Generation T

Gimme More, AC Moore!

Signing books, refashioning T-shirts, and greeting customers at AC Moore at the Columbus Shopping Center in Philadelphia:

[ Comments Off on Gimme More, AC Moore! | Posted on June 21st, 2009 ]

Adventures, Media

Yesterday was busy! After leaving the comfort of my apartment at 5 a.m., I arrived in Philly to do a quick stop-by at the 10! Show with cohost, Sheila (and a live studio audience!) where we refashioned a “Cereal Killer” T-shirt (picked up from a local NYC discount thrift store) into a bib (project#53).

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Then we swung by 6 Action News for a taped “Saving with 6ABC” segment (to air in the next couple of weeks), where I refashioned a T-shirt into the Pin-up Girl halter top (project #1). But we didn’t stop there…

[ Comments Off on Loving Philly | Posted on June 21st, 2009 ]

Adventures

A Tee {Party} Grows in Brooklyn

As promised, here are some photos from the recent book tour kick-off event at the B&N on 7th Avenue in Park Slope! Thanks again to all who came out to the festivities. There were T-shirt-shaped cookies, scissor-stenciled brownies, a Generation T product raffle, a dog in a T-shirt, and of course, several a refashioned T-shirt. There’s 1) me with the Exquisite Corpse T-shirt (project #82) from the Mr. T chapter; 2) Eileen and Tiffany, my two super models in Pinup Girl halter (project #1) and Back in Action T-shirt (project #101); 3) Tiffany even trusted me enough to cut the neckband off her T-shirt without giving her an inadvertent haircut!

4) The stars were out, including Eloise, our cover pooch (wearing a T-shirt decorated with an iron-on decal “Runs with Scissors” from the Generation T product line); 5) there’s me next to the window display; 6) and who could resist those T-shirt cookies?

7) Nate couldn’t. He took the prize for “Best T-shirt Cookie Transformation” with this T-shirt Cookie into T-shirt Cookie Tank Top. Next up: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt Cookie; 8 ) Contestants up for the prize of top T-shirt transformation (i.e. sample projects from the book); 9) a nice poster and display by Peaches and the other kind folks at Barnes & Noble.

10, 11, 12) Twins Willa and Lucy won big in the raffle (iron-on letters to personalize their tees!); to celebrate one of them illustrated perfectly the appropriate use for the Shake It Up Baby dancing skirt (project #59), a no-sew project from the Kid Rock chapter.

More to come! We had two pro photogs, and an amateur videog in the audience. Stay tuned…

[ 1 Comment | Posted on June 20th, 2009 ]

Media, T-shirt Projects

T-bird Halter Top on Threadbanger

One day last month I got a visit from Threadbanger in my workshop! We made my favorite halter top project, T-bird (project #47), from Generation T. So much T-shirt transformation going on in the world–keep it up, all you Threadheads! And thanks to Rob and Corinne for the lovely episode they posted today.

[ 15 Comments | Posted on June 19th, 2009 ]

Other Projects

Stenciled Brownies

Remember the book review I did for Stencil 101? Well, I was fascinated by the idea of stenciling on food (yummy and pretty!), so I decided to try it for my book launch at the B&N in Park Slope recently. I’m a huge fan of all of Ed Roth’s stencils, but I particularly love the scissors stencil in the book, and thought it’d be perfect to decorate the batch of brownies I planned on making for my DIY Tee Party. Seeing as scissors (neck-and-neck with seam rippers) are my favorite de/reconstructing tool, it was only right to feature them! Here’s what I did, along with some photo-documentation:

1. Tear the scissors stencil page from the book (it’s perforated) and trace it with a pencil on a piece of parchment paper. 2. Use a craft knife to cut around the traced marks until the parchment paper stencil matches the original.

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3. Place the new (food-safe) stencil over the top of the frosted cake (or brownies). Note: Frosting is recommended because it will hold the powder better (cocoa powder for light-colored frosting, confectioner’s sugar for dark-colored frosting) than a plain cake surface. 4. Gently and evenly powder the cake surface, going over the stencil.

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5. Peel back the parchment paper, careful not to spill the sugar collected on the stencil. 6. Ta-da! Serve it up to all your DIY besties!

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**Thanks again to Ed Roth of Stencil 1 for this great idea from his book Stencil 101. And stay tuned! He’s got a new book, Stencil 101 Decor, featuring 10 original plastic stencils (the first book has cardboard), due out in October 2009.

[ 2 Comments | Posted on June 19th, 2009 ]

Adventures

Brooklyn Tee Party

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Park Slope Barnes & Noble last night. We had a great turn-out, lots of T-shirts were refashioned, cookies were eaten, and books were signed! Many pictures were also taken and I’ll post some very soon!

[ 1 Comment | Posted on June 18th, 2009 ]

More Fun

Welcome!

As many of you know, I’ve been incredibly busy the last couple of years, traveling around with my first book and writing a second! Needless to say, I’ve been neglecting my dear website, which has been patiently awaiting a makeover. Well, it’s finally ready for the big reveal. As you’ll see, it’s not entirely new–you might recognize a lot of the artwork that my sister Sophie created for the original website. But I’ve also added some new art that my sister Ariana made and worked in some of my own illustrations, too.

The old site was hard to update frequently, so I’m super excited that this new format will be allow me to be in better touch with all of you. I’ll continue to post fun new projects as well as introduce other features, like book reviews; interviews with your favorite artists, crafters, and makers; events that are going on in the crafty community; and plenty of other fun stuff!

Please bear with us while we continue to update our archives (it can be slow going), and be sure to come out and visit me while I’m on book tour! I’m hitting the road soon — so check out the Events section for updates — I’d love to you see you at a Tee Party. First stop Barnes & Noble on 7th Avenue in Park Slope Brooklyn on Wednesday, June 17. Let’s get this party started!

Hope to see you soon!!

[ 4 Comments | Posted on June 13th, 2009 ]

Media

Take an Idealbite out of Crime!

Check out project #44 “Plant Parenthood” from the new book featured on Idealbite today! Learn how to make a braided hanger for your planter. Accompanying illustrations here. Thanks, Idealbite!

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