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| fibre and design works |
I am a recycler of ideas, objects, and processes. Currently I am refashioning accesories and clothing using thrift store materials. When I was a little kid I helped my mum at sales and bazaars. We were always cruising through the big Goodwill store in downtown Victoria. Mum made all sorts of great clothes and accessories from scratch, but she also liked to hunt out vintage treasures. I learned to sew early and have always had a huge "collection" of materials to work with. I really like to teach people to recycle clothing and materials. I teach art at Vancouver Island University. Many of my art students find that using recycled materials is an economical strategy for creating their work. |
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Knit Gnat Although the west coast of Canada does not get much snow, we do get some and we have dreary winter weather. This is a project my art students do in January when the campus is miserably cold and wet. I provide the students with a large amount of wool and ask them to make structures to warm up the campus (ie cosies). At the end of the project we let a knit bomb off in the area surrounding the art building. |
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Designing and Making Hats
Hats are such interesting things to design and make. Here are some of them.
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| 1 | 2 | 3 |
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| 4 | 5 | 6 |
Many of the hats are from recycled material. 1 was a sweater and a persian lamb coat,2 was new material, 3 was a skirt, 4 was a leather jacket and a coat, 5 was vintage material,6 was a shirt I made myself and did not like plus a used belt. When I use recycled material and clothing I rip it all apart and discard seams, hems etc. I clean it thoroughly. After that it all gets a critical inspection as I do not like to work with any recycled material that isn't meticulously clean. And the fur thing.. well I am an animal lover too but I think vintage fur should be used because there has to be some other point to the critter's life being taken. I hate wasting good things like this. Purses Purses are just hats with handles. I love pushing the design boundaries of pursemaking. I also like to find something and turn it into a purse. Each of these purses were something else before they became a purse. From the top, left to right, purse 1 was an old leather jacket and 2 skirts, purse2 was an old leather jacket and a beautiful dress I made for myself that looked horrible when I wore it, purse 3 was a hudson's bay point blanket, purse 4 was two sweaters, 5 was a mini skirt, and 6 was a blouse, two sweaters and an old purse. How fun is that? |
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| recycled leather jacket and 2 blouses | recycled leather jacket and dress | hudson's bay blanket,leather jacket fringe and coat buttons |
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| recycled sweater and purse handles | recycled miniskirt and leather jacket | 2 recycled sweaters ,recycled blouse, new handles and new lining |
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| I added silk flowers salvaged from the sally ann and trim from Bibles for Missions Thrift store. | I added pearl buttons, a fabric cutout from shirt sleeves, and a chunk of a belt. | This purse was a sweater, top folded over and salvaged trim added as well as the bow from a party dress and the silk flowers. |
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These are existing bland purses that I blinged up with silk flowers, jewelry, and dress embellishments. These kinds of projects easier to tackle for first time purse design enthusiasts. And hey, lets face it, they are mindless fun!!