Michigan Makers at Scarlett, Fall 2017, Meeting #5: Clothing Hacks

Since today is the week before Halloween we decided to do a fun activity with the students at Scarlett Middle School. It is time for Clothing Hacks! We brought several large IKEA blue bags filled to the brim with donated and thrifted clothing. With two sewing machines, scissors and creativity students were able to create their own new clothing or costume pieces for Halloween, if they celebrated. One student took the sleeves from a plaid button down and added it to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt, giving the shirt a new look. Another student took light blue kids clothing and turned them into leg warmers. There was no shortage of creativity today.
One of the most elaborate projects involved almost no sewing. Using black clothings and accessories from the bags one student turned a “Happy New Year” hat into a witches hat. The biggest problem she had to solve was how to get all of the items to attach without visible tape. It took a little bit of creativity since she was not using the sewing machines to help.
At the end of the day each student had something they had made to take home and we had what could only be described as a literally explosion of fabric everywhere. Sometimes creativity is a messy process and there is nothing better than accepting and living with that fact.