DIY Denim Competition
Spring 2020
Our DIY Denim competition has been great despite lockdown coming into affect at the end of it. Resulting in a few students finishing off projects via Zoom lessons! And luckily also before lockdown some of the entrants got to wear their designs at the Camden Alive show at the British Museum. Where they got to see their ‘World Message’ banner was made into the ‘World Message Dress’ in collaboration with Made in Camden and Sir Hubert von Herkomer Arts Foundation. It was so big it had to be worn wearing stilts!
Denim and in particular denim jeans are extremely popular now, being a hard wearing material and making your wardrobe very east and versatile. However the production of denim comes at a cost, taking 10,000 litres of water to make a pair of jeans (United Nations, 2019), and during production lots of trials and samples are made that would normally end up in landfill. Our students as well as using old jeans also used these samples to make their designs, you wouldn’t know the fabric was destined for landfill after you’ve seen what the had done with them!
The competition was judged by Emily and Caitlin Price from 3am Eternal.
3am Eternal is a fashion brand who’s collections are made from upcycling and promotes circular fashion. Each item is unique! An ethos that is very close to our heart at Little Hands Design so we were so excited when they agreed to be judges of this term’s competition!
‘It was SO hard to choose! Especially taking into account their different ages an abilities, we did our best to be fair and we gave comments to everyone as we were so impressed!”
So here are the comments and results, Well Done everyone!
Short List
‘Beautiful tonal grey patchworking. Would love to see some giant patch pockets on this or how about some oversized buttons? Take a look at some Issey Miyake workwear pieces. You might get really inspired!’
‘Love the pop of light blue on the right sleeve. Again would be great to think of some way of creating a collar or some fastenings you could add on to bring it to life! Love the ripped finish. Take a look at Christopher Shannon denim you might get inspired!’
‘Beautiful use of patchworking together tonal colours and textures, would love to see some more of the leather patch work! Well done J it fits you perfectly!’
‘We love the bold contrasting placement of the patch panel, and the mixing of materials. It reminds us of something from the1990s by Commes des Garcons. Please have a look online at this E you could get loads of inspiration for your next piece!’
‘Well done on this M, fitted garments are very hard so you have shown real technical skill with this piece. We would love to see it taken a step further, perhaps you could add some embellishments and surface decoration to really personalise it? Like some patches for embroidery maybe or even some ripped denim edging? Have a look at Marques Almeida’s denim work it might inspire you!’
‘This piece looks so contemporary! And it could be a unisex item also which is great. We would love to see a photo of the jeans too!’
‘We love D imaginative use of denim and trimmings. The denim chain is a really original textile idea which we haven’t seen before. Whilst she has used recycled materials to make this piece she has made a fully resolved, desirable item which looks really modern and fun. She has considered everything. Well done!’
‘We love that this is such a dramatic long piece! And a great idea to use tracksuit bottoms for sleeves. As it’s inspired by a Kimono it would be great to go a little further with this piece perhaps you could add a wide sash? How about some bold flowers to really contrast with the masculine fabrics?’
Third Place
‘We love that L has created a whole outfit from her jeans. Especially love the use of surface decoration with the heart patches, it would be great to see this developed further. Could you add more patches to the shorts? Resourceful use of materials and clever use of pleating to make them sized to fit! Also like the pocket placement on the front of the dungarees!’
Joint Second Place
‘Joint 2nd We really love the combination of fabrics and textures Mia used to make this jacket. The striped denim panelling around the middle adds to the sporty feel of the garment. Again, great use of resources to make a fully realised design!’
Joint Second Place
‘Joint 2nd Well done H! We love your placement of the seams and how you have transferred the jean detailing from the original garment onto your new garments. Its very well designed and so great that you have made two pieces from one! It looks like you have made almost full use of the original item which is amazing.’
First Place
‘J is in first place! Both her items show a very sophisticated use of the materials and we love the tonal patchworking of the poncho and on the base of the bag. It would be nice to maybe add a hood to the poncho somehow so it really becomes a functioning garment? We can really see she has given a lot of thought to the construction of these pieces and they really look great.’
