Lanora, from the Live to Ride, Love to Knit blog, briefly put down her trusty knitting needles this summer to make two cute designs from Generation T. Her mission: To escape the horrors of “boxy T-shirt syndrome” when she rode out to the famous motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota.
The first project she made is Boob Tube, project #36 found on page 98. For this one she used a colorful T-shirt from a local tattoo parlor.
The second, made from another tattoo parlor tee, is the ever-popular T-bird halter top, project #47 found on page 120. Boxy T-shirts, begone! Mission accomplished.
Turn that old T-shirt into a cute new romper in this fun tutorial from Threadbanger’s Secret Life of a Bio Nerd. Head to a warm-weather destination to show off your new garment or transition the summer wear into fall by layering colorful tights underneath! Fair warning: Those of you with long torsos (like me!), may need to come up with a creative alteration for extending the midsection of the garment. Enjoy!
Reader Kelsey and the members of Iowa State University’s sustainability club, Closets Collide, sent us this cute photo of their group wearing refashioned T-shirt scarves–those are Loop-Tee-Loop scarves bookending a fringed Mane-iac scarf in the middle (projects #26 and #91 in Generation T: Beyond Fashion). On this particular day, these ladies were recruiting new members as they gear up for their next Closets Collide massive clothing swap event! If you’re in the Ames, Iowa area, it’s open to the community and will be held in the Sun Room at the MU on October 23rd, 2010! Think fall fashion, last-minute Halloween costume elements, and most definitely some T-shirts for your next refashioning session…oh how I wish teleportation was a viable transit option.
Are you involved in sustainable fashion on your school’s campus? Let us know!
[ Comments Off on From Our Readers: Closets Collide! | Posted on October 14th, 2010 ]
Can you put on more than 25 shirts in 1 minute? Jamie Matter secured the record over at Universal Record Database on August 26, 2010. Can you beat it? No cheating! Head must be through neckbands, and arms must be through armholes!
Or can you top the record of 3 Brothers in a T-shirt (set on February 21, 2010)? The Kase brothers, Levi, Jesse, and Kobe, are the ones to beat.
Photo copyright Universal Record Database. All rights reserved.
Or how about tackling the Longest Exquisite Corpse Relay in which 9 people run and draw throughout a 900-meter relay race? The first runner goes 100 meters while drawing part of a person on his T-shirt. The shirt is then removed and transferred to the next relay team member, who puts it on and starts running the next 100 meters while adding to the first runner’s drawing. This continues, with each person running 100 meters, until the 900 meters — and the drawing — is complete! Are you up for the cardio-creative challenge? The record was created and set on June 17, 2009 by Jessica Dunn, Lindsay Gerlach, Courtney Hacker, Flounder Lee, Paul Miller, Kurt Nettleton, Kyle Channing Smith, Victoria Son and Courtney Ware.
Or perhaps you’ve got a Guinness World Record in your sights: Record holder Matt McAllister wore an incredible (and heavy!) 155 T-shirts at once, and documented the results in the video below. Not sure if anyone’s challenged his record since, but keep us posted if you do!
Though unofficial and undocumented by video, we at Generation T like to think we hold the record for “Number of T-shirts Transformed in a Weekend” when we (with the help of many, many T-shirt fans) refashioned well over 300 T-shirts at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee in June 2006!
What T-shirt record would you dare attempt?
[ Comments Off on World T-shirt Record Champions! | Posted on October 12th, 2010 ]
Okay, they are my book publisher after all, but when Workman Publishing editorial assistant Liz Davis writes such a sweet blog post of her own Maker Faire coverage, I have to share! Here’s a pic of me and some of the “Camp Make” Workman volunteers (camp counselors?) in our matching “A T-shirt is a terrible thing to waste” uniforms while we waited on the 7 train platform after a long first day at the Faire! Though you can’t see the back, Avery used project #33 “Tying Game” as her inspiration, Liz is wearing the “T-Bird” halter top (project #47) and and Rae Ann is sporting a belted version of project #16 “Outer Lace,” all from Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt. (Me, I went with a hybrid of “Looney Tunic” and “Back in Action” (projects #15 and #101 in Generation T: Beyond Fashion).
