Post #7-- Ending with Much Success

I am proud to say that I have accomplished what I have wanted to accomplish with this project. My partner and I managed to create five up-cycled clothing items, as well as teach women at the Elizabeth House how to up-cycle and work on a project with them. With our assistance, the women made bags out of jeans. It was really cool to see all the unique styles the women added to their bags. I know that this project was a success because I learned a lot about up-cycling and will surely use this skill to make other projects.  I also accomplished a lot by reaching every level of my goals for this project. I have learned about myself to take each obstacle that comes my way with hope and optimism and come to terms with the fact that it will all turn out okay in the end. Much questions have arisen around whether my partner and I will be returning to the shelter to do another class for the women. Although nothing is set-up yet, I really would like to do another project with the women because it is for a good cause and the women seemed to really enjoy up-cycling. A change I would make if I were to do the project over again, would be to make more up-cycled items.

This is a good picture because it has all the items we up-cycled in the background. As well as the back which the women in the plaid shirt is holding, which is what we were making with all the women.

This is a picture of me showing one of the women how to use the sewing machine and where to sewing.

Here she is sewing the jeans which she is making into a cute little purse.












Here is a picture of one of the women cutting the pants into the size she wants her bag to be. She is making a Frozen themed pursue for her daughter as a birthday present. She is one of the Alumni from the shelter and came back to the shelter for our class. Elizabeth House is really big on keeping in touch with all there Alumni women and doing whatever they can to provide for them.

Here is a picture of Mariah and I fixing the sewing machines because were not working. They got jammed with thread. This is something that was expected to happen especially when first teaching people how to use a sewing machine. Luckily, we were able to get the machines working again.

Here is a picture of a bag one of the women made. She made a dipper bag for her little girl.

***Thank you to everyone who supported my project by donating items. I appreciate it very much! You were a big help and your donations went to great use. 

Post #5-- Exciting News!

Good news! I am proud to say that we have accomplished making our first upcycled item. This was very exciting for us because we were able to use the sewing machine for the first time and learned how it works. My partner and I are very proud of ourselves are trying to find more time to continue working to upcycle more clothing. So far we have decided to work Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week to accomplish this. I have found a new love for this project and am looking forward to continuing creating more products. I have learned that if I devote more time and passion to this project, there will be astonishing results. We have also started working on a couple shirts and will hopefully have a lot of finished items soon. The setbacks so far have been finding more time to work on the project, but will our commitment we will be able to overcome this. It is essential that me and my partner compromise and have flexibility with our schedules so that we can get good results for this project. The next step is to just create more items and be ready to teach the women at the shelter how to upcycle. I can apply things I have learned to my community by taking what I have learned from upcycling and documenting it so I will be able to teach people as well. This is why along the way I have been and will continue taking picture so you will be able to see the transformation in the clothing.

For our first item we cut out this owl from another shirt and sewed it onto this cute vest. 

Reminder: To still please DONATE clothes!!!

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Post #4-- Finding Motivation

It has been a little difficult to find motivation for this project. I haven't had much turn out with getting people to donate, so I have been looking for clothes that in my own closet and my partner has been doing the same thing as well. I have learned about my topic that I need to find the motivation to allow my passion and want to learning how to up-cycle, a reality. This has been a good life lesson for myself, because it has made me realize that I need to work on taking initiative more in order to get something accomplished. Motivation has been the main setback, however I am confident that by up-cycling an item, I will find passion and motivation to continue working on this project. I plan on making a schedule to have deadlines for when I am going to have things finished for this project. Although I haven't had many donations from school, me and my partner have found some clothing of our own to up-cycle and plan on actually starting up-cycling clothing tomorrow (April 17th). This will be an exciting push in the right direction for us and will hopefully get us back on track. I can apply what I have learned to my future, by finding ways to get myself back on track when things do not go as planned. It is important to be flexible and I am learning to do that in this situation.  

Reminder: As always, please donate any clothes you no longer want or need, it will be a big help!(Excluded items: socks and undergarments).


