Nadine Kam photos
Michelle Douglas of Meg by Design hosted an Etsy community crafting event, teaching students how to reconstruct their old tees. Here, she helped one student to put two of her old tees together. She's wearing one of her own creations, available in the Hifi Pop-up Incubator on the lower level of Ala Moana Center, near Old Navy.
Already, two weeks seems like too-short a time period for the Hawaii Fashion Incubator to be in operation. There are a lot of classes and workshops on the calendar I want to try, but there are just so many things going on all around town, there's work and just not enough time to get to them all.
It would be different if the space were permanent (there are possibilities in the works), and we could count on recurring workshops and classes.
So it was that Michelle Douglas of Meg by Design, was presenting just one class on T-shirt reconstruction and I couldn't miss it. It coincided with the after party for Lovelessizm, so in a way, I was there for both, as curious party-goers peeked into the back room to see what was going on and stopped by to say hi and see what I was working on.
Why I had to do this is kind of a long story, starting with this large men's T-shirt I bought at Savers a couple of years ago. It had an image of a cat in sunglasses lounging on a beach. The T-shirt was old and faded, and the plasticized image was cracked, but it just appealed to me and I thought I could turn it into a casual camisole top with a plain top bodice and the image on the lower half.
I like the eco-friendly idea of reworking something shapeless, old and unwanted into something someone might actually want to wear. Then, like many leisure projects and good intentions, it went nowhere for lack of time and motivation.
Michelle helped Aryana Chang turn her T-shirt into a lightweight sweater jacket, below.
Every now and then, I'd spot the shirt and just recently was going to add it to a bag destined for Goodwill, but then stopped short of putting it in.
On Sunday I had talked to Tiare Thomas about vision boarding, and I think the image is one I might include on a vision board. In thinking about it, I figured I want to be the cat lounging on the beach without a care in the world! Tiare had talked about balance and as much as my work is play in that I'm doing things I like, I have very little down time and wonder what it might be like to actually take a vacation without working.
For the class, I also brought in a size XXL long sleeve jersey shirt I bought from Savers for fabric, but again, never reworked, so I used it as a dress on chilly days, knotting the front into a rosette. I thought it could be the back of the camisole if necessary.
Next thing I knew, Michelle had popped the shirt onto a manikin, and tying it every which way, and whatever she did looked amazing. When I said the two pieces didn't have to go together, she just said, "You've got yourself a dress," an amazing halter-style dress. Nobody there could believe what she'd created from such an ugly basic piece.
When it came to reworking the T-shirt, instead of using the whole cat image on the skirt portion as I had planned, she said it would be more interesting to use in the bodice, and would be even more interesting if I used half of the cat on the front, and the other half on the back, and it turned out really cute.
You can see Michelle's reconstructed wedding gowns and bridal collections during her Meg by Design launch party and fashion show at the Hifi Pop-up Incubator, 7 to 9 p.m. March 25.
In the meantime, you can also check out her items at Hifi or in her Etsy shop.
Cora Cardwell created this piece in class.
Here I am cutting fabric while there was a party going on in the background. Behind me are racks of Lovelessizm designs, back from the Centerstage fashion show. I'm not easily distracted when writing, but I found it really hard to sew with loud music.
Once a T-shirt: The almost finished top. Just gotta trim the loose threads, and the seam will be turned down for a tiny ruffle effect.
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