Kendra Brea Cooper
Crafting your own style, with your own hands, by your own ideas is massively liberating. Making your own stuff is like throwing a wrench into the gears of the work/consume cycle. DIY clothing is radical on many levels, as it's labour friendly, it avoids exploitation, and it's totally unique.
This video takes you step-by-step through the process of making a really handy and cute crochet hat. You could spend a rainy afternoon making sweet fall hats for all your friends, or you could just gift them to passing strangers.
Intimates are big money with companies like Victoria's Secret and La Senza. Here's a tutorial for making your own seriously adorable underwear at low cost and low impact. Think of all the different fabrics you could use and all the ways you can express yourself under your clothing and when you take it off!
Here's another tutorial for some really comfy boy shorts. They can cross from underwear into pj gear. They're fairly simple and oh so satisfying when you know you can make everything down to your underwear.
If you're feeling extra crafty, you can make everything down to the fabric you want. Here's a video for DIY Otomi fabric to get you started on the road to a creative life.
Stencils make the shirt. They take time and energy, but they're great tools for making your own one-of-a-kind band t-shirt, a protest shirt, or anything else you can think of. Think of graffiti on your shirt like graffiti on the streets.
Upcycling clothing (remaking old into new) is necessary and liberating at the same time. With a needle and thread, you can turn that cheap thrift shop find into something beautiful and unique. It dodges the sweatshop industry, recycles old clothing, and turns expensive trending on it's head.
Knowing how to fix your old shoes can save money and the environment (in a small way at least). So many shoes get chucked for silly reasons and end up needlessly in landfills. Here are a few tricks that might save the shoe and the day.
Instead of buying new shoes, you could upcycle some old ones using materials from around the house. This is especially good for the summer time when you don't need much around your feet. You could also paint something great on some old sneaks.
Accessories are another thing we spend too much money on, and waste too quickly because of passing trends. Upcycling and recycling are great ways to express yourself without being duped.
Even though we're quickly moving into the fall, a bathing suit is always a project to have in mind. Bathing suits are ridiculously expensive these days, and all for tiny pieces of fabric you could put together yourself. Think about it.
Pop culture and all that ideology sitting in the blind spot. Also crafts.
