Lora’s partner passed away several years ago and I made this bag for her out of his old clothes. Her partner was a woodworker who made bentwood boxes that joined in front using the pattern on this bag. Lora lent me some of his old plexiglass templates so that I could copy the pattern exactly. …
Author Archives: Shena Tschofen
Handwoven Flatcap
The fabric of this wool flatcap was woven on a rigid heddle loom. Warp yarns were bits and ends left over from various knitting projects, while the weft was recycled sweater yarn. The lining was made from a silk shirt.
Handwoven Wool Blanket
This blanket was woven in three separate panels on a rigid heddle loom and stitched together. All yarn was unraveled from thrift store sweaters and dyed using various natural dyes. Also featured in this image is the recycled-bedsheet braided carpet.
Upcycled Chevron Dress
This dress was awarded 3rd place in Fashion Revolution Canada’s 2023 Student Upcycling Contest. This was one of my favourite sewing projects to date – I was tasked with turning at least two old shirts into a dress. I happened to have two corduroy shirts at home already, and scrounged up two pairs of corduroy …
Mandolindo
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Sliding Tiles Blanket
When I first started learning how to use natural dyes, I split about three recycled sweaters’ worth of yarn into 20g skeins so that I could dunk them into whatever dyes I wanted to experiment with. After about a year or so of that, I figured I had to do something with all those sample …
Cyr wheel pants
Since starting a trade program in made-to-measure dressmaking @ecole_des_metiers_faubourgs last April, I’ve plunged headfirst into the world of sewing. As an independent at-school project, I created a pattern from a pair of purple pants that @genevieve.bouchard.art.mode made me years ago. They’ve been my go-to cyr wheel costume for years, and I was ready for a bit of colour variety. …
Braided rug with recycled textiles
It’s been a while since the last carpet and I somehow convinced myself to make another (bigger) one… These braids have been hanging around my apartment for more months (years?) than I care to admit and it’s time to sew them together. As always, all materials are recycled – this one contains a number of …
Hand-tanned salmon leather
I tanned these salmon skins over a year ago and I finally got around to stretching them. The silvery ones were oil tanned and are pretty much the natural tone of the salmon skin, but I think my favourite is the brown tea-tanned one. Next experiment: tanning with tannic dyes…and, well, figuring out what the …