Making scrunchie from old shirt:

I had some shirt I got in charity shop, however didn’t fit me anymore but I still like the colour and fabric. I decided to remake them as the scrunchie. My inspiration is flower scrunchie from Sandy Liang.

I created the first one but it is not perfectly good and I tried with the 2nd one. It just took me the afternoon and I was very enjoy the time of making them.I think the scrunchie would be cool to remake from denim or any stronger fabric that will make it stands.  

 I just learned to use sewing machine recently but I can make tote bag and scrunchie from thrown away fabric. Therefore I want to encourage the target audience to try and make things for themselves. I’ve recorded very quick video to show how I did it and also create a pattern so people can download from our website.

Here is the Sandy Liang’s products.

Creating more bags from the bed sheet:

The old bed sheet still has lots of fabric, therefore I want to create 2-3 bags. I made the design quite fun and cute so it matches the aesthetics we aiming for. The more I made, I learn more about the technique of sewing. I learn to do pleated as well, even though it requires some measuring and dividing the fabric in advance, I know how to do it now. Detail can be seen in my sketchbook

I did one detail tutorial for the butterfly bag which I’m gonna send to Rosa to put on the website. And another bag,I will make small reels for our social media. Unfortunately, the lighting in my  flat wasn’t very good and I filmed by myself with the tripod so some of them look a bit blurry. However, we have Lydia and Mimi who gonna photograph the final garments we’ll have better photos for website.

1st March: we had a meeting today and 8 of us showed up which is very nice as we can give role fore each member.

We solid our ideas and know what we gonna do in this week before our tutorial next week. I will finish brand board for our service and I also continue to do some illustrations that we can put on our websites. For more images of Illustrations can be seen in my sketchbook

I wanted to do few questions to ask UK people around 14-18 related to sustainable fashion and process of remake clothes. unfortunately me and my group don’t know anyone around that age, I still write downs these questions in case I know someone.

Tutorial 8th March

We had a meeting 1hour in advance of our tutorial. We have created the website, social media and some illustrations. Mimi researched lots of sustainable brands with different styles. We gonna make it as the articles so we can post them in social media. Kat has some ideas to remake ties and old jean, it would be really cool we just need to create them then Lydia will take photo to post them. Aoefi made knit from old jean. At this stage, we all have individual roles and we know what we have to do.

In the tutorial Dani said my illustration looks nice and I need to develop the brand board by added colour palettes so everything that will be posted is consistent. We should make clear the final result where we want to promote, do we want to launch event or something. At the moment we discuss to work with the Fashion School Brighton, we can promote our poster there and also on social media

My logo design was picked to use for our group. So I made the main green one and a few of alternative to change or add some effects for instagram or website.

8 feb:

We had tutorial with Dani and Matthew today. I brought the tote bag I made to the tutorial. Dani and Matthew gave us some feedback to build our brand. They suggest me to make brand board, finalised the logo and what we want to learn from this project. Matthew told me to write down how I felt about create a bag myself and what messages I want to deliver from this. 

When I finish the logo for our service, I continue making the brand board and here the final result. I’m adding colour codes so everyone can follow this and a bit of moodboard to show what we’re doing

Tutorial 15 Feb

We have a meeting today after the tutorial, we have discussed more about the age group and the colour scheme for the whole service. Abi will draw some design out, and Mimi will finish the logo and aesthetic 

I will do some research about illustration or comic style.

We might create some core characters that we will use for the sew teaching as well as the comic to educate our customer target about the recycling. I  draw 3 characters for the illustration. These characters formed a Club in high school called Green Miracle club. Through these characters, I put steps, and tips to shop sustainable and be more aware of the current waste.

I will also look at the typography that suitable with the age group

7 December

Today i went to the tutorial, seems to have problem with the timetable therefore I was the only one in my group come, however the whole class only 5-6 people come. We had a chat with Mark about this project, he suggested we made a Gant Chart on Teams or Excel if possible. We can make sketchbook yourself and carefully label them when submitting. He recommend we should start working on February so from this holiday just focus on the research and prepare.

Monday 6 Feb

We had a meeting before the lecture. We met at 12pm in uni’s canteen to catch up everything. It was Mai, Rosa, Mimi and Emily showed up we’re all fashion comm so we just discuss about what we can do if we had some garments

I noted down what we discuss and we’ll try to make something for next week

Making the tote bag:

When I collected fabric from the warehouse, I kept one bed sheet for myself and then give the fashion designers have them all. And the pattern is quite cute so I want to make a tote bag from it. My flatmate is fashion design study and she taught me how to make it from measuring, cutting fabric and sew on the machine.

It was my first time so it took me around 3 hours to finish one and tbh I really like the result even though the process drove me mas a few times. I learned to be patient with the sting machine and make the sew line straight. 

When I finish that I felt really happy because finally I can make something that I can use and especially it unique to me . 

And I think it related to our ideas that teach young people how to sew and I hope they will enjoy the process as well as satisfy with the results.

Going to the warehouse Mon 7 Nov 2022

I signed up to to go to the warehouse to collect fabric for our group. The ware house is away around 20 mins from Grand parade campus. It was very interesting to visit the warehouse and understand about the ethos and what people in there doing. 

At this stage our group hasn’t formed any ideas yet so I’m not really know what to choose. I tried to get some curtains and bedsheet cause they’re large fabric and easy to remake. I also got some oversize shirt/trousers or the same reason.

