Ever since showing them my black infinity dress they have been asking that I teach them how to make a dress and a shirt.
Some of them don't wear dresses ever, so they got to make a shirt.
When I teach a new technique they have to make a prototype whereby they learn the ins and outs of the pattern and because they are using upcycled fabrics they have the freedom to experiment.
We started the lesson with this box of preused school t shirts and some cotton knit sheets and night gowns. Each student chose a selection of colors.
An infinity shirt is basically 2 t shirt tubes, one longer - the strapless t shirt top, one shorter - the waistband, and 2 very long straps.
Todays students are the ones who dont like dresses so we are going to wrok on shirts to understand how the pattern works.
One of the students chose 2 ocean colored t shirts and a floral nightgown for the pieces to be used.
She cut out large squares and rectangles for the 2 straps and started sewing.
The "thing" that makes the shirt special are the 2 long straps. The longer they are the more tieying options one has. The desirable length is 2 meters and then you can play to your heart's content.
She added more pieces and ended up wtih 120 cm long straps.
2 straps, one longer bodice tube "strapless top" and one shorter tube for the "belt" part of the shirt.
She used the original hem of the floral nightgown for the top part of the shirt. It saved her some sewing.
They love when that happens
,They can get to the finished product quicker. They are always impatient to see the end result and I have to "chat" with them to sew slower and more precisey. Otherwise they have to unpick and go back to the machine to resew.
The 2 long straps attached to the waistband of the shirt.
The straps are sewn between the strapless tube and the waistband.
The strapess tube is the last piece to be attached.
Her strapless top and her 2 long straps.
Now the fun begins.
The idea of flipping the shirt hem and placing it on top of the strapless tube, also gives the option of threading a strip of elastic through to tighten it if necessary.
Help of a friend to tie the shirt.
One of the many options.
I think that she is very happy with this new technique.
She went to her notebook after this to design a few more versions.
This is a prototype but she said that she is going to wear it.
Her friend wanted something a little more interesting.
She chose 3 green school t shirts and decided to create the 2 long straps from triangluar pieces.
The 2 long straps taking shape.
One version.
Before lifting the straps up to tie them they hung like this and she got a brilliant idea.
She decided to make a jumpsuit from t shirts next week creating the pants from triangular t shirt pieces.
I love it when their creative energies are manifested.
Just let them play and the sky is the limit.
