I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has kept up with this blog for so long. Your comments, support and encouragement have meant a lot in the 3+ years Making Tembo has been running.
But of course, things change. And since I've moved to college and become swamped by school work, I haven't been able to find the same time for sewing that I used to. I'm missing my craft like crazy, but I love my schoolwork too, and know it will serve me well in the long run.
A photo posted by Taft Weber-Kilpack (@taftisseamstress) on
Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely disappearing from this site! I just won't be posting regularly anymore. I'll update periodically as I work on projects, but I don't believe it will be nearly as often as it has been for the last few years.
Some people have asked what I'm up to at school now - and you can still stay in touch with what I'm working on. I'll keep posting photos on my Instagram, @taftisseamstress. I also think there is more to come with a website, portfolio, work-sharing site something something. I'm still trying to figure that out, but I will share here when I know more.
Love to you all! I'll see you soon for another update.
-Taft WK
On July 4th weekend in 2015, I decided I wanted to take a more decisive step in my growing interest in clothing sustainability and ethical fashion. I had also just finished reading the amazing book Women in Clothes and wanted to push myself to discover more about what clothing and sewing means to me and how I can better harness that energy.
So for one whole year, I did not buy any new clothing. I was only going to find clothing at thrift stores, clothing swaps or make it myself. I did make a few exceptions for things I know I can't thrift or make: shoes (but I would make a valiant thrift effort first), anything with underwire, shoes and tights.
A notebook page where I first wrote out what my rules would be.
When I first started this journey, I thought I would be sewing and thrifting all the time so I could have all the clothes I wanted. But as the months went on, I focused more on paring down my closet and working to create multiple outfits out of garments I already had.
I didn't buy any tights all year. Turns out, I didn't need more than what I had. I also only bought one pack of socks a month before my RTW fast was over. I threw out socks along the way as they became too worn to wear, but instead of replacing them, I decided it was okay to have a smaller sock drawer that wasn't overflowing.
I only bought one RTW pair of shoes:
And the rest of my shoes have come from thrift stores. But I also only bought a couple of pairs this whole year. All the shoes I had before are still in great shape, and still fashionable enough to wear. Lesson learned: you don't need a dozen and half pairs of shoes to have cool outfits.
I sewed my own formal-wear for events and bought jeans secondhand when my favorite pair wore out. I found black sneakers at a consignment store and got all sorts of interesting shirts and dresses at clothing swaps. And I kept wearing all the clothes I had accumulated in years before, instead of pushing them to the back of my closet. I wore so many garments until they were worn out - and then I salvaged or donated the fabric so it could be used again.
Here's the best part: I didn't even miss ready-to-wear clothing. I saved so much money this past year and I love the clothes I have more than ever have before. I felt like I was pushed to dive deep and ask myself about what I really truly wanted to wear and what I was most comfortable in. After doing so much capsule wardrobe research, I could feel myself gravitating towards a few shape, silhouettes, fabrics and looks that I loved the most. There was a capsule wardrobe emerging from what I already had. So I started donating and giving away garments I didn't wear so often anymore.
There were still several garments that I wanted very badly and I had a hard time finding at thrift stores. Things like high-waisted jeans, a good denim skirt, a casual black dress, or the perfect green t-shirt. After several months without good high-waisted jeans and wishing every week I had a pair again, I know I'll get good use out of them and want to bring them back to my closet.
When my RTW fast was over, I didn't want to immediately go on a shopping bender and buy a ton of garments who's origins and impacts I didn't know. But I also wanted to finally craft my ideal wardrobe before I went off to college, and I definitely didn't have enough time to sew a dozen garments this summer.
My main color palette
So I decided to design my own conscious wardrobe. I looked at the garments, shapes and fabrics I loved the most and sketched them out. I looked at the colors I know are most flattering on me, but also work together as a color palette.
Accent colors and silhouettes for pants/shorts
I love variety, so it was difficult to finally pare down what I was drawn to the most, but I think I'm almost almost there.
I made several copies of the silhouettes and colored in each one. Then I spread them out and moved all the pieces around, making sure each garment could (hypothetically) be worked into several outfits.
