This is a collection of some of my daughter’s photography.  I thought its time to put some awesome photography on here.  Emily lives in Denver and works as a barista.  She is 26 years old.   When I see her then she can take some really good pictures of me for the blog.  However for right now she is there and I am in Brooklyn,  New York.  So I will share some of her other pictures with you.  Emily was born in Brooklyn.  When she was seven we moved to Boulder, Colorado.  She stayed there since she has so many friends she grew up with.

Emily’s journey with cameras began when she was a teenager.  She had a habit of taking lots of selfies when she was bored.  She’s really good at self photography.  I have encouraged her to write a book about it since she is such a natural talent.  I was completely thrilled to find out she finally decided on photography as her major for when she goes back to college in a January.

Emily is also a talented writer and poet.  She has a couple of poetry books out now and has put together a third one.  If you would like to read some of her poetry you can check out her wordpress site at: http://invisiblescript.wordpress.com/   Aside from photography and poetry Emily’s passion is the coffee business.  She has been a barista for eleven years.  She has worked in management of coffee shops, baked pastries and likes to greet her customer’s with a smile.                                                               

Emily also likes vintage clothing and thrifting. She is going to get some friends to dress in vintage soon and take some pictures!  I will share those at another date.  She also now has a Flickr collection.  Her screen name is ohshitquicksand.

 

I found this great book, Cut- Up Couture about upcycling when I was in Portland last fall with my daughter. We were at Powell’s City of Books, which is a huge book store. I was so excited about the book I couldn’t leave the book store without it. Koko Yamase’s designs are innovative and fun. The book comes complete with instructions of how to make her designs out of men’s wear. The designs are primarily made out of t shirts, sweatshirts, men’s dress shirts or scarves. The various designs range from ultra simple to a bit complicated.

What I find so wonderful about the book aside from her designs is also the whole concept of upcycling a preused item of clothing. With all the waste being generated it is truly a conscious act to spend some time upcycling. Plus the joy of making something yourself is rewarding. With Koko Yamase’s designs and instructions it is easy for even a beginner at sewing to make an outfit.

Sahlil Sahni and Avid Boustani of Sloan School of Management did a study on Textile Remanufacturing and Energy savings. They came to the conclusion that by continuing to reuse a garment such as a blouse can save 68 percent of the energy required to manufacture a new one. This includes the energy involved in laundering the item 75 times. (1) (see Reference 2, page 7). So making a habit of upcycling really can add up to doing something that is helpful for our environment. We can rewind, reuse, recycle and reduce energy use in one shot! It’s a good feeling to be a part of the slow fashion movement and appreciate extending the life of a garment by recreating it into something you want.

I have made three of the designs from this book so far. I am going to make more. I made the Poncho from Four Scarves for my daughter.  I did use new acrylic scarves since my daughter works as a barista. She needs something simple in terms of wash and wear. I made the Patched Blouse for myself although I ended up making it from a women’s size 14 blouse. I found the shirt at a garage sale and just liked the pattern on it. I am a size six so it was a bit smaller than a men’s small shirt. Total cost to make ran $4.00. I also made the Long Jumper from Layered Men’s Shirts. I discovered that you really need to trust your eye and the picture in the book if you are using a smaller shirt than she does in the books’ instructions. I for instance, cut my sleeve at the 11” from the neckline as she states for XL shirts and it was too short. My instinct told me if I cut there it might be too short but I tried it. So I had to re sew the sleeve back on where I had cut it, then cut lower down. So I have two cuts where I should have had one. My dress still looks very nice. Also one side of the layered shirt lines up perfectly with the shirt on top and not quite on the other side. It’s difficult to tell if they line up exactly in her book since you only see certain views of the model wearing it. She does state that you can use a larger shirt for the bottom and gather the arm pit of the lower shirt before layering and sewing. I am going to try that with another shirt since I like this dress and I think if I have two I will wear them both a lot in winter. I didn’t expect the dress to look perfect so I am fine with it being slightly off beat. Its upcycled!! I may as well have a sense of humor about it!! I used a lovely Wrangler denim shirt for the top of my dress and a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt for the bottom.   For a unique detail I added a antique green button on each side where the sides of the shirts join.  Total cost to make was about $10.00 since I bought two thrift store shirts; one was half price and I needed some elastic and thread. My next one will be chambray denim on top and I want a soft flannel for the bottom shirt.

I really like the various designs in the book. The one’s from men’s shirts are my favorites and I also really like the ones from scarves.   I want to make the Two Way Poncho/Skirt. I think that’s an awesome idea that the poncho works as a skirt as well. There is the Arm-In-Arm Skirt in the book from two shirts which has a soft feminine classic look to it.  There is one knitwear design Blouse With Button Shoulders which can be worn as a blouse, sarouel pants or a skirt depending on how one buttons the buttons. For nights out on the town there is the Evening Coat with Sweatshirts, which looks as if it’d be quite versatile if it isn’t very cold out.

Aside from being a clothing designer Koko Yamase owns a vintage store. If you enjoy upcyling or are just getting started I recommend this book. I am thrilling enjoying the process of making some of these designs. It even inspired me to make my own design with a tank top and panels of fabric I had left from Liberty of London. I mixed in some fabrics that weren’t Liberty plus a couple of panels were from a men’s shirt. My dress came out really lovely! Total cost to make my own design, which was made out of predominately things I already had in my closet was $3.75. All I needed to buy was binding tape and some thread!

 

(1)Sloan School of Management; Textile Remanufacturing and Energy Savings; Sahil Sahni et al.; January 2010.

 

 

On Fourth of July a friend and I went to this Retro Event sponsored by Dances of Vice. This event was called a Rockabilly Night Market. It was held in Brooklyn, NY at SRB on Second Avenue in an area that is now a mixture of warehouses and residential homes. Dances of Vice is an entertainment group that celebrates times past using a mixture of fantasy, nostalgia and surrealism.    There were a few bands that played that night and also a couple of burlesque dancers performed. There was quite a lot of swing dancing going on in the small dance space. Several vendors had booths at the event selling vintage or vintage inspired items. It was fun to go to an event where most of the people there were dressed as if it was the 1940’s or 50’s. If I remember correctly the door fee was a mere $10 for this event.

There was an Enz’s booth which sold their lovely dresses and tops that are all vintage inspired. The quality and fabrics are really beautiful. The sales lady from their Park Slope shop was at the event and she looks great in their clothing. There was a booth run by a hairdresser who was doing retro hair styles. She was busy the entire time. Other vendors sold floral hair accessories, vintage clothing and jewelry. It was a really fun event although the room was a bit small considering how many people attended. A few people drove there in their antique cars and they parked outside.

The burlesque dancers put on a good show. I hadn’t seen burlesque live before and it was very entertaining. One of the dancers was a bit wilder and more risqué. She had a sultry and provocative way of dancing. The dancer Bettina May was dressed like a sailor part of the time and looked like a lovely pinup lady. She had a more of all American wholesome sweetheart look with a fun personality that came through in her dancing. I just now realized that Bettina May is the same woman who is the hair dresser. Apparently she teaches monthly pinup classes, complete with a makeover and pin up photo shoot.

My friend and I had a really enjoyable time. We are hoping to take a swing dance class intensive soon. It’s been awhile since I did swing dance classes so I am rusty. We are hoping to go to more of these events soon. If we do I will let you know how it went!