More Fun

T-shirt Riddle Answer — We Have a Winner!

And the winner of the Generation T birthday giveaway, with the correct answer that Megan has 18 black T-shirts, 11 red T-shirts, and 6 white T-shirts (if W represents the number of white T-shirts that Megan owns, then we can make the equation W + (W+5) + 3W = 35. Solving, W = 6) is Nancy Cluff! (Of course, now Megan has one less white T-shirt since it’s going into the prize pack to Nancy, but I suppose that’s the trick answer…)

Thanks to all who played and stretched your brains — well over 30 total correct answers were submitted! The next giveaway happens when the Generation T Facebook community page hits 3,000–so please spread the word to your T-shirt refashioning friends who might like to join the ranks!

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The T-shirt puzzle was adapted from the Mensa 365 Brain Puzzlers Page-A-Day calendar.

[ 1 Comment | Posted on August 13th, 2011 ]

A T-shirt Riddle and Giveaway!

Many of you know how much I enjoy giving gifts around the holidays and since I just celebrated a birthday last weekend, it seems as good enough a holiday as any to host a Generation T giveaway. I hope you’ll agree! To enter to win this Generation T gift pack (includes a blank T-shirt and some surprise refashioning goodies), solve the riddle below and e-mail Megan the answer (megan@generation-t.com) by 5 pm (EST) on Friday, August 12. The winner will be selected at random from those who answer correctly and announced via the Generation T website and the Generation T Facebook page.

Here goes:

Megan owns 35 T-shirts whose colors are red, black, and white. She has three times as many black T-shirts as white T-shirts, and the number of red T-shirts she owns is five greater than the number of white T-shirts. How many T-shirts of each color does Megan have?

Happy solving!

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This puzzle was adapted from the Mensa 365 Brain Puzzlers Page-A-Day calendar.

[ 7 Comments | Posted on August 9th, 2011 ]

From Our Readers: Onyx!

tia haltertopA blast from the past, but still in time for summer 2011! Shortly after Onyx’s dad came to one of my summer 2009 book tour events for Generation T: Beyond Fashion in Portland (sadly, Onyx was out of town!), Onyx made the Pinup Girl halter top at home. Her aunt came over for a visit, and she generously gifted it to her. Instead of using a punk pin for the “pinup” part (the gathers at the front), she used a safety pin and sewed on a barrette–a very cute and creative variation!

Other viable variations include a couple of stitches to keep the gather in place, a button or two (or three!), or a big sparkly bead or brooch. Sum-sum-summertime!

[ 1 Comment | Posted on August 2nd, 2011 ]

From Our Readers: Stacey!

To be fair, these photos actually come courtesy of Stacey’s boyfriend, Ryan, who gets serious points for being so awesome and so proud to show off the swell work of his talented lady friend. This delightful oven mitt (project #40, “Up in My Grill,” from Generation T: Beyond Fashion) is just one of about fifteen projects that Stacey’s got in the DIY pipeline. In Ryan’s words, it is also “pretty much the first thing I show off to people when they visit my new place in Brooklyn.” Ryan also gets serious points for sacrificing his old Mets jersey tee for the cause!

[ 2 Comments | Posted on July 19th, 2011 ]

The DIY Necktie: Update

Remember last month’s I Love to Create project? Here’s the update: A rather avant-garde self-portrait taken by my dear ol’ Dad shortly after he received the flashy Father’s Day tie I made him! (It features the numeric representation of the naturally occurring ratio of 1 to 1.618… otherwise known as the Golden Ratio.)

He was on his way to an art opening in his newest geek-tastic fashion accessory. Lookin’ sharp, Dad!

[ 1 Comment | Posted on July 14th, 2011 ]

From Our Readers: Flossie!

Last weekend, 14-year-old Flossie was recruited by her dad to help him sell barbecue books at Grillstock, a big BBQ festival in the U.K. Needless to say, the oversize T-shirt Flossie was offered to help promote books written by grilling guru (and fellow Workman author) Steven Raichlen wasn’t exactly her slice of pie.  She wisely refused the tee in its original state and slowly inched toward her scissors (and, of course, her copy of Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt). She came up with this no-sew classic hybrid design that combines project #1 “Scoop, There It Is” with project #4 “Fringe Benefits,” then topped it off by turning the tee around so the back logo (“Hot Enough For You?”) became the front. Totally hot, indeed!

[ Comments Off on From Our Readers: Flossie! | Posted on July 7th, 2011 ]

From Our Readers: Juno!

A tale of three sisters… Juno, Rosy, and Jasmine are three magnificent and creative sisters who I’ve known since my youthful days in New Hampshire. They recently played pivotal roles in a very special DIY project for Rosy, who got married last month in Paris. Here is a brief time line of the crafty wonderland, executed over an incredible number of modern social media platforms!

December 30, 2010 from Jasmine, via Twitter, via Skype: Megan, I just Skyped with Rosy and she showed me the T-shirts her friend Kit printed on that Juno will turn into a wedding dress for her.

My interest was piqued as I immediately tweeted back for more information! Eventually, I connected with Juno after she heard that I’d be in town to teach T-shirt workshops, when I can potentially catch a glimpse of the work in progress…

March 7, 2011 from Juno, via Facebook: How long will you be up here for this weekend? I’ve made Rosy a crazy art wedding dress with block prints by a friend of hers from your pattern—would love to cross paths with you and take a picture of you in it if the timing worked.

And Juno finished the gown (Tying the Knot, project #108 in Generation T; 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt), and the timing worked, and I tried on the dress at the yoga barn before our yoga class, and we took some pictures! Then, we fast forward to after the wedding…

May 12, 2011 from Juno, via email: Sorry it’s taken me so long to get the wedding dress post up. The dress was fabulous—Rosy loved it and felt it was entirely her. The whole process made me excited to sew more and learn to make some easy clothes.