What project would you do make sure that an “A T-shirt is a Terrible Thing to Waste” T-shirt didn’t go to waste?
[ Comments Off on Workman.com | Posted on October 9th, 2010 ]
Recently, I had the distinct honor of being my friends’ witness to their city hall nuptials. To make it festive, I met Sarah and Bryan on the building steps with a bouquet of dahlias for her and a simple boutonniere for the him. And since it was a rather last-minute DIY project the night before, my pile of scrap T-shirt hems became suddenly very valuable. Luckily, a few scraps that I had left over from a previous T-shirt project were the perfect hue for that wedding day “something blue.”
All you need are some fresh flowers, a rubber band, two straight pins, a pair of scissors, and some T-shirt strips!
For the bouquet, I arranged the flowers in one hand and, when the arrangement was satisfactory, I loosely wrapped them with the rubber band. Then I centered the stretched out T-shirt cord against the stems and gently but securely wrapped the ends around and around the bouquet, eventually tying them in a knot (oh, how appropriate).
For the boutonniere, I flattened one the stretched T-shirt cords and wrapped it around the stem, hiding the end of the fabric underneath the wrapped coils. Then I inserted a single straight pin to keep it in place. I brought a second pin to attach it to the groom’s lapel on-site.
(All excellent practice for some boutonniere-making I’ve been recruited to do for the suits in my brother’s wedding party next weekend!)
Da-dum-de-dum, da-dum-de-dum…from scraps to scrap-tacular! May they all (friends and scraps) live happily ever after.
[ Comments Off on DIY Bouquet and Boutonniere! | Posted on October 7th, 2010 ]
In her coverage of sustainability at Maker Faire, Emily Gertz of Onearth.com wrote about composting, gardening, garbage reuse, and… Generation T! She writes: “Nicolay’s fun and creative T-shirt mods extend the life of one of the consumer economy’s most ubiquitous and disposable items.” Complete slideshow and mini-interview (okay, one quote) here!
Forgive the layered look — I was constantly switching up my outfits! (The base layer is a slashed up version of Looney Tunic, project #15, and the top layer is Back in Action, project #101, both from Generation T: Beyond Fashion. Though I don’t necessarily recommend wearing them this way, it could be interesting to layer two slashed T-shirts and weave the loops together in the Back in Action technique–who’s with me?)
The only kind of Coney Island Cyclone I’ll get near these days (after my last run-in with the real deal landed me in the ER — long story). Softie Cycloneonly for me, thankyouverymuch!
There were chariot races! (With giant squid-like vehicles, ravens on wheels, tricked out bikes and pink tutus galore.)
Plus golden ladies on horse-bike…and more.
There were, inevitably, these:
Diana Eng‘s technology fashion show was amazing, as I had imagined it would be. This red piece with the deployable structured collar reminded me of…
The origami and paper plane folding at Workman’s Camp Make activity table.
Not only could people learn to knit and crochet (exhibit A, the crocheted wristband), they made buttons, too, at the button-making station at the Workman booth (exhibit B, the button latching it all together)!
And then, as quickly as it started, it was time to pack up…and get ready for next year!
I’m going to keep the words to a minimum with the weak excuse that because I talked so much last Saturday and Sunday at Maker Faire that my voice is a little hoarse. (Yes, I’m choosing to completely ignore the fact that typing shouldn’t pose a problem to my vocal cords unless I read aloud to myself as I type…which I sometimes do.) Without further ado, please enjoy “My Weekend at World Maker Faire” in photos (with captions).
A nice verb that sums up the weekend.
A young fashionista generously shared sketches from her next collection.
I ate a lot of vegan paella (in the far vats). Oh, thee giant pans of paella, how I miss thee already.
Bicycle powered guitar jams! Sweet.
I refashioned T-shirts with new friend Dia in the parking lot!
I signed books for ladies wearing cool DIYed tank tops!
I spied T-shirt knitting yarn at the {NewNew} Collective!
The noisy, noisy, super amazing Jet Ponies by Madagascar Institute!
