Introduction: 

 What do you do when it’s finally time to replace your favorite shirt? Is there a way to keep it?  This is an outfit crafted using fabric from old, unsellable/unwearable clothing and made to fit the artist’s current wardrobe. Both functional and stylistically attractive, it was made with simple and beginner-friendly sewing techniques. This project explores mitigating fashion waste while attempting to make DIY clothing more accessible to its audience.

 Literature Review: 

This project pulls from a wide variety of influences, including DIY punk and alternative fashions, for both style inspirations and methods. One artist in particular, MORF (Foreman), builds complex fashion designs out of thrifted garments – creating new, fashionable garments that are both cheaper to commission and reduce fashion waste. Within fashion waste, one of the largest industry waste sources in America with millions of tons discarded each year, fast fashion is by far the worst generator of waste. However, even secondhand fashion still generates huge quantities of waste. According to one article, “Here’s What Really Happens to Your Donated Clothes,” only about 15% of donated clothing gets resold in stores, and even less is sturdy enough to be successfully recycled. The best way to reduce environmental impact is to stop buying. This project explores alternatives to selling or scrapping, in an industry that is far more likely to discard fabric than look for ways to reuse it. 

 Methods: 

This project required some basic hand-sewing skills, easily learned by following online tutorials and looking up online advice, and learning how to put together simple garments. In addition to the new sewing skills acquired, the outfits were designed with previous costume design experience, both for style and for picking which materials to use where. There were no patterns used, and only one online guide, and the items were made mostly by copying from other garments already owned or relying on the original shape of the clothing being reused. 

 Audience + Impact: 

This project encourages the audience to consider DIY clothing, by demonstrating that it is a more accessible and diverse art form than people expect, and to reconsider what they consider to be “useless” fabric. Sewing can be intimidating, but it is fairly quick and easy to learn, and most clothing that gets thrown away has mostly salvageable material. This project demonstrates that a sewing machine is not required to make large garments, and envisioning the piece is often the most important part of the process – executing the vision is far simpler than feared. 

 Acknowledgements: 

A very big thank you to photographer,  Vic , for your camerawork and photo editing, and to all of the people who supplied clothing they could no longer use:  mom  and  dad , roommates (and workshop leaders)  Lizzie  and  Dean , and friend  Corvidae Luz Dulcey . This project doesn’t exist without the bones of their closets. In addition, thank you to  Harold ,  Irene , and everyone in  Arts Scholars , who keep this program running and provided the space for this artist to execute a vision that hadn’t been express until picking up this project. 

 References: 

Foreman, Taylor. “The Important Lessons Sustainability Has Taught Me.” MORF, June 2021, morfspace.com/blogs/news/the-important-lessons-sustainability-has-taught-me. 

Souza, Anna De. “Here’s What Really Happens to Your Donated Clothes”, Reader’s Digest, 25 June 2025, www.rd.com/article/what-happens-used-clothing-donations/.