New Dress A Day
Marisa Lynch is the queen of refashioning! She has set herself the challenge of spending $1 dollar a day on second hand clothing and then refashioning it into a trendy wearable item of clothing, every day for an entire year! That's right, every single day of the year she will create a new outfit from wha
tever she can find at the local flea market/charity shop in Los Angles: $365, 365 items of clothing and 365 blog posts.
Each day her blog chronicles her journey, showing what she bought, how she transformed it, what her final outfit looks like, where she wore it plus how many dollars and days she has left. In case you were wondering she's now almost up to the midway point of her challenge.
Day 77 - Before |
Marisa was inspired when she saw the film Julie and Julia (Julia blogs about cooking all 534 recipes from chef Julie Child's recipe book) and having recently lost her job was looking for something to inspire her. Although she does like cooking, sewing is much more her thing. She learnt to sew at school and has always had an interest in repurposing clothes. Before starting this challenge she used to do it once every few months when she could find the time. However, after watching the Julie and Julia film she says "Making a new piece of clothing clicked for me and in that moment I knew I found the way to get re-inspired training myself to use my creative muscle on a daily basis."
Day 77 after |
It is a time consuming project, particularly as she is doing it as a hobby, and working at the same time. She does tend to pick up several outfits in one trip but generally does the sewing on a daily basis. This can take anything from 15 minutes for just giving something a quick trim to several hours for the outfits that have to be taken apart, re-hemmed or have the size completely adjusted. On top of that she photographs the whole process and then spends around 2 hours per day updating the blog! Updating the blog at the end of her day is her favourite part. "It's the time of the day where I get to let it all out - the blog is my daily journal that I share with the world."
Day 167 before 
Day 167 after
Amazingly Marisa doesn't go out with a set project in mind, and often when she buys the dress she doesn't have a clue what she is going to make with it. She normally picks a dress because she likes the fabric or the details and once she gets home she decides what she is going to do with it. She gets a lot of inspiration from blogs, films and from her favourite magazines - Elle, W, Marie Claire and Lucky. When she spots an outfit she likes in the magazines she cuts it out and adds it to her ‘inspiration board'. She also does theme days and weeks, most recently she did a Lost themed week to tie in with the finale of Lost. For those she does tend to plan in advance and will spend a few weeks picking up the dresses she is going to use for that.
Does she not worry that she will run out of inspiration I ask her? Over 300 unique outfits is a t
all order for anyone, let alone having to think up a new idea every single day. "My main worry is that readers will get bored!" she replies "I trust my creativity that I won't run out of ideas, but I'll let you know for sure at the end of the year." She doesn't regret taking on such a huge challenge, despite the many late nights. She cites this as being the most incredible experience of her life and she wouldn't change anything.
Day 184 before |
If you haven't seen her blog before I would highly recommend you pop on over to http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/ and add New Dress a Day to your Google reader. You can also follow Marisa on Facebook and Twitter too to be kept updated with her progress. The tips and tricks you can pick up from the blog could save you a fortune. If you read through the comments on her blog you will see how many people she has inspired to get sewing. If she can transform such unique and often dated clothing it makes you think that the things hiding at the back of your wardrobe from just a couple of years ago aren't completely beyond help after all!
To get you started Marisa has kindly provided 3 quick refashioning tips to get you started, exclusively to The Sewing Directory:
1. GO SHORT!!
This can be done with or without a sewing machine. Take an old nightgown or a Goodwill dress and change it up by cutting off the length and making it a top.
http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/2010/03/23/day-115-250-days-and-246-left-to-go/
2. ADD SOME FLAIR!
I like adding sequins or beads to a simple piece. With a little embellishment, your garment is given a brand new blingy life!
http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/2010/01/27/day-60-305-days-and-301-left-to-go/
3. DYE!!
Don't toss out those drab white tanks or pieces with spots on them. Instead grab some fabric dye (RIT or Dylon are amazing) and give them a new shade. You'll hide the stains and it will feel like you've got a brand new garment!
http://newdressaday.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/day-42-323-days-and-318-left-to-go/
