Craft Memories and Apparel Embellishments

Monday, April 30, 2012

Craft Memories and Apparel Embellishments | Family Economics

embellished jacket As a teenager in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, my fun memories of crafts were funky things like macramé, paint by number paintings, burlap and yarn art, and salt dough clay sculptures. My sisters and I even modified our apparel by cutting the low outer seams of our jeans and stitching in a large triangle of fabric to make elephant-bell-bottom pants. We ran thin satin ribbon up each of the sleeves on a favorite T-shirt and out the neck, tying each side into tight bows and creating some kind of cinched sleeve modification that we thought was pretty hip.

One of my favorite apparel craft projects was embroidering embellishments onto our apparel. With only a very basic knowledge of a few simple embroidery stitches and as much colorful embroidery floss as a week’s allowance could afford, we added sweet little touches to our jeans, shirts and shoes and enjoyed every minute of doing it. We sewed daisy-chain flowers and leaves on the collar corners of our western-style blouses and vines of the same wrapping around the hem of our pants. We added extra pretty stitches around the pockets and belt loops.

With the handmade movement in full swing now, embellishing and modifying apparel is becoming quite popular, especially with teenagers. What can be done with a pair of scissors and a basic T-shirt is apparently endless, especially if you’re patient enough to learn to weave. Adding rhinestones and studs to clothing never really went out of style, it just stepped up a few notches. You can now print graphics, text and photographs to printable cotton sheets and sew onto jackets, jeans and totes. A quick and easy apparel embellishment is to simply replace the buttons on a blouse, sweater or jacket with novelty, vintage or other unique buttons.

What are some crafty memories you have? If you’ve modified apparel in a creative way, please share – we’d love to know!

13 Comments so far

On Sunday, May 13, 2012, CraftsbyAmanda.com wrote

Oh I totally agree, I love embellishing clothing! Jackets are the best, like the one in your picture. So many people add their own ruffles and bling these days, it's so fun to customize to your own style :)

On Wednesday, May 09, 2012, Jen Goode from Denver wrote

Love love modifying apparel! When I was in high school, I had a pair of jeans I doodled on, by the time the jeans were worn out, the legs were completely covered in colorful JGoode originals! That was definitely a creative expression that made a memorable impression for me.

On Tuesday, May 08, 2012, Mod Podge Amy from Everywhere wrote

My crafty memories involve a lot of yarn, sewing and weaving! I started when I was very young. I was never great with fashion, but I do remember altering stuff with glue and fabric patches a lot. In particular I recall a pair of shorts and a hat. Your jacket is way cuter though - I have a lot to learn!

On Thursday, May 03, 2012, Amy from Living Locurto wrote

Very cool jacket! I was obsessed with puffy paint. I still have old sweat shirts with puffy paint drawings from high school. ha!

On Wednesday, May 02, 2012, Melodee wrote

Wow. Brings back memories. When I was in high school in the early 70's, we used to sew leather patches on our jeans rather than throw them out when they became holey. We'd end up with patches from our mid-thighs down to under our knees. :o) We also used to buy those decorative patches from sewing stores (I liked Winnie the Pooh and Tigger) and sew those onto our back pockets, customizing our jeans and overalls. A few years ago, I sewed some wedding lace onto the hem of some too-short overalls and then embellished the pockets. I still get compliments.

On Tuesday, May 01, 2012, emily from memphis wrote

i am also a child of the late seventies. i wore crocheted vests and loved to doodle on my jeans with ballpoint pens. who knew where all of that would lead. bedazzled? of course, a girl can never have too much glitter!!

On Tuesday, May 01, 2012, {gemmifer} aka Jennifer wrote

Oh, back in the 70s my father the professional artist painted pairs of jeans for my sister and me. It's so far back in the mists of time, but I remember him doing a very accurate Snoopy and a realistic-looking ice cream cone. There were several other characters and objects painted down the front of the legs, and I felt so cool and proud to have one-of-a-kind jeans decorated by my talented father!

On Tuesday, May 01, 2012, Esther from St. Louis wrote

I did not embellish - but I did sew my own skirts in high school and a few dresses (plus shorts and tops in the summer). I made a embroidered sampler that is in the shape of a Christmas tree - which is now framed and hanging on the wall in my "play" (craft and sewing) room. I learned to knit but only made little squares used for washing the dishes!

On Tuesday, May 01, 2012, Heather from Oregon wrote

I love your examples. For me, it was puffy paint on t-shirts in the 80s. :)

On Tuesday, May 01, 2012, Suesue from South Louisiana wrote

Loved personalizing my own clothes. I embroidered some jeans (which would not fit on one of my legs now), added purpled dyed lace to some bell bottoms and even made my own "Scorpio" embroidered purse. Now I sew for my grands but really need to start doing something for myself. I thought maybe a Alabama stitch shirt would be fun. Maybe this summer? Thanks for all your inspiration Cathe, I love your ideas and shares!!

On Tuesday, May 01, 2012, Nan from Upstate NY wrote

In the early 70's I always embroidered small hearts, bees, and other objects on my denim jeans, bags and jackets. I still have a few embroidered hearts that came from the back pockets of my jeans. I saved them in my sewing stash all these years. I also embroidered things like trains and little animals on my son's clothing when they were babies. I came across a train the other day in my stash box of appliques. Fond memories for sure!

On Tuesday, May 01, 2012, Diana in Austin, TX wrote

As a teenager in the 60's, I made some of my own clothes so could be creative. My mother sewed the rest--even made my hand beaded wedding dress (which I designed) when I was 19!!! So I began early on to embellish my own, as well as my daughter's clothes in the 70's and 80's!!! It's always fun having something unique that no one else has. And crocheting was popular during those decades and I still use that talent today!!! I now I decorate "Art Bras" using repurposed fabrics, beads, yarns, ribbons, etc. for donation to the Breast Cancer Resource Center's annual event in Austin, TX. What a wonderful, creative way for me to be part of a fundraiser for such a worthy cause!!! So in my 60's, crafting continues to be a big part of my life in many ways!!! AND I've passed many of these artistic talents on to my daughter!!! I'm so happy to see how crafting, sewing and creative decorating of apparel is continuing on into this high tech world!!!

On Tuesday, May 01, 2012, Brenda in Oklahoma wrote

I didn't learn to sew until I was in junior high, but we used to cut up our canvas shoes (like Keds) when they got holes in them and make them into "sandals"! We also used to make our own cut-off jeans shorts. In Girl Scouts, we used to make special pins for summer camp to pin on our hats and trade with other Scouts. Then, when I was a teenager, patches of all sorts became popular all over jeans, bags and everything!

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