New Hat

So there’s been a whole lotta sickness going on in my family this last week. Who am I kidding, these last two months–but especially this last week. This has meant that I haven’t been getting much made. This is incredibly frustrating since I have all of these marvelous ideas and no time or opportunity to make them. I dutifully write/draw them down and hope like heck I can remember the details. Like a lot of people, I am visited by my most interesting visions early in the morning, in those moments between sleep and wake. These are NOT visions like people have when they’re high and THINK they’re having brilliant ideas, but later realize that those ideas are ONLY brilliant when they get high again. At least I hope not. You tell me.

When I have had a moment to work in these last two months, I’ve been really into the red/turquoise/aqua thing. I made this fantastic cashmere skirt, which I’m calling my “Dragon Scales” skirt because… well, it reminded me of stories about dragons.

 

To go with this I created this fantastic (if I may say so myself) neck wrap in the same cashmere.

 
I love this thing, not just because I think the colors are fantastic, but because it’s so soft that once you put it on, you never want to take it off. I cut little teardrop shaped holes in this, then surrounded them with red thread.

I call this my “Dragon Tears” neck wrap. I really wanted to keep this for myself. Alas, I put it on a mannequin at the Torpedo Factory and it sold almost instantly.
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s the whole outfit:

I made one other, in two shades of Turquoise (also with “Tears”), and it sold immediately as well.

Making things I love and sending them out into the world (no matter how badly I want to hold onto them) is part of what I do, and why I love to do it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
But before you think that sounds impressive, I’ll come clean and tell you that I also made a couple of hats. I made this one:

 

And loved it so much I REALLY wanted to keep it. It was really my favorite hat that I’d ever made. Of course it sold immediately, so I set about making a sister hat.

 

 

 

That’s when I made this one:

 Now I’ll admit to you that I am keeping this one. In fact, I’ve been wearing it around for a couple of weeks now. My feeling was that it was far too weird for anyone to like it (much less want to buy it). But to my surprise, I have people complimenting it and asking about it all the time. The really fab thing is, it’s light cashmere, so I can keep on wearing it for a least another month, maybe two.

I guess that’s all a long way to tell you that I have a new hat.

TranquiliT Event – Upcycling Class: Thrill-Frills

People are always asking me if I teach any classes on Upcycling or my “techniques”. Now I can say “YES”.

So this week I finally managed to get all the information together for the up-cycling class I will be teaching at TranquiliT in Dupont Circle this spring. The challenge was to come up with a project that could be made in two hours that did NOT use a sewing machine (their challenge to me–since they don’t have machines at their facility) that still managed to be cute and interesting (my challenge to myself).

I think I managed to make up a sweet little project that will be really fun for people who want an introduction to the Upcycling and updating their clothes, that can not only easily be done, but has infinite possibilities and variations.

Here’s two examples, one sweet, one a little more punk-rock.

Sweet

Jagged

What I love about this little design is that not only can it be hand-sewn (though I goes much more quickly with a machine), but it’s such an easy way to update–and make fun and funky–something plain that’s just sittin’ in your closet. It can be applied to all sorts of garments: shirts, dresses, camis, even skirts. Another thing I love is that it gives you the opportunity to USE some of those fun and funky vintage prints or pieces you’ve picked up and don’t know what to do with. Or you can use a piece of clothing that you’ve loved literally to death: it’s got holes, is falling apart, but you still can’t bear feed it to the trash.

One thing I love to do when I’m upcycling is use some loud or even ultra-feminine print that is really WAY too much when you see it spread all over a dress or shirt, but looks fantastic when you take a little bit of it (as in this project) and add it to spice up something plain. With this project, you could use the “sacraficial pieces” to spruce up several different garments, trying all sorts of variations.

My inclination was for the jagged, more punk version with the striped-strips hanging down. To me, it’s like you get the femininity of the ruffles, but then it sort of deconstructs or explodes at the end (and on the back). This is really me. If things are too fem, I get nervous. So whenever I do something that looks very feminine, I always find myself wanting to balance that with something a little more edgy and jagged (like gorgeous high-heels crushing broken glass). I just like the tension of that juxtaposition.

I made the sweeter version for people who don’t mind being fem. all the way and don’t want or need the jagged-edges. A safer and sweeter variation on the same theme. Either way, I started out with plain t-shirts and just added the thrill-frills.

So, here’s the link and here’s info. for the class:

Upcycle: Remake your Old Clothes

Apr. 4, 2009, 10am-noon, TranquiliT Showroom

Do you stare into your closet and feel that it’s just all so boring? Or, alternately, do you have clothing that you’ve loved and worn so much that it’s falling apart–but you still can’t bring yourself to throw it away? This workshop can help you. Tamara will introduce you to some simple ways to update your wardrobe and re-use / re-envision some of those favorite pieces you just can’t bear to part with. Why spend a ton of money on new clothes when you can up-cycled what you already have? $5 materials fee due in class.

Supplies List: One shirt (preferably scoop-neck or V-neck) that fits you (or whoever will be wearing the shirt), one or two other garments (can bring more for more choices) that you’re willing to cut up (here’s your chance to choose fun and funky prints or fabrics), sharp scissors.

 

Maybe I’ll see you there!