In the project “Change your attitude, not things,” organized by the Environmental Project Management Agency, we share real stories about how to preserve items and help them live not just a second, but many more lives. In the recent readers’ contest, participants eagerly shared their redesigned or renewed clothes, shoes, and accessories.
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Inspiration – from the environment
One of the contest participants, Ieva, shared a true work of art – a dress made from men’s shirts. To better understand how to purposefully work with shirts, what mistakes are most common, and what else can be sewn – we asked the founders of the redesigned clothing brand, mother Danuta Kuprienė and daughter Gabija Kuprytė, for advice.
According to Gabija, there are far too many clothes even in second-hand stores, so renewing or redesigning them is really important to her – it means the clothes will be used many more times.
The knowledge accumulated by mom over 30 years is the most important “tool” we use.
“When redesigning clothes, we try to give them not just a second, but a third life. We want to encourage people not to throw away clothes but to wear what they have after adjusting the old ones,” says Gabija, who together with her mother has been redesigning old, unused, or worn-out clothes for over a year.
Inspiration on how to redesign one or another piece of clothing, according to her, can be drawn from social networks, everyday surroundings, people met in the city, or the beautiful Lithuanian nature.
One shirt – many redesign ideas
Since the creators specialize in sewing shirts, they laugh that quite a few tools are needed: sewing machines, threads, needles, and other supplies. To sew shirts professionally, a lot of knowledge is also required. “The knowledge accumulated by mom over 30 years is the most important ‘tool’ we use,” Gabija smiles.
“If we redesign clothes for ourselves, we remake everything that we are tired of so that we don’t have to throw clothes away: from torn clothes to new ones we want to improve. If we do it for our brand, we select better quality clothes found in second-hand stores. Sometimes a garment can be even 20 years old but very well preserved. We try to delve into the composition and select only truly quality clothes,” shares the interviewee.
You can paint, cut, tear – the most important thing is to trust your imagination.
There are many ways to sew shirts differently. You can make a dress from them, decorate with buttons in unexpected places, or sew shirts into a corset. This option, by the way, is very popular, and mother and daughter often receive requests to redesign shirts this way. Also, shirts can be turned into blouses or even reusable bags.
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According to the interviewee, the most difficult part when redesigning shirts is dealing with the sleeves: “Sewing sleeves is really tricky, so we try not to touch the armpit and shoulder lines but redesign everything around them.”
Tips for redesigning shirts at home
To redesign shirts at home, you first need to understand that much depends on the fabrics. According to the interviewee, if the shirt is heavily worn, wrinkled, or made of polyester fabric, even redesigned it will not look good. But in all other cases, Gabija reassures – if you use your imagination and create as you wish, it is almost impossible to ruin the shirt.
She also shares fairly easy ways anyone can redesign shirts with just threads and needles:
Sew buttons on the sides of the shirts. This makes the shirts more interesting, and the person’s silhouette changes.
Sew on certain appliqués. For example, cut out a desired shape from denim and sew it onto the shirt.
To hide stains or small tears, the creator recommends not being afraid to sew fabrics or scraps on top. You can even sew double layers. Buttons work very well to hide stains. You can sew many scattered buttons, which become a design element and perfectly conceal unwanted stains.
The worn bottom of the shirt can be shortened, creating a shorter shirt model.
“When redesigning clothes, we use a lot of lace and vintage curtains, which also enliven the shirts, but besides sewing, there are many other ways to redesign. You can paint, cut, tear – the most important thing is to trust your imagination,” encourages Gabija.
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The article was prepared as part of the project “Waste Prevention Promotion”.