Oh, happy day! Now let’s take  look at that process. Here are some of Juno’s alternate versions for the bodice: the All Strung Out tank top, project #88 plus a combination of All Strung Out and the Shoulder Chic tank top, project #15. For more pictures of the whole process of acquiring the hand-printed shirts, cutting and sewing up the skirt, and the whole grand affair, visit Juno’s blog, Try This at Home…

Here are some pictures of Jasmine trying on the dress and the different dress tops! The top she’s wearing below right is the top that is paired with the wedding skirt in the book, but in a different print than the one I tried on — Juno really had all her bases covered!

And here, at last, are some totally dreamy photos of the beautiful bride, Rosy! She chose, in the end, to wear the All Strung Out tank top as the top of her gown. Doesn’t she look stunning?

Congratulations to all involved in the beautiful project! (And thanks to Juno, for letting me play a minor role in it all!)

All photos courtesy of Juno Lamb at Try This at Home.

[ 3 Comments | Posted on May 13th, 2011 ]

Generation T: The Next Generation

With Mother’s Day yesterday, and Father’s Day just around the corner, today’s post is inspired by those who inspire the next generation of DIYers. Here are some photos from my recent workshops at Holderness School–with my late afternoon crew. Even though Holderness is a high school, the school serves a much wider community in the faculty families that live on and near campus. After the Artward Bound Workshops were done for the afternoon, my late afternoon kids started to arrive (after they got out of middle, elementary, or preschool!).

With dad’s encouragement, superstar DIYer Ella showed up almost every afternoon. This particular project is Knotty by Nature, project #44 from Generation T. And, rather than the traditional tube top underneath, she opted to snip a tank top from a colorful striped shirt she found in the donations. She also notes, “You can wear the knotted top around your waist over jeans or leggings!”

Mama Nikki decked out Molly and Mason in their superhero capes and boas (Mighty My Tee, project #55 and Tic Tac Boa, project #115, both from Generation T: Beyond Fashion) which they wore in the student fashion show (and, I’m told, all around the house!). Note: Molly’s skirt is also a T-shirt refashion — an outgrown dress whose top was cut off to make way for a T-shirt waistband!

Claire and Michael (who are a little young yet to be handling the sharp scissors) donned T-shirt smocks and, with mom’s help, used fabric markers and fabric spray paints to personalize T-shirts that welcomed their dad back from his 10-day camping trip.

Mama Lindley helped Lindon apply stencils for fabric painting while baby Stella looked on and murmured noises of encouragement.

Ella was back for more, following the instructions to make Outer Lace, project #16 in Generation T.

The next day, she brought her pal Chase so they could make matching spray painted tank tops (Sew Easy, project #26, in Generation T).

And Phoebe and Ella appeared together in the fashion show with in their Outer Lace tank tops (and, note the Knotty by Nature top worn as a sassy skirt!).

So here’s to all the parents out there who inspire and encourage kids to pick up scissors or markers or pencils — or any other creative instrument — and DIY. My own parents are two of the craftiest, handiest, creative people I know, and I wouldn’t be here writing this post today if it weren’t for them!

[ Comments Off on Generation T: The Next Generation | Posted on May 9th, 2011 ]

Earth Day Giveaway Finalists!

And the five finalists chosen at random from the yesterday’s Earth Day Giveaway entries are Jessica W., Susan B., Kiki, Martha, and Anne N. St. Louis! Finalists, listen up:

My old Keep Earth Alive: RECYCLE T-shirt appears in the pages of Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt. The first of you five finalists to e-mail me (megan at generation-t.com) and correctly identify 1) the page number on which it appears, 2) the name of the project transformation, and 3) the color of the shirt (yes, that’s a hint), wins a signed copy of Generation T: Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow, Sunday April 24, 2011.

Good luck!

xo, Megan/ Generation T

[ 1 Comment | Posted on April 23rd, 2011 ]

Happy Earth Day from Generation T!

Circle ’round for for a brief, heart-warming, and perhaps eerily prophetic story from my childhood. (And read till the end–there’s a treat.)

In 1988, my town’s annual Earth Day poster contest held a special prize: The winning design was to be printed on T-shirts that would be distributed to students at the Sandwich Central Elementary School and available for sale to parents and other adults in the community. There I was, a young girl armed with passion for the earth, appreciation for the animals and plants that live on it, a full box of markers, and a blank sheet of paper.  My message was simple: Keep Earth Alive: RECYCLE. The words wrapped around a drawing of the earth, each continent and ocean playing host to an animal native to its land or water. I remember drawing the antlers of a moose in North America, the oversize beak of a toucan in South America, a humpback whale in the Atlantic… At top right is the newspaper clipping my mom saved to commemorate the event of my winning the contest–my two sisters are with me showing off the T-shirts. Though the poster, which I had so carefully colored in, was to be printed in black and white, the T-shirts, at least, ranged in color. My sisters each chose green and blue T-shirts, respectively, while my dad ordered the vibrant pink T-shirt shown here. He wore it for many years, and it bears a few ink stains–the requisite mark of an art teacher.

In the spirit of Earth Day contests, here’s one for you: Before midnight tonight, let us know in the comments what you’re doing to celebrate Earth Day, and be automatically entered to win a signed copy of Generation T: Beyond Fashion. Here’s where it gets interesting: Five finalists will be drawn at random and announced on the site tomorrow, April 23, 2011 at noon EST. A final challenge will be issued and the first of the finalists to correctly answer the trivia question posed is the winner! (Hint: Having a copy of Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt on hand for reference will be infinitely helpful.)

[ 10 Comments | Posted on April 22nd, 2011 ]

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