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Blog #3-- Talking To The Experienced

So far, I have been primarily talking to friends and family who know how to sewing and alter clothing. One friend in particular, named Ariel, has been a huge help in enhancing my ideas about up-cycling. She is a college student now who lives in Boston and has much experience and credibility in up-cycling clothes because she has earned her Girl Scout Gold Award project on up-cycling clothes and currently has a blog where she posts up-cycled items she has made. It has been a big help to me and has really gotten me familiar with how to up-cycle and all the ways in which clothing can be transformed. She has given me some great tips to ensure the best results of this project, which I will definitely apply to my actually work. I am ready and excited to start working on actually up-cycling clothes. One thing I have learned is that it is a lot harder than I thought to get people to donate clothes. I have realized that if I want to get donations, I need to be more proactive and continuously reminding people to please donate. This has been the main setback, however I plan on handling this by expanding my horizon by asking more people to donate; such as friends and family. The next steps for my project are to collect more clothing to allow me to start up cycling clothing and just continue talking to get advice for starting this project. I will also be watching an extensive amount of videos online about "How to up-cycle" and hopefully get some more ideas for items to make. I can apply the things I have learned to myself, school and community by showing the passion I have for my project and reaching out to my school, family, friends and the rest of my community for donations for my project. 

Reminder: PLEASE DONATE!!! I will take any clothing you no longer want or need, as long as it is in fairly good condition. You can place the clothes in the basket in Mr. Man's room. (Excluded items: socks and undergarments).


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Blog #2-- Found An Organization To Donate To!

For my week 2 progress report I would like to announce that I have found a shelter to donate up-cycled clothes to. I will be giving the clothes I design to a women's shelter called Elizabeth House. This is a non-profit organization for pregnant women who have no place to live and care for themselves while carrying their baby. I have talked to the director of this shelter, Debbie Unruh, and she will be allowing me to not only donate clothes to the shelter, but also teach the women how to up-cycle and the efficiency of it. What I have learned about my topic is that I will need advice and tips from people who know how to sew and transform clothing before I attempt to alter clothes myself. I have also learned that because the women in this shelter are pregnant, designing clothes for them that are custom to their body will be difficult since their body will change once they give birth. So, I will be focusing on designing clothing that can fit a variety of people (such as lose shirts, long dresses, etc). What I have learned about myself so far is that I will need to be more vocal and proactive in order to get people to donate clothes. A set back I have had so far is getting people to donate clothes, however if I constantly remind people to donate and leave a basket for people to put clothes into, I will be able to broaden my outreach to all classes and hopefully get a lot of donations. The next steps in my process will be to learn sewing skills from people who know how to sew. Then I will be actually designing clothes myself. I can apply being proactive to myself, school and community by showing the passion that I have for this and sharing the knowledge I learn to help make my community better. 

 Reminder: PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! Donate any clothing you no longer want or need. The clothes you donate will be the primary source of clothing for my project. In other words, you will be a big contributor to my project if you donate. This is optional, but if you write your name on the bag of clothes you are donating, I will include your name in my project for some of my before and after pictures in my final presentation. I think this will be a good incentive for those who donate because you will see how your old t-shirt is new and updated. I have placed a basket by the door in Mr. Man's classroom for anyone to put clothing in. (Exceptions: Will not take any socks or undergarments).

Here is an outside view of Elizabeth House.

Here is a before and after picture example of something that was up-cycled.












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Blog #1--Upcycling Introduction

Hello friends! 20% time is a way for students, like myself, to access creative thinking skills and set limited yearnings into a full blown reality. The essential question to answer is, "How will you enhance your world?" For my project, I will be learning how to upcycle. Upcycling is "reusing discarded objects or materials in such a way as to create a product of a higher quality or value than the original." I will be specifically focusing on upcycling clothing because each year, an average American throws away 68 pounds of clothing. This is a lot of wasted clothes! I want to first learn how to be more environmentally friendly with clothes and then go on to teach others how to be involved in recycling clothes. I will be able to enhance my world by teaching others how efficient and economically friendly upcycling is. My ultimate goals for this project are to learn how to upcycle clothing, actually create clothes that I have designed, give away the clothes to people in need, and teach others how to upcycle. I will be able to measure my progress by taking pictures of clothes I have designed and sharing them on this site. I recognize that there are bound to be complications through this process, but I will determine my success through the amount of time, effort and heart I put into this.

Request: I would be ever so grateful if you guys could donate any clothes that you no longer want or need. This will be a tremendous help because I will need a lot of clothes to do this project. Also, I think you all will find it interesting to see your old favorite jeans transformed into something entirely new. I will be placing a basket in Mr. Man's classroom for the donated items. (Excluded items for donation: undergarments and socks).

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