I remember I watch one video from internet that people up cycled ties into a shirt, so I also picked up lots of ties

Whilst the surge of shopping sustainably and altering/ reusing clothing you already have is on the rise, users on social media, in particular TikTok, sharing DIY and sewing videos has also grown in popularity.

After doing some research looking for sustainable projects that reach out to a similar audience to our project, I realised social media is the one platform majority of 14-18 year olds are engaged in. An article by Refinery 29 looked into the ‘sewingtiktok’ trend which has apparently accumulated 725 million views. It spoke about how creators are sharing videos of them recreating luxury designer and vintage pieces with a small budget.

The sewing Tiktok went viral in 2020 when the JW Anderson crochet cardigan started trending on Tiktok after an image of Harry Styles wearing it made the rounds. Multiple creators started sharing their attempts at making their own versions using the hashtag harrystylescardigan.  The viral trend managed to reach designer Jonathon Anderson himself who showed support and then released the cardigans official pattern for creators to replicate. This is a good example of allowing designer luxury garments to become more accessible to everyone. Whilst it isn’t the same thing doing it by yourself, it does create a more sustainable community when it comes to fashion, not paying into an industry that uses environmentally harmful resources. It also gives consumers the option to use materials of their choice, whether bought new or re-used from previous clothing/accessories.

Furthermore, many creators are gaining massive influence on the platform for their DIY sewing hacks. Maddie White is an example who is a selftaught sewer, her method is to find outfits or aesthetics she can recreate with her own designs and shows the process behind making them on a tight budget. She has taken on some iconic looks such as a glittery butterfly Versace dress worn by Cher and Dua Lipa, a black Cult Gaia flower cut-out top worn by Ariana Grande, and a mini version of the Jean Paul Gaultier white couture gown worn by Bella Hadid at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

This could be a really good avenue for our project to take. ‘Green Miracle’ being a service based platform for younger ages to learn how to be more sustainable when it comes to fashion means we have to think of all the different ways we can reach our audience. I think social media is definitely a good way we can do this, using certain hashtags and trends as inspiration and to create a sense of community.

Article:

https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2021/09/10687246/sewing-tiktok-viral-trend

I wanted to experiment with using different found materials/fabrics to construct different accessories. I decided to put my knitting skills to use to construct a denim knitted bag. I used old scraps of denim and cut into strips to then tie together and knit with chunky needles.

(Will upload photos when possible, had some technical difficulty)

Also using scrap materials, I am going to crochet straps that can be attached to bags/purses. Small accessories are the main focus for tutorials as they are quick and easy to construct, and also simple instructions to follow for our chosen age range.

Emilys Post

Research for chosen project
Target
Teens aged 14-18
Teaching them about the environment, recycling and how to upcycle and sew using old clothes and fabrics.
Workshops and helpful videos and tips to follow
Educating in a responsible and non scary way

How to teach teens about shopping sustainability and climate change
Things to remember-
We don’t want to worry them or make them anxious
Educate teens in an informative but fun way so they understand better
Emphasis on things teens can understand like animals and nature and looking out for their own future, keeping things light hearted at the same time.

Definition of sustainability for teens
Small changes we can make every day that help us to look after the planet, in order to help protect the plants and animals in the world so the future generations will be able to enjoy them.

Speaking about climate change with teens can make them feel extremely anxious, scared and upset, so it’s important to try and talk about it with enthusiasm and positivity, as well as highlighting its seriousness so they understand how important it is to look after the planet.

Teens may feel hopeless and helpless when they know what is happening to the planet so it’s important they are aware of the things they can do which help towards having a more sustainable and climate change free planet.

Teach children about recycling and how important it is.
First explain to teens why we recycle things-

All of the rubbish like plastic and paper and glass would end up in landfill being left for many years to be able to break down, if we didn’t recycle and kept making more and more plastic and glass eventually the whole world would be covered in rubbish.
By recycling we melt down and reuse our old rubbish and turn it into new things so we aren’t creating more waste.

Upcycling is also something to encourage teens to do. There are many simple and quick upcycling things that teens can do with their old clothes, even as simple as turning a pair of jeans into shorts or patchworking holes in old clothes. All these small actions all make an impact on a bigger issue. Small steps lead to big jumps.

Basic facts of climate change for teens

Climate change can be overwhelming for young people, so its important to give them to basic facts and keep it simple-

“Humans are burning lots and lots of fossil fuels for energy, in planes, in cars, to light our houses, and that’s putting greenhouse gases into the air. Those gases wrap around the planet like a blanket and make everything hotter.
A hotter planet means bigger storms, it melts ice at the poles so oceans will rise, it makes it harder for animals to find places to live.
And it’s a really, really big problem, and there are a lot of smart people working hard on it, and there’s also lots that we can do as a family to help.”

While I waited for everything to be ready to be put on website I started planning where content would go and some sort of a theme for it. I went for a blue background as it went well with our final logo that Mai created. I also created some illustrations that could be used to keep it looking exciting for the viewer.

These are the illustrations I created. They are very simple but when starting the website I realised it looked quite plain and needed some more interesting bits to catch the viewers eye and draw them in.

I created some initial logo ideas that we could potentially use. I really liked these, especially the one with the needle and thread, however I feel we may need something a little more simple for the website. These could work as part of the instagram though. These could be perfected further but are just some initial idea.