Thursday, May 28, 2020

More bad DIY fashion ideas


Today is Thursday, which means it's time for another well-meaning article in the New York Times Designer DIY feature, in which big names in fashion share silly ideas for people to try at home.  I neglected to bring you up to date on last week's feature, so that one first...

Emily Bode, a young luxury menswear designer who "expresses a sentimentality for the past through the study of personal narratives and historical techniques... with female-centric traditions of quilting, mending and applique," teaches us how to fix up a white T shirt to give to your sweetie.  First find some thread.  "This is a great time to use all of the pre-threaded needles from those miniature hotel mending kits," she says.

Now stitch (loosely, so the shirt can stretch when he puts it on) around the edges of the cuffs, collar and hem.  Add a cute heart and writing, if you want.  "There's no experience in sewing necessary.  The more homemade and messy, the better," she advises.

illustration: New York Times Thursday Styles section






















Well, not to worry, I suspect every single shirt made from these directions will be messy.  Starting with the choice of thread. Two strands of sewing thread, stitched loosely around the neckline, are really going to make a statement.  (And unless you were in the habit of spending five night a week on the road in your pre-pandemic job, lifting hotel mending kits right and left, what are you going to use when you run out of them?)

I particularly liked the fact that they illustrated step 5:  wash your T shirt to remove the pencil marks.  Without that picture, I would have been lost.

illustration: New York Times Thursday Styles section






















But enough kvetching about last week's project.  Today's project uses a T shirt again, but this time to tie-dye it.  Our designer-guide is Hillary Taymour, who treats "sustainability as something everyone can practice every day."  We're told she has been using tie-dye in her collections for two years, but I would bet money that she doesn't do it the way she advises the readers -- to use beets and turmeric as the dyestuffs.

I checked out what some highly googled websites had to say about using beets for dyeing.  What I discovered was that the amateur and mass-media craft sites love them -- beautiful color!!! -- but the people who know a lot about dyeing don't, because the color is notoriously fugitive.  In fact, because of that, beets made the list of  "Top Five Plants to Never Use for Natural Dyes" on Wearing Woad, a site that reeks of technical competence.  Turmeric's reputation isn't much better.  But that shouldn't stop our stir-crazy quarantined readers, because they'll add "a splash" of vinegar to the beets to "help your dye hold pigment."

photo: New York Times Thursday Styles section
Interesting to note that in this fifth installment in the Designer D.I.Y series, the Times has switched from gauzy watercolor or pencil illustrations to actual photos.  One shows you how to cut up the beets.  Six of them show you how to fold the shirt into a rectangular package, one shows how to bundle it with rubber bands.  Then you spoon on the yellow dye, and dunk into the red dye.

photo: New York Times Thursday Styles section
























Let the bundle sit for ten minutes before opening, then lay it flat to dry, and "it'll be ready for you to wear the next morning."

Smelling of vinegar.

And kind of wrinkly.

I hope everybody who makes this T shirt enjoys wearing it once or twice.  Maybe they'll hit a sweet spot after one or two washes, when the vinegar smell will have disappeared, and the dye won't have disappeared quite yet.

10 comments:

  1. These reviews make my day. Big sigh.

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  2. It's not often I feel like making a comment, but you made my day. Thank you.

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  3. Social distancing won’t be an issue while those vinegar fumes are wafting around...

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  4. I did a lot of eco dyeing a couple of years ago and the only thing that worked was turmeric. It gave me a brilliant yellow. Everything else was very wishy-washy, including beets.

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  5. OMG! This cracks me up! It is a much needed laugh this morning.

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  6. Wait... dunk in dye, remove and let sit 10 minutes, then unfold and dry? Did they leave out the part about rinsing until water is clear? So maybe not only will you be wrinkled and vinegary, but also dyed yourself when you take the shirt off? I'd love to be around *when* someone decides to follow those steps but using a commercial package dye because then they don't need to bother with chopping/boiling beets. Or can'f find them. Or the package is cheaper than beets. Or...

    I had no idea about some of these being not good for dye use despite being recommended for beginners so often, thanks for the link to that list.

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    1. No rinsing in this project!

      Yes, I too think it would be far superior to buy a pack of Dylon and just eat the beets. And rinse.

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  7. If only sewing were still taught in Middle School, and Girl Scout troops, there wouldn't be these tragic Home Ec accidents waiting to happen!

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  8. These DIY projects can be our entertainment during this pandemic.

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  9. Have you sent your reviews to NYT? I wish they would be able to hear how ridiculous the articles are! You could write great ones--a new career is looming in the future for you! But I love your humor!

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