Objective:

To introduce to students ways to reuse old clothing. This exercise teaches students to think before throwing an item away, making them better consumers for the future. In addition, they will learn a new way to satisfy their endless quest for new fashions.

Suggested Classes: Clothing, Fashion Design

Student Activity:

Students research fashion trends, and create a new garment out of vintage apparel.

Suggested Materials:

• Vintage clothing• Sewing machine • Thread• Pins• Scissors• Fabric paints• Trims such as buttons, laces, buckles, zippers, seam tapes, old jewelry, etc.

Warm-Up Exercise:

Invite a guest speaker from FIDM into the classroom to talk about fashion trends and how to spot them. The day before the project, have students research fashion trends that appeal to them. They can use high fashion magazines that cover European shows. Students should come to class prepared with several trends to share with the other students.

Classroom Activity: Recycle, Reinvent, Redesign

Just for Educators

© 2011 FIDM / Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. All rights reserved.

Project Guidelines:

Have students procure one or two second-hand garments in good condition (from a thrift store or, with permission, their parents’ wardrobes, or something discarded from his or her own closet). For inspiration, have students research the time period of the garment. Students select a partner who wears approximately the same size clothing.

Using the trends that students found when researching, students create rough sketches of their fashion concepts, then cut out shapes from the fabric of their vintage garments. Using their partner as a fit model, students pin the shapes together on the live body. When satisfied with the fit, the final step is to sew the garment together (by hand or with a sewing machine).

Have students add trims in unusual ways (e.g., buckles as buttons, lace as straps, jew-elry as buttons, etc.), or repurpose part of the garment to create a fashion statement. Encourage students to be creative.

State and National Standards:

Arizona State Standards

Visual ArtsPO 101. The student will describe the visual effects created by an artist’s use of tools, materials, and techniques in an artwork or project.

California State Standards

Fashion and Interior Design Industry SectorA1.2. The student will know how such resources as periodicals, mass media and the Internet are used in the fashion industry.

A7.1. The student will know the resources available in the fashion industry that pro-vide information on fashion trends and color forecasting.

A9.3. The student will use a variety of equipment, tools, supplies, and software to construct or manufacture garments.

Washington State Standards

Essential Academic Learning Requirements: The Arts2. The student demonstrates thinking skills using artistic processes.4. The student makes connections within the arts to other disciplines, life, cultures and work.

© 2011 FIDM / Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. All rights reserved.

National Standards

Family and Consumer SciencesArea of Study 2.0. Consumer and Family Resources2.2. Analyze the relationship of the environment to family and consumer resources.2.2.3. Demonstrate behaviors that conserve, reuse, and recycle resources to maintain the environment.

Area of Study 16.0. Textiles, Fashion, and Apparel16.3.3. Utilize elements and principles of design in designing, constructing, and or/altering textile, apparel, and fashion products.16.4.5. Demonstrate basic skills for producing and altering textile products and apparel.

© 2011 FIDM / Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. All rights reserved.