Those ratty T-shirts stuffed in the bottom of the dresser can be used for more than just dust rags, one author says.
Megan Nicolay, the author of the do-it-yourself book Generation T: 108 Ways to Transform a T-shirt, spoke and gave a demonstration yesterday evening at the Penn Bookstore.
Nicolay, who calls her DIY habits an "obsession," first started transforming T-shirts in the sixth grade as a way to protest the Gulf War.
Over the years, she said her love of fashion grew, but the bargain-hunter in her drove her to personalize and design her own clothing. She said she focused on T-shirts because of their "comfort, versatility and longevity."
The "T-shirt has always been memorialized as a blank canvas," she said, adding that reconstructing T-shirts is an easy way to preserve treasured memories.
After talking, Nicolay demonstrated one of the projects- Number 14, "Outer Lace"- from her book.
She chose 14-year-old fan Alison Isaacs as her model and transformed a too-large T-shirt into a fitted shirt with laced-up sides in eight quick steps.
For the demonstration, Nicolay wore another of her creations, a fitted shirt with a heart cutout that she called "Broken-hearted."
The beauty in most of her projects, Nicolay said, is their simplicity.
A third of the 108 projects--including both "Outer Lace" and "Broken-hearted"- are "no-sew," meaning all a designer would need is a pair of scissors--. All audience members received free scissors.
Besides reconstructing T-shirts, Nicolay's guide also includes how-to tips for skirts, pillows, iPod cozies, scarves, totes and blankets.
College freshman Aviva Vogelstein said she was most interested in the skirt patterns.
She came because she was "flipping through the book in the Bookstore the other day."
"It seems like a great way to make use of old shirts," Vogelstein said.
She said she plans on putting the demonstration to use.
Isaacs, the 14-year-old fan, was very excited to meet the author.
"I love to design and sew," she said.
Isaacs said she has made "five shirts from the book and several others of [her] own based off techniques from the book," including mother-daughter shirts for a Madonna concert this summer.
"It's a hobby for the rest of my life," Isaacs said.