And about the part where I'm a variety junkie: I realized a completely minimalist wardrobe was not going to be 100% me. You'll notice I didn't sketch shoes or sweaters/jackets, because that's generally where I throw in some weird thrift store find that makes the outfit special. I decided I was reserving those areas (and my 90s floral print mom jeans) for the off-kilter, non-mainstream looks I love.
A photo posted by Taft Weber-Kilpack (@taftisseamstress) on
Then I put each of my final pics in my sketchbook, and looked around online for a sewing pattern to match each one. In some cases, I had the same pattern in multiple colors.
I also noted what I needed for each pattern. Sometimes, I knew I had fabric that would match or already owned the perfect pattern. So I noted where I needed to go shopping or save up to buy the PDF online.
In some cases, I already had the perfect garment!
And in other cases, I just needed to slightly alter something I already had.
I also decided that if I can find the garment at a price I'm willing to pay and I know it was ethically manufactured, then I will buy it ready-to-wear. I don't have time to sew all these garments, but I still want to maintain the minimal-consumption shopping I've kept up this last year.
Of course, I will try to thrift the fabric or find the garment secondhand if I can, but that isn't always a guarantee.
And then I made a plan for what I'm doing moving forward!
My next step is finding out where I can buy ethically manufactured fabric and notions. I'm looking to support business that have little to no negative environmental impact, are made locally, pay all employees a living wage, or support other social initiatives. Right now, I'm going to try salvaging fabric from thrift store garments, but if anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear them!
I'll keep you updated as my Conscious Wardrobe adventure continues...
-Taft WK
P.S. You might have noticed there was not a post last Wednesday. Since my summer is coming to an end and I'm moving to college soon, I will be going back to a post every other Wednesday. I'll try to keep this up as long as I can - it just depends on how much sewing and crafting time I'll have when classes start.
I don't 100% remember how I found out about lace tatting - I just know that as soon as I did, I was fascinated by it. I really like lace, but often run into the problem that it doesn't look modern enough for my taste. So I just figured I'd try to make it myself.
You might have seen my first attempts on Instagram:
A photo posted by Taft Weber-Kilpack (@taftisseamstress) on
When I saw "materials scavenged from scraps," I'm very serious about that. After finding the pattern/outline of a shuttle in a book, I realized I could make my own without spending *any* money. And as someone who frequently has a net worth of less than $15 due to her fabric store spending habits, this was very appealing. So I found some scrap MDF in the Physics classroom, and cut out the shape on a bandsaw during Engineering class (not what I was actually supposed to be doing during class, but whatever). Then I found some tangled up string on the ground, a friend helped me un-knot all of it (shoutout to her, she's a true MVP), and started working!
Lace tatting was simultaneously easier and harder than I expected it to be. The entire motif is made of just two different kinds of knots repeated over and over again, but keeping track of them all is so difficult! And so was worrying about thread tension, front vs. back, the picots...
But I persevered! And spent more money at the fabric store!
A photo posted by Taft Weber-Kilpack (@taftisseamstress) on
I got yellow and gray crochet yarn - so I was starting to be a little bit more legit than my free materials ;). You can imagine my dismay however, when I found out the yarn was not actually 40% off like the rest of the store. This was a slight setback in affording other materials. I was still working with the MDF shuttle, which was okay. Because it didnt have a sharp point, joining picots was hard, so I also had to carry around a pin to pull the thread through the loops. I spent a little more time than my friends would have preferred walking around with a pin in my shirt because there was no where else to put it. Oh well!
So I called about 4 stores around San Francisco, trying to find one that sells lace tatting shuttles. After many answers of "What even are those?" I finally found a store that did! I started cheering and the lady on the other end of the phone thought I was a little loony. I guess teenagers aren't supposed to get this excited about oddly specific crafting supplies.
But the saga continues: A few weeks later, my net worth rose above $10 and I could finally afford the cheapest shuttles they sell at the knitting store! Yay! I would have ordered them online, but shipping costs money, which I didn't really have. Welcome to the life of a broke teenager.
