I found this great book, Cut- Up Couture about upcycling when I was in Portland last fall with my daughter. We were at Powell’s City of Books, which is a huge book store. I was so excited about the book I couldn’t leave the book store without it. Koko Yamase’s designs are innovative and fun. The book comes complete with instructions of how to make her designs out of men’s wear. The designs are primarily made out of t shirts, sweatshirts, men’s dress shirts or scarves. The various designs range from ultra simple to a bit complicated.

What I find so wonderful about the book aside from her designs is also the whole concept of upcycling a preused item of clothing. With all the waste being generated it is truly a conscious act to spend some time upcycling. Plus the joy of making something yourself is rewarding. With Koko Yamase’s designs and instructions it is easy for even a beginner at sewing to make an outfit.

Sahlil Sahni and Avid Boustani of Sloan School of Management did a study on Textile Remanufacturing and Energy savings. They came to the conclusion that by continuing to reuse a garment such as a blouse can save 68 percent of the energy required to manufacture a new one. This includes the energy involved in laundering the item 75 times. (1) (see Reference 2, page 7). So making a habit of upcycling really can add up to doing something that is helpful for our environment. We can rewind, reuse, recycle and reduce energy use in one shot! It’s a good feeling to be a part of the slow fashion movement and appreciate extending the life of a garment by recreating it into something you want.

Photo by Kevin Dooley from Flickr

My Patched Blouse

I have made three of the designs from this book so far. I am going to make more. I made the Poncho from Four Scarves for my daughter.  I did use new acrylic scarves since my daughter works as a barista. She needs something simple in terms of wash and wear. I made the Patched Blouse for myself although I ended up making it from a women’s size 14 blouse. I found the shirt at a garage sale and just liked the pattern on it. I am a size six so it was a bit smaller than a men’s small shirt. Total cost to make ran $4.00. I also made the Long Jumper from Layered Men’s Shirts. I discovered that you really need to trust your eye and the picture in the book if you are using a smaller shirt than she does in the books’ instructions. I for instance, cut my sleeve at the 11” from the neckline as she states for XL shirts and it was too short. My instinct told me if I cut there it might be too short but I tried it. So I had to re sew the sleeve back on where I had cut it, then cut lower down. So I have two cuts where I should have had one. My dress still looks very nice. Also one side of the layered shirt lines up perfectly with the shirt on top and not quite on the other side. It’s difficult to tell if they line up exactly in her book since you only see certain views of the model wearing it. She does state that you can use a larger shirt for the bottom and gather the arm pit of the lower shirt before layering and sewing. I am going to try that with another shirt since I like this dress and I think if I have two I will wear them both a lot in winter. I didn’t expect the dress to look perfect so I am fine with it being slightly off beat. Its upcycled!! I may as well have a sense of humor about it!! I used a lovely Wrangler denim shirt for the top of my dress and a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt for the bottom.   For a unique detail I added a antique green button on each side where the sides of the shirts join.  Total cost to make was about $10.00 since I bought two thrift store shirts; one was half price and I needed some elastic and thread. My next one will be chambray denim on top and I want a soft flannel for the bottom shirt.

Patched Blouse in the book

My Long Jumper

I really like the various designs in the book. The one’s from men’s shirts are my favorites and I also really like the ones from scarves.   I want to make the Two Way Poncho/Skirt. I think that’s an awesome idea that the poncho works as a skirt as well. There is the Arm-In-Arm Skirt in the book from two shirts which has a soft feminine classic look to it.  There is one knitwear design Blouse With Button Shoulders which can be worn as a blouse, sarouel pants or a skirt depending on how one buttons the buttons. For nights out on the town there is the Evening Coat with Sweatshirts, which looks as if it’d be quite versatile if it isn’t very cold out.

Aside from being a clothing designer Koko Yamase owns a vintage store. If you enjoy upcyling or are just getting started I recommend this book. I am thrilling enjoying the process of making some of these designs. It even inspired me to make my own design with a tank top and panels of fabric I had left from Liberty of London. I mixed in some fabrics that weren’t Liberty plus a couple of panels were from a men’s shirt. My dress came out really lovely! Total cost to make my own design, which was made out of predominately things I already had in my closet was $3.75. All I needed to buy was binding tape and some thread!

(1)Sloan School of Management; Textile Remanufacturing and Energy Savings; Sahil Sahni et al.; January 2010.