One Year, One Outfit August 2022 Update
It is currently August, approximately five months after Rust Belt Fibershed’s One Year One Outfit 2022 Cohort began their process of making three pieces of sustainable, wearable art created entirely from materials found in the Rust Belt Fibershed region.
The goal of this project is to provide structure for a slow fashion initiative while celebrating the breadth of local talent and fiber production in our region. At almost halfway through the project, cohort members are just beginning to nail down what their “outfit”might look like. This process has looked completely different for everyone, so we decided to chat with a few of our makers, Debbie Christensen, Emily Kitchler, and Hannah Reed, to see how it's gone for them so far:
Debbie Christensen, a second year cohort member, had a degree in textiles way before she discovered One Year, One Outfit through the Rust Belt Fibershed instagram. She has worked at an independent fabric shop in Cleveland for the past ten years and wanted to get involved in this project as a way of getting back into her own textiles. Last year, Debbie wowed the cohort with a rabbit fur vest, handwoven wool pinafore dress, and belt made from handspun milkweed fiber. In terms of what she’s making this year, it’s still up in the air. She is currently tanning rabbit hides she got from Oxbow Orchard, and spinning wool from Kelly’s Working Well Farm, as well as processing local flax to make linen. How these all come together is still a question, but she’s just going to see where the project takes her. She is excited about continuing her process and plans to take part in One Year, One Outfit for as long as she can.
For everyone, being a part of One Year, One Outfit has been a learning experience.
Emily Kitchler found OYOO through a friend who is a designer. Having always been into sustainable fashion, she really wanted to learn more about other fiber artists in the area and new kinds of materials she could use to make clothing. Using mostly plant fibers such as flax. To make her linen bikini set, she is learning not only how to process flax by hand but also about the large amount of plant fibers available in our fibershed that can be used to make clothing (spoiler alert, not just flax and hemp!). Like Debbie and Hannah, the amount of learning from other people in the region has been huge. Kitchler said:
“I really wasn’t sure what all I would be learning, and even though I have not actually made anything yet, I’ve learned so much already. I thought, being in this area, I would be pretty limited to animal fibers. Then, I learned about this cohort of linen growers which made me want to use that [flax] and from there, I learned that it's not just linen– It is so many different, native plants that you can use as fiber that I had no idea about. The depth of knowledge that people have in this community is so pleasantly surprising.”
Like Debbie, Hannah Reed found One Year, One Outfit through Instagram. She was immediately interested, but knew she could not grow flax in her then Ohio City apartment. A year or so later, she decided to join this year’s cohort. After working with leather for a long time, she became very interested in finding out exactly where our fabrics come from. This came about at the same time as her newfound excitement for sewing, and everything just fell into place. This year, Reed is growing and processing her own flax, as well as hoping to use buckskin leather, but running into some sourcing issues. She is hoping to make both a leather skirt and bag to pair with a linen top, and is learning as she goes. Reed says, “Before this, I knew nothing about textiles. I didn’t know that flax was linen until this year, and it just baffled my mind.”
For all three of our cohort members, the ability to meet new, like minded people in the Rust Belt Fibershed community has been the biggest light throughout the project. Beyond the learning of new skills, everyone echoed the excitement that comes with getting to know the cohort in person, especially after the pandemic. For Reed, being a part of this just felt right, saying, “I feel like this is the first time I’ve been involved in something where I feel immediately connected to the people I meet. It’s like, wow, these people get me. It’s really cool. ”
To be a part of next year’s cohort beginning in March 2023, follow us on instagram and sign up for our newsletter to find out more and be the first to hear when that process begins. You can also read more about this year's One Year, One Outfit cohort on the Rust Belt Fibershed website, https://rustbeltfibershed.com/one-year-one-outfit-project.