Houdini Nation's blog

The year 2000 was the last time, I actually touched a sewing machine. I had to make some stuff while studying Performance Design at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).

Since then, although involved in theatrical adventures, I never sew again. Until recently, for this project. Here are a few pictures of me working the works:

i Tailor

Sewing lesson 01

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It only took me 15 minutes to set up the sewing machine and have it working. But you should see the lines I am sewing. Don't drink and sew. You know what I mean. I sure hopes this gets better after a while. And it actually gave me some more ideas for the details of this prototype shirtain.

Open or closed - that's the two incarnations of a curtain, plus the various stages in between.

So one night, while falling asleep, I thought: "Hang on, if I attach the shirts as intended and use coat hangers for hanging the shirtain, can it be opened at all?"

One side of the shirtain's top…

If you look at this image, you can see that the shoulders of the shirts are overlapping. So if I use regular coat hangers, the edges of the hangers come quite close together. So opening the shirtain might not be possible. At least not in the way one would expect from a curtain. This got me worried.

 

 

But it's fine, actually. As you can see in the images below, the shirtain opens and closes easily. At least with XL sized shirts. I assume that with smaller shirts, as in "S", it might not be possible. The problem can be solved by using modified or smaller coat hangers, or by using a different system. Since I'm using XL shirts, I don't care.

First tryouts Open Shirtain

First tryouts Closed Shirtain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, I got the usual use of open/closed reversed! As a user of a curtain, open means "pulled aside" while closed means "covering the window". I just realised I'm thinking from the point of view of the curtain. Open meaning "spread out" and closed meaning "pulled together". Never mind, you see what I mean.

 

I have tested a few different models for the shirtain. The outcome so far: flat coat hangers are not so good, slighty curved coat hangers are better. See for yourself:

The straight coat hanger.

The curved coat hanger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using a "straight" coat hanger

Using a "curved" coat hanger

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see in the left picture, the straight coat hanger makes a really sharp edge at the shoulders while the curved one gives it a bit of depth and makes it a lot softer. Or you may think I have taken drugs. But let me assure you: It does make a difference! The coat hangers, I mean ...

I decided on a further specification of the Shirtain prototype:
It's going to be three shirts wide (XL-size).

I also figured it would be nice to have a clean and straight edge on either side, so the two shirts on the side will lose an arm. The structure in the top row will not be very fancy, but rather straight forward:

Other side of the shirtain's t…

One side of the shirtain's top…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, the alignment of shirts depends on the motive they're printed with. The material I have kind of suggests this alignment. It also practical because it gives you room for three coat hangers, so the shirtain can be hung quite losely in my room. The fabric should fall nicely and curtain-like. We'll see.

I still owe you an explanation why certain coathangers are better to use than others. Bare with me.

Here is a selection of pictures taken when unpacking the mail from Spreadshirt ...

Material for the shirtain

It's shirts!

All the shirts for the shirtai…

Me posing with shirts.

The next step will be as follows:

Hanging system:

The hanging system is actually easily solved. I will use regular coat hangers. Thus the shirtain can be used with almost all standard curtain rails (some McGyver action applies), it can be taken down easily and washed and the shirtain can be constructed from things you have at home. Why that can still be a tricky thing will be explained in the next post.

Colour selection:

I can't do a single colour curtain with these shirts, obviously, except for tiny windows. So I kind of decided to attemp a colour gradient from top to bottom, starting with white at the top (let some light through) and then going down through either shades of green. Prototype 2.0 will sport electric orange and light blue with leftover whites.

Ok. A bit behind schedule I'm finally starting on what was supposed to be a "little" project.

Some of you might know a company called Spreadshirt where you can upload your designs, place them on shirts (among other things) and order them. So far, so easy.

Before I went to the USA in August, I was in contact with two guys at Spreadshirt here in Germany (where I live) and the result was me being comissioned to do this project: Create a Shirtain. (here is a logo:)

Shirtain logo-sketch.

The main idea:

T-Shirts are groovy. You can wear them, you can wet them (for the contest), you can wear them out, you can transform them into a Tuareg-style bandana. But what else can you do with T-Shirts? The fabric is nice, 100% cotton (for most of them), they can be washed and ironed easily, they keep you warm and it is actually quite hard to see through them (when dry and not white). Perfect material for: A curtain!

The project outline:

I have bought a cheap sewing machine from IKEA. Over the next few days I will produce a prototype from shirts provided by Spreadshirt. I will document the process on here for everybody to follow, to comment and to make their own. Stay tuned!

My background:

I earn my money as a marketing muse for Dorten in Stuttgart/Germany. I have a few Spreadshirt Shops, none of which sell, but I can't be bothered to advertise that stuff. I took a three year course in Performance Design at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (yeah, the Paul McCartney Fame-School), where I also learned how to design and make costumes. This project is a flashback to these times and I hope that I will succeed in the end. This is also meant as a first project in the direction of the art-world. I have a few other concepts that might be more interesting, who knows. I love this Shirtain thing. Let's go, first pics available tomorrow!

tom 070820

My second visit to the USA will bring me to San Francisco tomorrow afternoon, where I will be picked up by a friend of mine. He will drive me down to Santa Cruz where we will make last preparations to travel to Burning Man 2007.

This is me, prior to the trip, by the way. Picture was made with a Panasonic DMC-LS75. Probably one of the shittier cams out there, but it runs on regular batteries and the price is kind of ok for it to go all dusty and stuff. Didn't want to ruin my new Samsung NV10 out there in the desert.

When I return, if I return, I will try and assume the same pose and do an "after" picture. We'll see how that turns out.

Ok. Me: Gone until 9/11/2007

Let's muse about food for a while. Today: Milk.

In germany, there is a big buzz about the price-increase of dairy products.

Some products like butter cost uo to 100% more, icrecream costs 20 cents more, a colleague tells me. "Because the milk is more expensive." Some would argue that the price of milk makes up only for 1/3rd of the products price, such an increase would therefore be burglary.

The cowfarmers deserve more money, so others claim. 26 Cents per litre is not enough. How about I buy directly from the farmer for, say 50 Cents a litre. Resulting in him earning almost twice as much while I would be paying almost half. That sounds like a good deal to me.

I must investigate this when I return from the USA in September.

Let's muse about clothing for a while.

Today: Socks

There was a time when I only made sure that I was wearing one sock on each foot. I just threw the washed socks into a bucket and pulled out two of them every morning. I figured: if someone makes the effort to find out what kind of socks I was wearing beneath way too long pants, I better give them something to think about. Today, a couple of years later, I only own black, grey and white socks. So I could have three buckets. But I rather keep them sorted.

That's enough musing for today.