Tips for Sculpting Old Clothing

Video Transcript

"My name is Julia Barbee. My clothing line is Frocky Jack Morgan. On behalf of Expert Village this a tutorial on recycling and deconstructing old clothes. So, in this final section I'm just going to talk about how I use these principles in my personal art making. I do a lot of deconstruction, as creating sculptural garments and using fiber work, like wool and feathers and things like that, within the garment, and making it more of a piece of art and a sculpture, rather than something purely utilitarian. My background is in sculpture, and so I really enjoy working three-dimensionally and just try to think outside the box, and making something beautiful and theatrical that someone may just put on a dress form and leave in their home, rather than wearing anywhere. This piece I made for a fashion show. It's actually sitting on top of a ladder and my friend, poor Heather, had to sit on top of the ladder and wear this 6-foot skirt. It's made out of raw wool, and I contacted a couple of local farms and acquired wool straight off of the sheep. I had to clean it, and I kind of felted it, and then hand stitched it onto the garment itself. I actually won the People's Choice Award with this piece. So, if you find yourself really enjoying deconstruction and you want to take it to another level, I would say principally you have to be willing to experiment a lot and fail often. I've thrown away many, many things. You just kind of have to be courageous in trying new things and thinking outside the box, and looking at anything in your world in a new way, and how to apply that to something you would wear."