Is It Altered, Embellished, Or Upcycled?

I was flipping through the latest issue of Altered Couture magazine the other day, and after viewing the clothing inside, decided that, for me, there is a a big difference between something that has been altered, and something that has been merely embellished. And before I spill out my two-pence worth, let me state that this is just my personal opinion. I'm sure there are lots of people out there who will disagree, but hey, my blog, my thoughts.

Using the term "couture" implies that whatever altering done to the garment should be high quality, show that a lot of thought, effort, and planning went into it, and the end result looks "right." I can't define "right" but I know it when I see it (accepting that "right" for me might not be "right" for someone else). All the changes and additions come together in a cohesive way and it all just works. Even funky, which is not my thing, needs to have some rhyme or reason to the design. When done correctly, funky can be awesome (the work of Rice at the Voodoo Cafe comes instantly to mind). When done badly, funky looks messy and chaotic or just plain silly. The same could be said of bohemian, gypsy, modern, or any other style.

And this is where my inside voice goes "Seriously?" Taking a T-shirt and roughly hand-sewing a four-inch rectangle of tea-dyed muslin to the chest, and tacking on a six-inch length of flimsy old lace, off-center, to the bottom of said shirt, does not make it altered, and calling it couture is a real stretch. Taking a thrift store camisole and sewing on a couple of crochet doilies that dangle off the side is not altered, it is embellished, and in my not-worth-much opinion, it is embellishment done for the sake of a trend, rather than with much thought. The design makes no sense, and looks as if the doilies sort of stuck to the shirt by accident. The flip side of that is, I saw examples of outstanding garments done with lace and doilies. The designs work, the colors work, and the finished garments are beautiful.

If you are going to call a piece "altered couture" then the piece really should be altered in some significant way. There were many good examples of this in the magazine, some quite simple, so being altered doesn't imply that it has to be fancy, home-dyed, or covered with embellishments. It does mean, to me, that you have changed the shape and style of the original garment into something unique.

The word "upcycled" is used a lot lately, and I would agree that almost all of the items shown in the magazine were upcycled from thrift store finds or antique shop discoveries.  This fact was stated over and over again by the people whose items were pictured. With the diversity of clothing, shoes, and accessories shown, and the fact that so many of them were decorated but not really altered, I think upcycled rather than altered, would be a better definition for many of the items pictured. Is a shoe you have painted really altered, or is it decorated? Yes, you have changed its appearance, but you haven't changed its shape. It's still the same shoe, just painted a different color, or with fabric and beads glued on. They have definitely been upcycled, and many of them are fantastic, but altered? 

alter: v to make or become different; change. (Oxford Pocket American Dictionary)

According to the above definition, I guess all the items in the magazine were changed to a certain extent, so in the broadest sense of the term, they were altered. But add the word "couture" and it ups the anti to something beyond just upcycled, refurbished, or embellished. And yes, even the OPAD defines "couture" as merely "the design and manufacture of fashionable clothes = Haut couture." However, I still think it implies a higher quality of thought and design over and above a snip of muslin, a bit of old lace, or a doily hand sewn onto a thrift store T-shirt. But that's just my opinion...and you all know what that is worth, right?

Embellished Sweatshirt

I confess, I love vintage and period clothing (also jewelry, but that's no secret either). I love the craftsmanship, the artistry, and the embellishments that make those pieces of clothing so wonderful. However, I live my life in sweatshirts, T-shirts, tank tops and jeans. Add to that list an ever-growing number of jackets, and that is my wardrobe. Most of the time those sweatshirts, T-shirts, tanks and jeans are full of cat or horse hair, hay flakes and pine shavings, and during the summer, bits of garden vegetation, seed pods, and oak twigs.

I love the idea of skirts and dresses. I really do. I buy them, thinking I'll wear them, but I rarely do. Instead they linger at the back of my closet, forlorn and neglected.

The conclusion I came to was, if I want to attempt to incorporate any kind of embellishment on my clothing, it would have to be on the garments I wear all the time. Granted, I'm not going to go clean stalls in something I've labored over for hours, but when I do head into town, or my husband and I go out to dinner or the movies, I will have something unique to wear. Because, the bottom line is, I am bored with most of the clothing I see in stores.

