Inside look at EFE’s Make-A-Thon
The EFE Make-a-Thon was a 12-hour creative sprint (From brainstorming to upcycling to showcasing) where people in the community came together to repair, upcycle, and give new life to old and tattered clothes.
In A Nutshell
What We Provided:
The Materials: fabric, sewing machines, and other supplies.
The Expertise: Educational workshops taught by experts in their industry (Mending, embroidery, and plant-based dyes)
The Space: A venue large enough to host 100 people and the space to think twice, cut once, fail fast, fail hard, and try again.
The Community: Like-minded, passionate, and creative individuals from little to expert experience in upcycling.
In A Nutshell:
We had 6 teams of upcyclers comprised of both experienced and inexperienced creators. They were given a random bundle of clothing scraps with 5 hours to brainstorm, assemble their outfits, integrate a new skill that they learned from the workshops, and lastly, showcase their creation down the runway.
Mission:
To catalyze collaboration between community members by simultaneously teaching and learning new skills through upcycling. By repurposing old and tattered clothing as a community, we learn how we can creatively extend the lives of our clothes to divert them from going to landfills.
Overview of the Event
Susanna from Earthen Warrior demonstrates how to dye fabric with plant based dyes
Sample fabric booklet that shows how different ingredients produce various colors. (For example: Tumeric and onion skins produce a vibrant yellow color.)
EFE Team member, Gilda is filming the showcase.
Cofounders of EFE, Angela (left) and Janette (right), kicks off the showcase with an introduction.
An experienced designer is using the sewing machine to put together their final creations.
A design draft of one of the team's creation.
EFE Team Members, Noemi and Zhenaya, set up the ECO sign which was also present at EFE's Debut Show in 2018.
Picture of scrap fabric from our sponsor at FABSCRAP.
EFE Team members are pictured enjoying vegan tofu bowls from our partner at SIMPLE NYC.
An upcycler is pictured learning how to embroider.
A team is assembling the pieces of their creations.
A team is brainstorm ideas for their pieces during the design thinking workshop.
A group pictures of our panel judges for the showcase, from left to right, Devone, Margo, and Malka.
Hour One: Brainstorming + Learning + Workshops
Upcyclers learned about the concept of “design thinking” — to utilize and visualize their final creation to create their version of a “Typical New Yorker.” They also learned how to sew handy pouches using leftover jean scraps, how to embroider, and how to dye fabric using plant based dyes.
Hour Two: Assemble + Upcycling Process
Hour 2 marks the beginning of the 5 hours process. Time flies when you are sketching, measuring, cutting, sewing, rinse and repeat. There were mistakes and there were tiny wins — regardless of one’s level of expertise. That is the beauty of bringing a design vision to life.
Hour 10: Showcase at 7:30pm
This was the final hurrah of this 12 hours sprint. Upcyclers worked tirelessly for the past 10 hours and they finally witness all the hard work that they have each contributed with a final struct down a “runway.” Panel judges, Devone, Margo, and Malka (Also, an EFE team member) provided commentary and constructive feedback.
Hour 12: The Final Creations
Photo collages of the 6 teams featuring the original fabrics (top right), leftover scraps after the upcycling process (middle right), and a behind the scenes picture of their designing and brainstorming process (bottom right).
EFE Make-A-Thon Program
All credit and designs thanks to the incredibly talented Ramya Kumar (@Ramayonaise)
Partners And Sponsors
Thank you to our partner, Susanna from Earthen Warrior for hosting a workshop using plant based dyes.
Thank you to our partner, Linnae for hosting a sewing workshop to make pouches out jean leg scraps.
Thank you to our sponsor, Naeco for sponsoring steel straws in exchange for a old reusable water bottles.
Thank you to our partner, Cup Zero for providing reusable event cups and helping us combat single use plastics.
Thank you to our sponsor at Purl Soho for providing beautiful trim, ribbons, and fabric for the upcycling projects.
Thank you to our sponsor, SIMPLE NYC for providing delicious vegan poke bowls.
Thank you to our sponsor at Dunwell Doughnuts to provide a (less) healthy but equally delicious snack option for our upcyclers.
Thank you to our sponsor at FABSCRAP, for providing beautiful deadstock fabric and buttons for our upcyclers.
Thank you to our sponsor, Reducetarian, for helping us advocate for vegan healthy food options.
Thank you to our partners, Margo (left) and Devone (right) and Malka (not pictured) for being amazing panel judges for the showcase.
The (EFE) Team Behind The Event
The EFE Make-A-Thon wouldn’t have been possible without all of EFE team members, partners, sponsors, community members, and the audience who came out to witness this crazy creative sprint on April 13th, 2019.
EFE Team Picture
Top Row from left to right: Noemi, Sophia, Gilda, Malka, Soon-hee, Zhenaya
Bottom Row (Left to right): Janette, Angela, Melissa, Fanny, Susan
(Not pictured: Dena)