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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        Marisa-- http://marmags20time.blogspot.com

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