Trashion team spotlight - Interview: creme-tangerine

Shop name: creme-tangerine
Shop address: http://www.cremetangerine.etsy.com/
In a nutshell: Upcycled vintage clothing made new again, handknit
accessories, and t-shirts for local bands.

Tell us a bit about yourself :
I'm 24 years old, newly married to the drummer of my band, Teenage Symphony
(www.teenagesymphony.myspace.com), and live in Dallas, Texas. My band
is moving to Portland early next year. I like sewing, knitting,
reading, and singing. After recently being laid off from my job at a
call center, I started carrying t-shirts for local bands in my etsy
shop so that hopefully I don't have to get another day job.

Trashion materials: Vintage clothes.

I transform them into: New clothes.

How do you do it?
I love going to the thrift store and finding
something beautiful- a fabric, a neckline detail- that's not being
worn because of something else. Maybe no one wants to wear
floor-length yellow eyelet, but it makes a cute knee-length dress.
Perhaps the ugly elastic waist needs a sash. I also reclaim t-shirts
that look pretty new and use fabric scraps to spell out local band
names.

What inspired you to do this and why are you involved in trashion?
I am a born packrat- I recently made something using fabric that was
reclaimed exclusively before 1998. I have a long-standing thrift store
habit as well. It makes me happy to turn something that's a little off
into something pretty.

Do you remember the first thing you made using the trashion concept?
What was it?
The first time I realized that's what I was doing was
with an embroidered Mexican dress. The embroidery was so pretty, but
the fit was awful. I used the neckline embroidery and some eyelet to
make a top for myself, and ended up carrying the design in my etsy
store. And then I turned the rest of the dress into a skirt.

What are your current projects and what is on the horizon?
I'm working really hard on the band shirts- I've got a few bands that have ordered
some that I'm working on, like Sydney Confirm
(www.myspace.com.sydneyconfirm) and Laura Palmer
(www.myspace.com/laurapalmermusic). I love to do custom orders and
have some in the works, and there's a pile of clothes to reconstruct
in the sewing/music room. I'd like to get a more sturdy machine and
re-fit all those gorgeous 50s and 60s-era heavy coats that are size
nine thousand at the thrift store, but that may not be until next
year.

Why should people buy handmade, and buy from trashion?
Buying handmade is allowing someone to keep doing what they love. Do you want to do
what you love? Of course you do. Will you love it if someone else is
wearing the same shirt or carrying the same purse? Probably not.
Buying trashion pretty well guarantees that it's one of a kind, as
well as being sustainable- no factory chugged along polluting the
environment to make it- and if it did the first time, at least it
didn't the second time.