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The Bad-Ass Fashion DIYer's Guide to New York
- by aliciak
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- September 17, 2009
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DIY? Ex-squeeze me? DO IT YOURSELF! There's crafty and there's DIY, and while these overlap like a Venn Diagram, DIY is the better of the two. The DIY not only knits her own winter scarves, but she knits then from "yarn" she got by undoing an old sweater. She doesn't just make a shirt from a store pattern, but turns an ordinary t-shirt she already has into a sexy scoop-neck or a rocker's skirt. She basically tries to avoid supporting the service and retail industries as much as possible in favor of being resourceful and creative in her own arts and crafts world. She is the Bad-Add Fashion DIYer.
*The Fashion Rags*
Hooray for mags! All the usual fashion suspects (Vogue, Elle, InStyle) will show you what’s in, but in order to make your own version (knock-offs? No, they will be better than that!), you’ll need a little more tutorial than Anna Wintour usually provides. These aren’t exclusively about fashion, but they almost always have some DIY fashion content.
Craft alone had a Shoe issue that has me eyeing my old flip-flops and yarn for a little re-do. Bust is quite possibly my favorite magazine (up there with Saveur, National Geographic, Craft and Living), devoted to us women with the coolest balance of all things female I’ve seen. Readymade “is for people who like to make stuff.” What’s your fave?
My DIY Inspiration
…is definitely my mom! Here we are, my sister and me in her handmade Halloween costumes as she proudly looks on. In addition to her yearly costume-making, she made a lot of our clothing, baked from scratch and always had crafty projects on hand. And she was NOT a stay-at-home mom, but rather a teacher with a creative mind and ability to survive on a few hours of sleep per night.
Even though the acronym “DIY” wasn’t prevalent when I was growing up, it was definitely my family’s mantra. If it’s possible to do yourself, do it, make it, craft it, build it, bake it, create it.
Getting Crafty in New York
My other more general guide.
You Should Probably Buy a Sewing Machine
It’s possible to DIY fashion-wise without one, but your projects will be limited. Singer is the mother of all sewing machines, but do your homework and check out the models in person at your local Michael’s, A.C. Moore, etc.
The *Best* DIY Books
I looooove books and I looooove crafts, so put me in the crafty area of Barnes & Noble and I will probably attempt to pitch a tent. The craft publishing industry has exploded in the last 5 years, catering to this new DIY revolution that centers around the young’ins out there like myself. i.e., COOL craft books are available! (I always thought macrame flower pot holders were cool).
Sew Subversive: Down and Dirty DIY for the Fabulous Fashionista
You catch that title? Yeah, this is not the summer camp arts and crafts cabin. One cannot merely sew, one must sew subversively!
Generation T: 108 ways to transform a T-shirt
I currently have about 10 pages marked in this book, as I hope to get my DIY on in T-minus 6 hours. You know you have unwanted Tees lurking in your closets. Maybe they have cool images but the shirt fits like a balloon or the sleeves are too long. T-shirt reconstruction time! You can even turn those tees into skirts, arm-warmers, bags or a rug!
99 Ways to Cut, Sew & Deck Out Your Denim
Remember the bedazzler? I think I still have one at home, but can’t say I ever used it. I think it was already “out” by the time our household got one! Well, supposedly there are 99 ways to transform your denim threads, and I’m guessing none involve the bedazzling gadget.
DIY Events That'll Knock Your Socks Off...Or Where You Can At Least MAKE Socks
You don’t have to leave your cozy apartment to get your DIY on, but t-shirt reconstruction is much more fun in a group, don’t you think? I hold a semi-regularly (read: sporadically at best) DIY afternoon at my apartment called “Crafts and Crumbs” for the female friends in my life. I usually get NOTHING done in terms of crafting b/c I’m all about the entertaining/conversing, but I think everyone else does? Talk about inspiration when you’re surrounded by 10 projects and their makers at once!
Winter Sock Club
Brooklyn Handspun, an online yarn shop, has a little something called the Winter Sock Club. When you sign up and pay the dues, you will receive yarn over 3 months, along with particular designers’ sock patterns. Then you gotta get knitting!
