of use of any item. With clothes, you are reducing waste by choosing alternate ways to clothe yourself. Reuse: second best way to diminish waste. It is reusing clothing, or other things, after their Zirst use. Recycle: taking an existing product and reprocessing it into a completely new and different product.