Scraps Final Shirt Designers Statement

The objective of the project was to use our scraps of leftover fabric from past projects of the semester to construct a shirt. For my final shirt project I wanted to focus on reuse and sustainability. I was inspired a lot by the Scraps exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt Museum. The way the artists used the scraps to create new textiles using water soluble interfacing and the use of everything from the left over thread to the smallest amount of fabric was incredible. I wanted to keep the design of the shirt very simple with only slight changes and exaggerations of a standard button up shirt. Those changes include one side being  longer than the other and an exaggerated the collar, collar stand, and cuffs. I decided to use my scraps by cutting them into strips and then weaving them together in order to create a new textile. I also sustainably dyed my fabric using onion skins, beets and cranberries. The water I used to make the dye came from my dryer. Usually one would have to empty the excess water and dump it down the drain but instead I used the dryer water in order to conserve water. For this project I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and use a textile with a lot of texture and color. The most challenging part of this project was sewing it together because the woven textile was very difficult to use. Especially sewing the flat felled and french seams it was difficult to fold and sew through the thick fabric and hard to control the ends of the woven pieces. In order to sew it I first cut out my pattern pieces in a light-weight muslin and then sewed them to the woven pieces. Overall it was a difficult experience but I was able to learn a lot through the process.

 

Was first inspired by textiles at the Scraps Exhibit at Cooper Hewitt Museum.

 

This is the shirt I took apart and made patterns for the shirt and adjusted them to make my design shirt patterns.

 

These are the muslins for my design shirt. One side is longer than the other, with three quarter sleeves and an larger collar and collar stand.

 

For my fabric I took all my extra scraps from the semester and naturally dyed some of them with beets, onion skins and cranberries. I then wove them all together.

 

This is how I constructed the shirt. I sewed the woven piece to a light-weight muslin in the shape of the pattern piece and then cut them out.

 

This is the final shirt.