Can you tell us a little bit about your book, "Generation T: 108 ways to transform a T-shirt"? How did you come up with the concept?
T-shirt refashioning was something my sisters and I started doing for fun. Girls and guys have huge collections of t-shirts--from bar and bat mitzvahs, sports tournaments, rock concerts.... We all have these collections and it can be very sentimental looking through them when you go to clean out the dresser, but there's no way you're wearing some of those two-sizes-too-big shirts out to the club. The idea was really born out of a desire keep our tees--and the memories attached to them--from being relegated to the rag heap. We chopped up those tees, made them smaller, and turned them into something that fit better into our fashion sense.
In terms of putting the ideas into a book, I feel that t-shirt DIY has reemerged in the last couple of years as "DIY for the people." You don't need any materials other than the t-shirt sitting in the back of your drawer. Grab a pair of scissors, and you have a project right there. It's so accessible. I was looking at all these craft books, from how to refashion your room to how to refashion your locker and the more I thought about it, the more I saw the t-shirt as the way to bring DIY to the masses. In doing the book, I wanted to get the word out and get more people involved. Much more than selling any of my designs, I want to empower other people to make their own. It's about self-made fashion.
How did you come up with the ideas in your book?
If you can believe it, the book was originally "201 ways," but my editor and I quickly realized that a book of that size might be a little unwieldy! Of the 108 designs that made the cut, some I simply dreamed up and some are based on outfits I saw people wearing on the street.
I often am inspired by an item in a store window or in a magazine--and not necessarily clothing. Sometimes it's a cake in a bakery, or the silhouette of a particularly striking building against the sky. I make a mental image, sketch it, or paste a picture in my sketchbook. When you start looking at the t-shirt as simply a piece of fabric, you can make anything out if it.
What do you need to make these t-shirts?
In my book, I set up each design as a recipe. Tools and materials are called ingredients. For the easiest projects all you need is a t-shirt and scissors. The more complicated projects may call for chalk or rulers for measurement, but you never need any special patterns. You don't need a sewing machine--all the projects that require sewing can be done by hand, and the basics are covered in the beginning chapters. I tried to make it very straightforward.
What do you think about fashion?
I love fashion in the sense that it's wearable art. It's a great way to express yourself. You get to take the art off the fridge and put it on the street--where you get the greatest number of viewers.
I am fascinated by fashion, but my personal style is more about having a DIY edge. It's one thing to get a compliment on what you're wearing, but another thing entirely when it's something you designed or made yourself.
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