Week 28 Clothes Can Communicate

I wore a skirt out last night. You might ask "what is significant about that?"  Well, my skirt had a graphic of a bicycle on it and as it turned out, that bicycle has quickly become symbolic of a very critical  change that only I as an individual can make. 

The function was a climate change coffee house. The message that I took home with me was that "it's time to change my car-driven culture  and implement bicycling more". I don't know what that looks like or how it will impact my family but my hope is, that by reducing the amount that I use my car whenever I can, I will reduced the impacts of those emissions 30 years from now. 

My skirt had the image of a bike on it and someone noticed it. I've never thought much about it, not even really cared for it, but I've been in denial. Denial that I need to reduce how much I drive.  I also need to make a commitment to my children to teach them how to ride a bike and show them what a car-less lifestyle looks like. 

Clothes can communicate.  I am just making the connection that eco fashion might be more than what fabric, and where a piece of clothing was made, but also about the message and lifestyle that clothing supports. 

At the beginning of this week, I started out trying to forget everything that I've learned. But half way through, I find myself exploring the realm of my known, known. 

The simple outcome of my thoughts this week is an infinity shrug, dyed only by the residual dye in a pair of new blue jeans. The hand painted tricycle is symbolic of my desire to set the course for my children. 

I've never really for been keen on images or writing on clothes but now I get it! Clothing is often a representation of ourselves and others are always paying attention therefore our clothes can give us a voice or act as a visual representation of what we feel is important. Our clothing often acts as an icebreaker or an initial connection between two people. For example a woman will often compliment another woman on her shoes or sweater when first meeting. 

We also select our clothing based on the activity we will do while wearing it. Certain cuts, styles and materials, function better for cyclists. Riyoko is a label that does this beautifully and thoughtfully. It just makes sense. 

I am that I am.

Our preschool had a special bike riding field trip this morning. Appropriately so as my attention was brought back to this infinity shrug design. As requested, the construction of this shrug is as follows. 

From one yard of fabric, I cut an arc across the width creating two pieces, labeled 1 and 2. I then flipped over piece 2 and reattached it to piece one along the same arc. The resulting shape is like a chevon. This works best with fabric that  is not particular about right or wrong sides since I attached the "wrong" side of piece 2 to the "right" side of piece 1. 

From the diagram above, the chevron has a short side A and a long side B. Folding the chevon in half by length and creating a tube, I sewed A to B and gathered in the extra lenght of side B as I sewed, matching up the angles. 

 

Finally, after turning the tube "right" side out, I attached the two ends of the tube together, just as you would an infinity scarf. This created the slightly conical shape of the shrug, with the gathering gave it a bit of volume and shape. 

Thanks for asking for more details! I am always happy to share more if anyone would like to know more about a particular design or pattern.