Customize Your Clothes

Customize Your Clothes — page 1 — Creative Thinking Crafts have never been so cool Everyone’s designing making and customizing This book shows you how to turn old clothes into something new and stamp your own style on them Why Do It When you customize your clothes you can express yourself and have things just the way you want them You save money too and learn skills that could even lead to a crafty career Besides using your own old clothes look at thrift stores and rummage sales for fabulous ﬁnds You may have basic sewing items such as pins needles thread and scissors at home If not you can buy them at craft shops or discount stores along with a range of fabrics and trimmings such as beads buttons and ribbons Get the Gear Safety Remember to keep strings cords and sharp things like pins needles and scissors away from small children 4 Tip If you have a sewing machine and know how it works you can use it for some of the projects in this book

Customize Your Clothes — page 2 — You’re the Boss Remember you don’t need to follow all the instructions in this book exactly If you like just use the methods and ideas to come up with your own creations Tip Look for a shoebox plastic container or toolbox to store your stash in That’s the crafty name for your collection of favorite fabrics beads and trimmings It’s Green Customizing is a great way to recycle You can jazz up things you’re bored with rework clothes that are worn out or don’t ﬁt and use up fabric scraps and other odds and ends Just remember to check with whoever buys your clothes before slicing up or decorating half of your wardrobe

Customize Your Clothes — page 3 — T-shirt Picture With this simple method you can sew a picture onto a T-shirt vest hoodie or whatever you like It works best on plain ﬂat fabrics First sketch your design on paper Start with something easy such as a star a heart a piece of fruit or a bug (cid:79)(cid:3)T-shirt or other garment (cid:79)(cid:3)Pencil and paper (cid:79)(cid:3)Needle with a large eye (cid:79)(cid:3)Embroidery thread also called ﬂoss in a bright color (cid:79)(cid:3)Scissors (cid:79)(cid:3)Sewing chalk Get the Gear Copy the design lightly onto the T-shirt using a pencil or sewing chalk Cut a piece of embroidery thread about 20 in 50 cm long Thread the needle lick the end of the thread to make it easier and tie a knot at the long end 6

Customize Your Clothes — page 4 — Push the needle through from the inside of the T-shirt at the start of your design Then holding one hand inside the T-shirt sew neatly along the line using a backstitch see box below At the end of your design push the needle through to the inside of the T-shirt tie a knot and snip the thread Tip Use a backstitch when you need to make a strong seam or hem How to Do a Backstitch 1 Push the needle tip in and out of the fabric making a small stitch 2 Go back to where the thread disappears into the fabric and push the needle in 3 Push the needle up coming out a bit farther along 4 Do the same with each stitch going back to ﬁll in the space left by the stitch before 12 34

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