Swap-O-Rama-Rama looks a little (chaotic!) something like this.
Swap-O-Rama-Rama
Can you resist attending an event with a name like that? No. Swap-O-Rama-Rama is Wendy Tremayne’s now nationwide baby, “a clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing.”
Basically you pay $10 and bring a bag of unwanted clothes, and everyone dives in to the piles of threads, picks things out and goes to work at reconstructing, recreating, mending, etc.
Renegade Craft Fair
It was hot as a dickens the day I went to Renegade in Brooklyn, so I was ready to bolt 5 minutes in with my companion. He said “smoothie”, I said “let’s go!” Nonetheless, Renegade is not your grandma’s craft fair. Lots of Etsy peeps representing, and LOTS of t-shirt designers and fashionistas.
Etsy Inc
325 Gold St Fl 6, Brooklyn, NY 11201
If you’re not a DIYer (and somehow you’re still reading this guide!), you can buy the goods of lots of DIYers right on Etsy. BUT, if you are lucky enough to live here in New York, you can partake in Etsy’s bounty in a different way: by visiting their Brooklyn digs and crafting up your own threads!
Etsy has free Monday craft nights, and occasionally these are fashion-oriented. How to make appliques! How to do at-home silk-screening! Or you could sign for one of their real classes (read: cost money) and learn the basics of sewing, felt-making or screen-printing.
If you’re not a DIYer (and somehow you’re still reading this guide!), you can buy the goods of lots of DIYers right on Etsy. BUT, if you are lucky enough to live here in New York, you can partake in Etsy’s bounty in a different way: by visiting their Brooklyn digs and crafting up your own threads!
Etsy has free Monday craft nights, and occasionally these are fashion-oriented. How to make appliques! How to do at-home silk-screening! Or you could sign for one of their real classes (read: cost money) and learn the basics of sewing, felt-making or screen-printing.
Screenprinting @Etsy Labs!
"Buy" an Etsy class
Kind of funny that to sign up for a class at the Etsy headquarters, you buy it the same way you’d buy anything on Etsy. Guess you have to BUY to DIY after all.
Bloggy Blogs for your DIY Fashion Needs
Maybe you want detailed sewing instructions for smocking or just a little visual eye candy for inspiration; for both, the internet is an obvious resource.
BurdaStyle
Open source sewing! That means access to patterns tutorials at no charge! Lots of pics and a forum for fashion discussion make this a fantabulous resource if you want to see what other DIYers are up to and be part of that community.
If you really want to take advantage of the patterns, you’ll have to have a good printer and some patience with piecing together a large pattern from many eight-and-a-half by elevens.
BurdaStyle can get you this!
Punky Style
It’s not exclusively DIY, but it throws some tutorials in there. And it’s not updated a billion times a day, so you can keep up. Additionally, the peeps at Punky Style occasionally have clothing swaps, much like Swap-O-Rama-Rama.
Threadbanger
The Threadheads are THE most amazing DIYers and with semi-recent financial support, they are now running “the first network for people who make their own fashion.” The videos show you the “how” and their spunky personalities are irresistible. Oh yeah, and they moved from Cali to Brooklyn, woot woot!
I think it's time we take this to the next level...
Oh my, what a frightening phrase! But this time around, I’m talking about turning your mad DIY skills into a lucrative, self-sustaining business. Or lifestyle! Plenty of you savvy DIYers could probably do it without a degree, but just in case, you may want fashion school on your resume all the same.
Fashion Schools Around the City
Pratt Institute-Main
200 Willoughby Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205
My sister’s alma mater! From what I gathered, this was a pretty intense 4-year way to learn fashion design. If late-night sewing sessions, numerous trips to the Garment District and living on the G train sound up your alley, give it a go!
My sister’s alma mater! From what I gathered, this was a pretty intense 4-year way to learn fashion design. If late-night sewing sessions, numerous trips to the Garment District and living on the G train sound up your alley, give it a go!
A Pratt fashion shoot, of course!
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.jpg "ethwiny")
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Love it!
.jpg "AlexandraF")
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OK, those costumes that your mom made for you and your sister are soooo cute! How inspiring!
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