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Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Class Sweatshirt

As many of you know, I'm a member of Lick-Wilmerding High School's Class of 2016 and a few months ago, we were given class sweatshirts:




(This is post-cutting-the-neck. Crew necks always make me feel claustrophobic.)

I know I ordered a small, but I was given a medium when the sweatshirts were handed out so this thing is huuuuuuge. The StuCo guy who gave it to me said "Just do one of your sewing-thingys with it" and that's exactly what I did.

This project had two parts. First part: Tuesday Tie-Dye at Camp Mather.

I don't have any process photos of Part 1 because I didn't have my phone, but here is the after pic:


A girl I met at camp gave me this awesome tip for wearing oversized sweatshirts: Roll up the sleeves and fold the bottom ribbing under, which gave it a cool poof effect at the bottom. 


I'm just in love with the tie-dye burst on the back! Love love love!


I matched the sleeves up when I rubber-banded pre-dye so the stripes are even on each side.

Then I took all the t-shirts I've gotten from various school events, cut out the graphics and pinned them on the shirt.



The shirts were then hand-stitched on with a whipstitch and my favorite white button craft thread! Love button craft thread! 


Sewing sewing sewing. I watched so much Project Runway while doing this. Tooooons of stitches. Lots of thread.


But it was soooo worth it. This sweatshirt came out spectacularly. It went from baggy, gray sweatshirt to colorful, artistic sweater that is visually interesting and totally a statement. And whenever I wear it, I'm repping my school! What more could a high schooler want?







I'm considering taking off the enormous patch on the left arm and just using "Champions" and "Roar". I feel like the whole graphic is really heavy with too much text, and you can't really read it on my arm. If I decide to change it, I'll post more photos.

Until next time readers!
-Taft W-K














Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Gather Banner for J

This summer I was lucky enough to spend more time with one of my favorite people in the world: the wonderful and lovely J (check out her work here). I got to meet some of her amazing friends and hang out with her, which involved crafting and doughnuts and a trip to the fabric store and movies about dogs. I mean, what more could a girl want? 

She has the most beautiful home, with a dining room area that has a big wooden table that we all gather and craft around. I wanted to make her something for her new-ish home, something that would express how much we all love to go to J's house. 


I made her this banner to hang in her dining room. What I love about it is that all the materials are from other projects: jean aprons, quilts, t-shirts and headbands. Each part of it has its own story. 


All of the ribbon is hand-stitched to the jean triangle. 



I left a little tab at the top of each triangle so I could fold it over to sew onto the ribbon.


I can't wait to give it to J! Hope she loves it :)

-Taft W-K