I got a pack of two small shuttles, and I also treated myself to some beautiful yarn. I learned that thicker yarn is easier to tat with, so I found some nice light-blue stuff that was a little bit bigger than the crochet yarn I already had.
The design of the blue yarn is also the first motif I designed myself! I had previously been teaching myself from this book (shoutout to the SF Public Library):
A photo posted by Taft Weber-Kilpack (@taftisseamstress) on
1. It travels very well!
2. Once I bought some yarn to start, I haven't spent money (on lace tatting supplies specifically) ever since!
3. Even if you're super cheap and using yarn scraps, the motifs still look cool when they're just half-finished!
4. Three words: Netflix and Tat.
5. When you say "I've been tatting," it sounds like you're a tattoo artist and then people think you're waaaayyyy more badass than you actually are.
6. You will discover your inner hoarder as you make all these little things that you can't get rid of, but don't really know what to do with them.
7. It's good exercise for your hands! (I think? I have to take breaks every once in a while because my hands cramp up from trying to maintain the yarn tension.)
8. It's never-ending.
Well, that's the end of my listicle, but please let me know if you would like to start a Youth Lace Tatting Club or have any questions about how to craft on a budget of basically zero dollars.
Halloween has long been underway at our house. Costumes are always a production and this year is no exception.
So, here's a little sneak peak of my costume! Bonus points to whoever can guess what I'm going to be.
First stop was the thrift store, where I found this yellow sweater. Then I went to the fabric store and discovered these BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES. LOOK AT HOW PRETTY THEY ARE.
I also purchased the floral fabric (pictured above) and this pink fabric:
The patterns I'm using for this project are the Colette Aster pattern (here it is, waiting to be taped together):
And Burda 114B (I cannot for the life of me figure out how to rotate this photo to be normal):
I found this pattern in the April 2013 BurdaStyle Magazine (yes, I hoard these magazines, please don't judge).
So who can guess what my costume is? I'll give you a hint: Netflix.
I learned how to use a twin needle on my (mom's) sewing machine! It's very exciting and has upped my sewing game to a whole new level.
For example, I now no longer have to fold hems twice. Since I'm lazy/busy/easily bored, I figure that covering the raw edge a twin needle zig-zag (lots of thread) is good enough. Which brings us to the title of this post...
Previously, there was 2 thread sources, but the twin needles creates a need for a third source, which means I use 1.5 times as much thread. Additionally, I zig-zag stitch to create the illusion of a coverstitcher (haha, so much cheating), which uses about twice as much thread (rough estimate on that one).
Since I'm not folding the hem twice, it takes me half the amount of time to hem a garment.
Now let's say I use X yards of thread in 1 hour. I'm using 1.5 times as many thread sources and 2 times as much thread per stitch. The time required has been halved. Let's math that one out real quick:
(1.5)(2)(X)yds/(.5)hrs = 6X yds/hr.
That's about 6 times as much material per hour. This just either made me a really productive seamstress, or created a really expensive lifestyle. Thanks a lot, twin needle. Thanks a lot.
Math for the win, y'all's.
-Taft WK
Oh but just you wait! I never let you go without any pictures. So here's some pictures of my latest twin needle projects:
A friend exchanged chocolate for a quick dress alteration. Bartering for the win.
Not sure if that's what the back is supposed to look like, I'm still experimenting with the tension.
I also used it to fix the armhole on this vintage dress that I've had since middle school. Just let the hem out every few years so it doesn't get too short...
The thread matched the fabric very closely on this one, so you can't see it very well in the pictures.
And finally you can see some other double needle work in this post, where there was a quick sneak peak.
Aaaaaaaand I'm back! With more suits! Did you miss me? (Catch up here and here)
I just adore the buttons on this suit. Absolutely my favorite.
I discovered I have a severe dust allergy while pulling all these suits out to take pictures. There's definitely some cleaning in order before I can work with these.
And the one and only non-suit in the collection...
Check those shoulder pads. I might just cut them out and wear the shirt as is.
There was also this belt that looked like it matched the above pants:
Well, that's that! We've reached the end of the suits, so look forward to posts about what I used them for.
