Posts Tagged ‘from our readers’

From Our Readers: Onyx!

A 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: 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 ]

From Our Readers: Willow and Ella!

For their school Earth Day project this year, Willow and her pal Ella (who attended my bookstore event at Bayswater Book Co. in March, and who happen to attend the same elementary school that I graduated from!) decided to grab their scissors and encourage textile reuse by example. They rescued a whole slew of T-shirts from the backs of their closets and refashioned them, Generation T-style, into one-of-a-kind tops, skirts, and dresses. Spring wardrobe, here we come!

Thanks Willow and Ella for sharing a really great way to celebrate Earth Day–what about you? Think on it…you’ll have the opportunity to share it in the comments on tomorrow’s post!

[ Comments Off on From Our Readers: Willow and Ella! | Posted on April 21st, 2011 ]

How To: T-shirt Boa Scarf!

Hey there, Generation T! Are you ready to get really knotty? Today’s T-shirt tutorial comes courtesy of one of our esteemed readers: Ms. Liz Russo of Craft-Stop. It’s the “Tic Tac Boa,” project #115 in Generation T: Beyond Fashion — the boa scarf is perfect for spring, infinitely personaliz-able (pick a color, any color!), great for using up scraps (cut strips from old T-shirt sleeves) — oh, and did I mention it’s no-sew? Well, it is. Settle down in front of a good movie while you complete all the knots (you won’t notice when your fingers start to cramp) or, if it’s warm enough where you are, kick back in a park, your backyard, or poolside!

Watch the tutorial here:

Thanks again to Craft-Stop for featuring one of our projects!

[ 7 Comments | Posted on April 12th, 2011 ]

From Our Readers: Dena!

If any of you missed the pictures Dena posted on the Generation T Facebook page a few weeks ago, well, you simply must check them out. To celebrate her 20th wedding anniversary, Dena made the T-shirt wedding gown (project #108 Tying the Knot from Generation T), which she fancied up with a few of her own modifications:

She gathered the top only a few inches in the front and added a corsage of rosettes. Because the skirt tends to get a little heavy (it is made of a whopping 6 T-shirts after all!), she also added a belt. She changed up the back a bit, and stitched her seams on the inside of the skirt. PS: Dena and her daughter Jaden designed the adorable “flower girl” dress together.

Dena didn’t go the whole white dress route when she got married, so this dress gave her that experience. She says, “I felt beautiful in it”–and no doubt comfortable, too!

We think you look stunning, Dena–and it sounds like you had a blast–happiest of anniversaries to you!

[ Comments Off on From Our Readers: Dena! | Posted on March 29th, 2011 ]

From Our Readers: Avery!

In honor of National Craft Month (yay!), Workman Publishing Co. (who published my two books), is featuring projects from some of their top DIY books throughout March. Up first was editorial department member Avery, who shared her process for making the “Banned for Life” headband (project #92 in Generation T). Click through for her full photo tutorial over at the Workman blog.

PS: Note that the T-shirts she used were two abandoned marketing tie-in tees she picked up from around the Workman office. (Keeping everything moving full circle!)

[ Comments Off on From Our Readers: Avery! | Posted on March 23rd, 2011 ]

From Our Readers: Kay!

Perhaps this post should have been from Gidget, Kay’s enthusiastic little Yorkie muse who likes to “help” out in the craft room (sitting on piles of T-shirts while Kay cuts and sews around her), but to be fair, Kay is the actual reader in this scenario.

Recently, Kay invited Gidget to participate in a more active way–as a model for Kay’s newest creation (think pint-sized version of project #33, The Tying Game tank top, from Generation T). Kay grabbed a T-shirt sleeve (yay, scraps!), slid it over Gidget’s head, and marked where the legs would go. She slid the sleeve off (lest she inadvertently give Gidget a haircut) to cut holes at the marks. She then cut open the sleeve on the opposite side (what would be the back), cut horizontal slits along into each edge to make fringe, and tied the corresponding fringe into double knots.

Once finished, Kay let Gidget try on her new Generation T design. The report: Gidget loves it, and thinks it goes especially well with her pink Harley collar. In fact, she loves it so much, that when Kay took it off for just one minute to comb her, Gidget kept jumping up for the tiny tee, barking and snipping until she was wearing it again! Happily T-shirted once more, this fashion plate was ready to vogue-vogue-vogue-vogue all day long.

Love the little punk rock pooch! What a rock star. And I’m spent! ::doggie chin to floor::

[ 1 Comment | Posted on March 3rd, 2011 ]

From Our Readers: Izzy!

Izzy from New York made the T-shirt laptop cozy included in the 8 Ways to Transform a T-shirt roundup we featured back in December, and get this…she made it without even looking at the instructions! Very cool. It’s pretty impressive to be able to look at a finished project and figure it out in reverse — and have it come out looking as awesome as Izzy’s project does! Not to mention, she reports that she had tons of fun making the laptop cozy, too–which is of course, pretty darn sweet.

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

From Our Readers: Jessie!

While I was wandering the halls at CHA in Southern California (more details to come!), there was a surprise Tee Party brewing up north in the Bay Area. It was Jessie’s 12th birthday, and she and six of her pals were quick to dig into a pile of her brother’s old tees (excellent source, by the way), scissors, fabric paints, and copies of Generation T and Generation T: Beyond Fashion (of course) and styled a whole new wardrobe.

They each made a version of Outer Lace (project #16 from Generation T). And, they even choreographed dance moves to stretch out the T-shirt hems into cords!