AlterNation was mentioned in a lengthy (and interesting) article on AlterNet recently. I particularly enjoyed this quote:
The DIY movement wants you to make stuff. The DIY movement is huge, and sometimes it’s charming and sometimes it’s annoying and it is an anti-mass-production insurrection, a cuddly-soft revolt whose arsenal is crochet hooks, needles and glue guns. It is active in an all-too-passive age. It is a revolution against dehumanization in a programmed, processed world, and Doing It Yourself declares the self.
Xan came out to visit the high school apprentices I’ve been teaching for the past six weeks and we had a brilliant time (photos to come soon) — she showed off some of her work, we talked about artistic influences, about the thrift store design challenge my apprentices had completed — all really interesting stuff. It’s so exciting to see how quickly they took to the design possibilities inherent in renovating existing pieces.
Xan & AlterNation in the Cleveland Plain Dealer
0 Comments Published by Shannon July 10th, 2008 in Articles, As seen in...Yay! Congrats to Xan on a fantastic piece in the Cleveland Plain Dealer (our hometown paper) — In AlterNation Shannon Okey and Alexandra Underhill share their creative secrets. Scans to come — of course my mother came and raided my newspapers the day this came out!
With both Xan and Shannon selling on Etsy.com, you never know what we’ll post. Xan’s got the corset skirt from the cover image for sale right now… click the photo to be taken to its page. Also, see the Shop page for more from both of us.
My Fat Quarters Yukata Jacket is in CRAFT magazine issue 7, on page 68. If you’re a digital subscriber, you can find it at that link.
That’s my friend Arabella modeling. If you show up needing a photo taken of your latest painting on a day I have my camera and also need of a model, chances are good I’m going to make you put on whatever it is!
The jacket is made of a base grey/black layer and then several fat quarters of various black and white fabrics are used on the trim, including an elastic band across the back and a looped fabric chain closure. It’s great for using up all kinds of different fabric scraps you may have stashed away — you could even make the base yukata patchwork style, that would be very cool.
Also, spotted online, some good news for Texas stitchers — check out the latest stitch lounge on the scene: Sew Crafty Houston!
My friend Rae has been posting some interesting stuff on fused plastic bags, where you sandwich several layers of bags between paper, then use an iron to fuse them all together. The Tyvek-like, super-durable fabric can be cut and sewn into whatever you like, but its plasticky waterproofy goodness makes it ripe for bag use.
The technique is, basically, a lot like the interfacing scarf in AlterNation, which makes me wonder if you could throw some fabric scraps and yarn in between the plastic layers for color and texture. Probably! I’ll give it a try and report back.
Felt queen Betz White made some of these fused bags that are really pretty. On a related note, here are two cool foldable bag links: one, two.
I’ve been hunting for ripstop nylon or polyester in cool prints, and this is the best I’ve found. Does anyone have a good source for non-boring nylon prints? The Reisenthel Mini Maxi Shopper I got at Lettuce Knit in Toronto (which is available online here) is my current bag inspiration.
I’m working on a pattern for a foldable bag set that will meet my current owns-too-many-bags-but-none-are-perfect criteria, and a corresponding bag with enough d-rings to hold the foldy-bags, plus an umbrella and all the other stuff you always want but never have with you when you need it. Basically, the contents of your hall closet, miniaturized, and easy to carry!
Found after one of the owners commented on a post here: Pintucks, in Los Angeles. (It’s been added to my must-go-to list the next time I’m in California).
They’ve got vintage fashion and accessories, plus a fabric studio with both vintage and new fabrics, including mid-century modern upholstery fabrics, which aren’t always super-easy to find. Pintucks also carries vintage and new buttons, laces, trims and sewing patterns and offer sewing classes and studio space like my shop Stitch Cleveland does. Very, very cool. It’s like a cross between AlterNation and my store!
Quilt designer Denyse Schmidt has been selling scrap bags of her fabric for a while, including very cool kimono scrap bags which you could use to make projects like this. I’m notorious at Stitch Cleveland for never wanting to throw away even the tiniest scraps, and that’s why.
Now fabric designer Anna Maria Horner is also selling scrap bags. But you don’t have to limit yourself to garments — why not try some art? My friend Natasha does great stuff with fabric, paper and other mixed media. All you need is a little imagination!
We did a book signing at Lake Erie Artists Gallery in downtown Cleveland yesterday. Here’s part of our display:
and here’s Xan working away (she set up her sewing machine and serger so people could watch her at work)
Not pictured: me puzzling out a knitting swatch for a sweater I’m working on, repeatedly.
Well, we’ve almost made it through Green Season (March/spring is traditionally when all the magazines do their “green” issues), but if you’re looking for other books on that topic this year, here’s a list of what’s coming out in 2008.
Shannon’s next book Alt Fiber — on using soy, bamboo, hemp and other eco-friendly yarns — is on the list, plus a few other crafty ones. There’s a nice review of Shannon’s Pillow Book here in the Chicago Tribune, too.
Keep in mind, you don’t have to buy all new materials to make pillows, or clothes, or anything else. Your typical thrift store is brimming with fabric and other things that can be cut up and remade. Ok, so maybe you won’t be able to salvage the zipper and you’ll need to run out to Jo-Ann’s for a new one…that’s ok. But if you challenge yourself to find materials among discarded remnants, your creations will always be unique. Keep your ears open — here in Cleveland, for example, local interior designers and related firms have teamed up to keep materials out of landfills by donating them to artists and anyone else who wants them a few times a year. You never know what you might find!
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About
AlterNation: Transform, Embellish, Customize is the first print collaboration between author/designer Shannon Okey and designer/artist Alexandra Underhill.
AlterNation is designed to teach even the novice sewer how to design their own clothes by transforming thrift store finds. For more about the authors, click here; for more about the book click here.
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