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So far, my life has just been sew, sew great!

Finding my happiness in bringing new life to discarded clothing may inspire others

By Carmen Jensen Published 3 years ago 7 min read
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I may not have been born with a pair of scissors in my hand, but it didn‘t take them long to get there. I remember cutting out simple shapes of little girls holding hands, then unfolding them to reveal a magical string of paper dolls! This led to more sophisticated shapes of one-of-a-kind paper dolls, followed by extravagant wardrobes, consisting mostly of ball gowns!

When I was a small child, May Day wasn’t a warning cry of impending disaster, nor a day of international protest for workers’ rights – it was a celebration of the arrival of Spring . Ever since I remembered, on the last day of April, Mum would cut out piece-of-pie shapes from stiff paper and sew a few rows of fabric ruffles on them. We would roll and glue them into cone shapes, add a looped handle, then fill them with colorful jelly beans.

Then on May first, we would walk together around the neighborhood visiting many peoples’ houses. I would go up the steps, hang the basket on the door handle and run away. If someone answered the door before I made my escape, I would call out “Happy May Day!” as I sped off.

I was only six years old when my Mother sat me on a pillow in front of her sewing machine, and taught me how to make those baskets myself.

My life history could be told in stories of ever more advanced sewing adventures. Barbie hadn’t made the scene yet when I was making clothes for my Jennie Doll, which most of you are too young to remember.

One summer, while I was still in grade school, I designed my own back-to-school wardrobe, with illustrations and patterns, which I drafted myself. Showing Mum the drawings, patterns and fabrics I had chosen from her stash of textiles, I give instructions about which fabric would go with each garment. Some days later, when I went to the drawer where I’d placed the project, not one trace of any of it remained! I was furious and blamed my younger brothers for stealing my precious sewing project, but they never admitted to a thing. Today, I believe my Mother may have been so daunted by my hugely ambitious plan, that she made the entire project disappear herself, probably with a sigh of relief and eternal feeling of guilt.

Unfortunately, she died in 2018, with my never having thought to ask her about that episode.

In junior high school, I started sewing my own gathered skirts and loose shift-style dresses. By high school, I was making dresses and even Jackie Kennedy-inspired suits, which is what fashionable girls were wearing in the grade 12 classroom back then!

As an adult, there was no sewing project too challenging. I have made winter coats for both my husband and myself, and many fabric-inspired shirts for him. Mens dress shirts were either too boring for our tastes or too expensive for our wallets while he was working.

I especially enjoy the challenge of matching stripes and plaids in every way possible on every garment, so his shirts stand up to close inspection.

Our daughter, Ariana, was born in 1981, and I had my own living doll to dress! This is where my new approach to sewing began.

I made this little jumpsuit from my old purple velvet pants

I made Ariana’s coat from fabric scraps I had been holding onto for years

I already had drawers full of woven fabrics – mostly wool, silk and cotton. Wool and silk aren’t of much use in infants wear, except for coats, so I made her a couple of them. And many of my cottons weren’t suitable – what you really need for kids are knits!

This dress was the beginning of my using sweaters from used clothing stores and rummage sales. It has opened up a whole new world of creativity for me!

I started buying patterned sweaters used clothing stores, and making them into clothes for Ariana. She had an amazing wardrobe, which I passed on to my sister. I would love to see some of those items again, but she had three daughters, so they served to clothe four little girls. No doubt, they were completely worn-out years ago!

Today, my friends have started having grandchildren and I have been on a new sewing adventure while making gifts for them.

Here is how I take my scissors to re-purpose an adult-sized sweater:

The adult-sized garment, with the child-sized leggings pattern

The long sleeves are already so close to being a pair of leggings, I just make a few simple snips. If the legs are too long, I cut-off the ribbed band and place it further up the leg.

If I feel I need a pattern, I use a pair of size 2 pants from the Salvation Army and disassembled by cutting along the seams. If the waistband is gathered, I just clip it like this, so it lies flat:

I find myself especially drawn to knits that used black in their patterning, which you don’t often see used for baby clothes. Now, I’ve even had my own label made – Bébé in Black.

Despite having my own label, I have never sold a single one of my creations, nor been paid for my dress-making abilities. I made my living as a graphic designer, while sewing has always remained one of my most satisfying hobbies.

Let me tell you, back before everyone was doing their graphics on a computer, there was plenty of scissor and scalpel wielding in that profession! Today, my friends have started having grandchildren and after 20 years of few little ones to sew for, I am once again gathering materials, cutting-up old sweaters, matching stripes and re-knitting little cuffs.

I also have shirts and sweaters in a few different sizes, that I cut-up to make patterns. You can cut one sweater into at least two different styles:

When using patterns made with this method, you must remember to add-on the seam allowance:

Here are all of the pieces for the Black & Grey outfit, with some red accents, bringing it to life:

I have made and gifted many outfits made from recycled garments. Importantly, I don’t treat them like they’re second-class textiles, but make the best I can out of each of them. The outfits are nice enough to save “good”, but I always encourage Mom to put the nicest clothing the kid has every day, because the outgrow it so quickly!

More recently, I have discovered the joys of using cast-off T-shirts for fun summer wear.

With no plans in mind, I was inspired to buy a whole bunch of them – all with graphics on them, many not all that good-looking, but lots of bright colors and black, of course!

I cut them up, then combine them in fun and unexpected ways. I start with a pattern “template”, where the shape I want is cut-out of a piece of paper, which I place over the T-shirt graphic and move around until it pleases the eye, and cut from there.

The real fun comes when I start playing around with the 8 pieces I need to construct a little sun suit. The the various colors and graphics re-combine, making patterns that are attractive and a bit crazy, so great on clothing for small children.

The resulting garments make good use of event-specific T-shirts that get worn once or twice, and are then sent to charity, where no one buys them, since they have no affinity with the company or event promoted on the shirt. These seem like pretty good alternatives to land-fill to me!

So, a whole new line of summer rompers is underway!

I think we’ve all become aware of the millions of tons of discarded clothing cast-off by wealthy countries, sent to third world countries or garbage dumps in huge bundles. This is just my own small attempt at extending the short life of some “fast fashion’s” most disposable items.

We saw these piles of clothes for sale in Christchurch, New Zealand a couple of years ago:

They were part of an art exhibit, trying to bring awareness to the terrible waste in the fashion industry. These masses of clothing were first arranged into large sculptural objects, which felt very heavy and oppressive. Visitors were allowed to rifle through them, changing their shapes and also selecting any particular garment that they fancied to take with them!

Our luggage was already too full to even contemplate helping ourselves to a single item. But, there is never a problem finding clothing to recycle and up-cycle here at home. I see no end to the design and sewing potential of working with cast-off clothing – most especially items few others would think to re-use.

My Mother was still busy working on a number of handmade quilts when she suddenly died at age 91. I hope to live such a long and productive life. I may not have really been born with a pair of scissors in my hand, but I might very well die that way!

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About the Creator

Carmen Jensen

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