**Insert quick rant here**

 Let's bring back "dressing." Making an effort. Don't just slouch off to town or to dinner in tatty old T-shirts, grubby jeans, and messy hair. I'm not advocating the Barbie look, or expect people to dress like Donna Reed in My Three Sons. But yikes, some of the stuff I see people wearing while out and about makes my teeth hurt. Look in a mirror, people!

**Rant over** 

Back to embellished clothing. The Alabama Chanin books, and Rice over at the Voodoo Cafe, have been a huge influence on my quest for unique clothing. The techniques in the book are easy, but time-consuming. The results are grand. Even in small doses, the embellishments add so much to any piece you put them on. They also lend themselves very well to individual styles. My pieces, even using the same techniques, look very different from, say, what Rice, or anyone else, will create. I have made two boleros from the pattern included in the book, and one tank top. In this case, I attacked a $4 sweatshirt I bought at the Goodwill.

Here is the sweatshirt, and the stenciled bit of purple T-shirt sleeve I had left over from the Tibetan Bolero. The gold paint is by Lumiere.

The start of the stitching, and the reverse applique done. And some beads sew on. I blush to admit it, but, other than the metallic thread, I just used doubled regular sewing thread. Whatever I had on hand. The purple thread is poly, and the turquoise is cotton. In all honesty, these pieces I still consider experiments, so I'm not overly concerned with their longevity. If the center piece manages to last longer than the sweatshirt, I will cut it out and sew it to something else.

Here it is with the stitched curlicues. It took me awhile to figure out how to tie in the center design with the rest of the shirt. The curlicues are what I finally ended up with. They turned out so nice, I decided I would use them again on something else. Eventually I will add stitching, curlicues and beads to the back neckline, so that it sorta matches the front neckline. By the time I got done doing this, my eyes were crossed and my fingers tender. I needed to take a break and do something else. I will come back to this and tie up that one loose end.

 

Here are a couple of closeups of the curlicues and beading as they progressed. The curlicues were done freehand, like doodling with thread. Lots of fun.

So, now that this little project is almost done, I'm off to do something else. I have three costumes to work on, and an experiment I want to try with stitching on the stenciled T-shirt material. I figure I'm on a quest to stamp out boring clothes. At least in my own closet. If I'm lucky, I might inspire someone else to give it a go, branch out...make an effort. Not sure my pieces will be that influential, but wouldn't that just be the icing on the cake!

Go, be creative. Make an effort. It's not that hard, I promise.

Tibetan Bolero — 3

I have added prayer flags to the front (using a free-form feather stitch, combined with a blanket stitch,  to resemble Tibetan script), and sewn the side/sleeve seams. I added the binding with feather stitch, which took me awhile to get the rhythm of, which is why the sleeve binding looks more even that the stitching on the binding around the neck and front. But when I was done, I kinda decided this would be my "signature" binding stitch, the way the Cretan stitch is for Rice, over at the Voodoo Cafe.

I am now in the process of adding little gold beads to the binding, and will probably add some to the prayer flags.

Bolero back

Bolero front.
I stuck a piece of cardboard inside to hide the messy machine embroidery backing. Had I to do this piece over again, or if I get another T-shirt with a large machine embroidered design on the back, I will make the back of the bolero two layers. The outside layer will have all the decoration on it, and the inside layer will hide all the messy bits.

Here is the beading I have just started.

 

 

And here is why I put the cardboard inside to take the pictures, and why I will make the next bolero sporting a machine embroidered design in two layers. This is just WAY too messy looking to leave uncovered. Well, to me anyway.

I really like the color combination in this bolero. The green was just something I had on hand...one of my husband's old work T-shirts. Also, I enjoy working on these little guys because I don't have to get into any complicated patterns, piecing, futzing, etc., like I do with a lot of the costuming stuff I make. These boleros, and the AC T-shirts and tank tops are simple patterns to sew together so I can spend more time playing with embellishments. That's the really fun part.