Recycled Textile Designs by Jana

A hooded tunic made with recycled silk and leathers.

I was given an old sewing machine when I was in my late 20's and since then, I have been nurturing a passion to create with textiles. I am completely enthralled with the process of taking a 2 dimensional piece of fabric and engineering it into a 3 dimensional garment. Combined with my love of colour and texture, sewing became a natural fit for me.

This meandering path into expressing myself creatively with sewing lead to an interest in hobby crafting specifically with recycled materials. As a virtually untrained seamstress (unless you can count junior high home economics classes), I found I was much too timid to cut into new, virgin fabrics - petrified at the prospect of wrecking an expensive piece of fabric.

Eventually, I discovered great joy in treasure-hunting in thrift and consignment stores, yard sales and clothing swaps: finding interesting items, taking them home to my sewing machine and customizing them into one-of-a-kind garments. There is a lot of freedom to explore in this modality because I can easily try new things and make mistakes without too much financial risk. I found all kinds of textiles and garments to work with, most at an average price of about $5 - $10 each.

The possibilities are limitless and I am endlessly inspired by things I find when I am treasure-hunting and dreaming up new shapes, dimensions and incarnations for them.

I took this brocade Asian vest and tailored it by adding the eyelets and lacing.