Tiffany Threadgould (aka Tiffany Tomato) of RePlayground was rocking this awesome skirt a couple of weeks ago at a get-together of local makers eagerly anticipating the inaugural New York City World Maker Faire. Don’t forget, Maker Faire is coming this weekend (September 25 and 26) to the NY Hall of Science! If you’re in the area, it’s a must-experience extravaganza of DIY technology, craft, and innovation. Tiffany will be there with RePlayground making, as she says, “stuff from other stuff.” A committed upcycler, Tiffany loves to make beautiful and useful things from garbage!

Which brings us back to that cute skirt. Tiffany made it (and this!) using vertical panels cut from scavenged T-shirts. For a similar look, check out the “Road Trip” skirt in Generation T (project #64, page 164).

Hope to see you wandering the byways and drooling along truck food lane at Maker Faire this weekend. And don’t forget to stop by the Workman “Camp Make” booth for some Generation T style T-shirt lovin’.

Stay tuned: A more detailed Maker Faire schedule to come later this week!

My first thought on seeing this was: Really?! A spray-on T-shirt? But there it is: You can spray it on, peel it off, launder it, and wear it again. Discuss. The technology (which is still in prototype phase) was developed by Spanish fashion designer Manel Torres in conjunction with Paul Luckham, a professor of particle technology at the Imperial College London.

In his quest to invent this comfortable, futuristic fabric, Torres returned to “the principles of the earliest textiles such as felt, which were also produced by taking fibers and finding a way of binding them together without having to weave or stitch them.”

The spray-on fabric is made up of short fibers combined with polymers (for binding) and a solvent (for spraying) which then evaporates when the spray lands on the surface. The fibers, which come in many different colors and types (natural or synthetic) cling together to create the fabric. Pretty wild.

The general concept of spray-on clothes makes me a little squeamish, but perhaps there’s something to that soft armored look! And the applications beyond fashion could certainly be interesting: clothing repair, medical bandaging… The developers are several years away from perfecting the “Fabrican” (according to the articles, it’s still pretty stinky stuff that I’m not sure I’d want near my skin — never mind the environmental implications…) but it sure is fascinating, and it will be interesting to see where they end up!

See some more process photos here, or watch the video below to see the can in action:

The skeptics say it can’t be done…but oh, yes it Fabrican. Stay tuned for more amazing T-shirt feats in the coming weeks…

Guess what 13-year-old Generation T reader Allie wore to school today? The report on Allie says that she absolutely loves fashion, and one of her favorite things to do is get together with her besties, Amanda and Paige, to make one-of-a-kind styles. This is one of Allie’s most recent creations–project #101 “Back in Action” from Generation T: Beyond Fashion. She went very classic with her color palette, layering gray over white — and her layering is a great way to transition this style from summer to fall — and so very 8th-grade-appropriate. (Her parents approve!)

Incidentally, “Back in Action” happens to be one of the designs I’ll be demonstrating at the Workman booth at Maker Faire in NYC next weekend (Generation T will be appearing at 3 pm on Saturday and 11:00 am on Sunday)! Don’t forget to buy your tickets–it’s going to be epic.

Supermom Becky (seriously, she should have her own cape!), from the My Kids Make (and yours can, too!) blog, recently documented her adorable kiddos, Silas and Sydney, making the “Plastic Surgery” T-shirt grocery tote (project #42 in Generation T: Beyond Fashion). My favorite part? Rather than raid Mom or Dad’s dresser, the kids made the green market totes out of T-shirts they scavenged from their own piles — so they’re perfectly sized for little hands and little tote-able treasures.

And, because the only sewing required is in a straight line, Becky reports that Silas was able to stitch it up all by himself — but I bet you could tell that from his expression!

Want to make your own (and get that same adorable grin on your face)? Click here for the tutorial!

My friend Sonya Nimri recently used the Generation T books to inspire a class she taught at UCLA Family Commons, a family wellness center where she is the esteemed artiste-in-residence.  High fives to all the lovely little ladies who refashioned their T-shirts — the shirts came out great, and Sonya reports that the youngest DIYer was just 7 years old (yeah!) and still managed to finish making her shirt even after the sewing machine broke and they had to move on to hand sewing. Awesome work! So who’s inspired to go raid that T-shirt pile right now?