Nicolay - Generation T: 120 new ways to transform a t-shirt

to everyone who finds treasure in trash

Copyright 2006 by Megan Nicolay

Illustrations copyright 2006 by Megan Nicolay

Photography copyright 2006 Andrew McLeod

Cover photograph by Michael Fusco

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproducedmechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopyingwithout written permission of the publisher. Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

eISBN 9780761176305

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There are so many people who helped give this book life. First, a big rock n roll shout-out to everyone who donated T-shirts. I would never have been able to undertake this without their help: Eric Brown, Kevin Cunningham, Erica Dagley, Beth and Chris Doty, Meghan Dove, Andy Eisenberg, Micah Hales, Alex Heir at deathattack.com, Tisola Logan, Planet Aid, Suzanne Rafer, Marcia Reynolds at Wilkesboro Elementary School, Cory Schreier, Robyn Schwartz, Nina Shen, Sarah Stacke, Kayte Terry, Al Vindito, Catherine Wong, and Lissa Ziegler. Second, a huge and humble thank-you to my roommates, who graciously put up with (for far too many months) an apartment decor that consisted of mountains of the acquired T-shirts. A sincere thanks to Alison Fassnacht and Karisa Horsley for temporary use of their T-shirt quilt, to Suzy Becker for her generosity with drawing materials and veteran advice, and to all my ladies with the Department of Craft for their enthusiasm for all things handmade.

To my dear brainstorming brigade who faithfully attended late-night Tee-for-Two Parties, helping me get the word out and the tone right. Foremost, Rebecca Schiff (who, despite labeling herself among the non-crafty, can slash a mean T-shirt), for the perfect title, for keeping me (and the book) breathing in the past year, and for simply getting it when it was just an idea. Whether it took hour-long phone calls from hundreds of miles away, a dash across the street, or a rendezvous in the park, thanks to Cristina Betances, Chloe Godwin, Becca Hanson, Elia Herman, Jeannette Lee, Andra Olenik, Sara Rowbottom, and Emily Weinstein for their wit and wisdom in helping me give names and personality to the projects.

To all my Tee Party people who showed up one April weekend to help finish making every project in the book (and then some), I am so grateful. Lori Barrett, Kim Cherubin, Emily DePrang, Sara High, Eunice Liu, Leda Marritz, Kim Newman, Lily Rothman, Beth Svinarich, Jessica Swain, Mary Heath Swanson, and Lily Tilton, Ill party with yall any day of the week. And my A-listers who really showed up to party (were talkin weeks at a time!), the esteemed Lady Diana Schoenburn, Madame Michelle Bylenok, my scissor sisters Sophie and Ariana, and my dear momeach managing, in those weeks, the cutting and stitching equivalent of spinning gold out of straw.

An eternal thank you to my family: my parents, Franz and Susan, for always allowing me (and pushing me) to express myself in any and every medium I could get my hands on, and my brother Franz and my sisters Sophie and Ariana for inspiring me always with their music, drawing, dance, and stories. Thank you to Luke Janka for being so punk rock inside, for finding in me a good charity to dispense his virtually unmatched T-shirt donations, for rooting through garbage bags on Broad way sidewalks for supplies, and for knowing that the fastest way to this ladys heart was with a seam ripper.

Thank you to the countless, anonymous T-shirt DIYers I tracked down on the street, to the musicians who put on the shows that attract so many rebel fashionistas, and to the store people who stock those clothing racks that help give me the impulse to do it myself.