Handmade item designer:
Jazz Domino Holly
Author’s biography: She is the founder of
Shoreditch Women Institute, the author of Queen of Crafts ($27.20), and the
daughter of royal punk-rock artist Joe Strummer.
‘Make things to wear is a
tradition of my family.’
‘Make things to wear is
a tradition of my family. My mom was given a sewing machine at the gae of
sixteen, and thanks to it, she often sew fashionable shirts for my dad. When I
was young, I used to experience the feeling of using that old machine. It
looked terribly old, urgly, and big, but thanks to it and Seventies clothings,
I managed to learn how to cut, sew, and redesign clothes to unique dresses.’
‘Currently, I get
creative inspiration from magazines and blogs of street fashion. I have a
collection of clothings that I plan to redesign. However, I am not used to
designing in a similar way to others. After one year studying fashion design at
a college in London, I realized that I could not make clothes in some fixed
pattern. In stead of that, I wander looking for cheap simple fashion styles at
New Look, Primark, and markets, and then redesign my own clothes. I go to
places where accessories are sold such as Klein at Soho (klein.co.uk) or
MacCulloch & Wallis at the bottom of Oxford street
(macculloch-wallis.co.uk) to buy decoration, necklace, or types of jewelry.’
‘I often make a lot of
jewelries and accessories. Recently, after receiving a magazine having a
picture of a girl wearing a Seventies hat with small wool balls that look so unique,
I immediately have hurried to look for those small wool balls to buy and planned
to redesign the hat.’
‘At present, I
extremely like dream catcher patterns and plan to base on them in order to make
new versions of chain for myself by leather, crystal, and feather. Designing
jewelries also make me save money for expenses on gifts. I always make gifts
for friends by myself, and they become unique and private gifts.’
‘Clearance
sales fairs
are ideal places where I can easily buy cheap clothes to redesign, or
accessories to remake jewelries sucessully. The price of clearance goods
at London is still quite expensive, so I often buy at Essex and
Sussex.’
‘Accessories
there are
usually more unique and stranger compared to the similar ones at London.
Recently, I have bought some original Chelsea Girl Seventies clothes.
Just with
$6.40, I got a suede jacket, a short skirt, and a pretty dress.’
‘I also advise that you
should not hesitate to hunt unique things that you do not think to use straight
away. For example, I used to buy a few extremely strange rings made of tissues
that you can wear as bracelets or leg-rings.’
Jazz’s small tactics to save with
handmade things
Know exactly what you need before shopping
You should enter an
accessory shop with a list of things need buying. Otherwise, you will feel
dizzy with all discounted items. Inquire price at shops because there may be
some places selling goods in more expensive price than others.’
Be creative and smart when chooing items
‘Chinese and Japanese
wholesalers are suitable places for buying cheap accessories and jewelries to
redesign into new jewelries.’
Immediately create a tool kit
‘Keep a tool box
containing a pair of scissors and tools to remake jewelries, and keep abundant
ribbons, chain parts, or strange shirt button since no-one knows when you will
make use of these things.’
Do not keep all things
‘If you get bored with
anything you made, split it, redesign it, and give it to a friend, or even sell
it.’
Do
not limit yourself from making unique things
‘Once you feel
interested in making household things, you keep them longer, and they will be a
string connecting your memories. Try decorating or redesigning the pad, basket
containing needles and thread, and old blanket, or try making a cotton blanket
by scraps of fabric.’
