What is old is new again when it comes to "found fashion"
As a first generation farmer, my determination to get to the root of where anything I own comes from has blossomed even in these dreary winter days. I had a revelation this year of how community can flourish if everyone really tried to buy only local, or items at least made in America, and that should expand beyond the kitchen table.
I started rooting through my closet and smiling at some of the handmade garments, like the patchwork skirt my mom made or the crocheted beanie my friend gifted me. This introspection led me to unravel the slow fashion movement and discover opportunities to reduce waste, revamp lost trades and upcycle outdated trends.
From Farm To Fashion
“I want to inspire people to be more mindful about choosing their fiber as carefully as they choose their food.” The animals spend an entire year growing the goods and, if poor conditions happen like it gets stuck on something and shreds, it is junked and felt it into floor rugs. It is the ultimate slow grow.
Katy Light, owner of Poppy Creek Farm and Barn To Yarn, is not shy about letting her customers know that her handspun yarn does not come from a pet free home. With kittens at your heels, goats nipping at your pockets and doggies at the windows--there is ample amounts of creatures’ coats woven in her daily routine.
On ninety acres atop Sand Mountain, Katy is consumed by warmth and love in the forms of Alpacas, goats, and sheep. With most of the livestock “excessively friendly,” it is hard not to love them right back with their coarse, curly coats and names like Brownie, Cassiopeia, Button, Tulip and my favorite, Peanut. Those names don’t even cover her three steer, two horses, three donkeys or her six-month, blind-in-one-eye calf, Miriam.
“That’s Mary and Faith,” pointing out her oh so fluffy Great Pyrenees, “Cause everyone needs a little Faith.” I joked about making yarn from her pups but she laughed then said she has with her German Shepherd. It’s called Chiengora, chien which is French for dog.
Premium wool, fleece, Alpaca and mohair are her specialties and the yarn is available in their unaltered, natural color or can be dyed in an all-natural process using organic material like hickory nuts, elderberries, mint, poke berries or goldenrod flowers and leaves. Katy steeps the fibers in rain water and completes the process through solar extraction.
Katy not only hand spins and hand dyes, she raises and sheers all the animal herself too and she’s willing to teach classes from April through October.
“I learned to spin when I was three,” she said as her two feet quickly peddled with both hands feeding the fibers. “My babysitter had a spinning wheel I was fascinated with.”
Rapunzel is the closest thing to a spinning wheel most of us have ever gotten but now anyone can partake in their own handspun fairytale by taking a class at the unique, creative property. Earlier this year, Katy hosted a “Learn To Dye” workshop at Crabtree Farms and hopes to teach another one next year but, in the meantime, she offers on-site, personalized one-on-one tutorials at poppycreekfarm.com
Book online and choose to learn how to select, sheer, process, dye, card, blend or spin. Affordable and priceless, these customized sessions range from one to two days, include all the dyes, and you leave with a pound of fiber or a half pound of mohair.
She has two etsy stores that feature different farm fresh finds. Her “Poppy Creek Farm” etsy account showcases her raw and processed dyed fibers and her whereas her “Poppy Creek Yarn” etsy presents only her yarn products. Don’t forget those “excessively friendly” farm critters that are great to look at and you can follow them on Instagram @poppycreekfarmermama.
The Man Behind The Curtain
Last year, when I asked Randy Forester if he would design my wedding dress out of a set of Bargain Hunt fabric shower curtains, he was hoping that I envisioned something a bit more intricate than draperies on a rod. As he specializes in regency era fashion, I knew he would make me feel like a princess.
More than a stitcher or a seamstress, Randy is a self-taught, wardrobe master. Working with about every production company in the area including Closed Door Entertainment and the Chattanooga Symphony Orchestra, he has created astonishing outfits using the most random resources like brick banding in bodices and placemats as hats.
“I find working with all natural fabrics is so much easier.” He loves working with silk but it’s not always within the budget, “You can find silk drapes at thrift stores and I’ve used quilts as petticoats. So much of the old ways, they made do with what they had.”
While there is a longer turnaround rate versus other fast fashion resources, Randy sticks mostly to commission work and, as a member of the Society of Creative Anachronism, he finds joy in bringing history back to life. Historically accurate period pieces, especially from the 17th and 18th century, are his strong suit but that doesn’t mean it’s all lace and ruffles.
Last year, he designed an Elizabethan period Captain America costume, complete with pumpkin pants and cape. He is presently putting together a pink, three-piece silk suit because allegedly George Washington had a pink silk suit.
When displaying his limited inventory, he explains how he can’t mass produce because each construct is very time consuming. His recent works of art have gone directly to the performances so are not for sale. Mary Poppins’ multiple looks and Madame de la Grande Bouche’s gown from “Beauty and The Beast” are some of his favorite current creations.
“Madame Butterfly” and “Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” are also a few productions under his belt and he is currently designing for the upcoming CSO’s “Carmen”. Randy frequents the stage both in front of and behind the curtain. Appearing as Uncle Fester in “The Addams Family”, he crafted his lines as well as his and other cast members’ wardrobes.
From wedding dress to warrior wear, silk to shower curtains, email RandyWonderful@yahoo.com for a bespoke look made from scratch to your specifications.
Front Woman Fashion
In my journey to discover upcycled fashion and repurposed couture, I thought I would come across an abundance of artists like Elizabeth Miller of Funky Junktion but I learned quickly that she was one-of-a-kind.
Originally from St. Elmo, Elizabeth moved to New Orleans, where she earned her degree in music and jumped the broom with her husband Marc. She also began selling her rare, designer and vintage clothes in shops around town while performing as a lead singer and drummer.
Although she may no longer be a stage-hopping front woman, Elizabeth continues to steal any spotlight with her handcrafted, avant garde accessories and fashion forward designs.
She gained most of the inspiration for her affectionately termed “fashion risks” from Mardi Gras and Jazzfest where people were expected to wear their artistic expressions on their sleeve.
“I see my fashion as 3D sculptural, collage performance art,” she says as she showcased her bedazzled embellishments in light fixtures and heavy jackets. “I’m such a glue gunner but I can hand stitch too like nobody’s business.”
Enamored with her shop, now turned domestic dwelling, the walls were covered in eclectic, found and formed fashion like a pair of bubble wrap capris and a postcard-laden skirt. An homage of hats donned feathers, flowers and skulls and greets you at the door.
The official shop within Funky Junktion, called the HoRadio Cafe, stopped continuously opening its doors some years ago due to life changing events that prevented Elizabeth from being sole decision maker. A 13-year cancer survivor, widow and mother of a 21-year old son, Elizabeth is now a full grown hippy rediscovering her equilibrium in the universe.
“I don’t want to do retail or pop up shops anymore,” as she describes how that environment is no longer conducive to her goals. “I would love to sell wholesale to a costume department or any group wanting to demolish and design.”
She began this new all-encompassing approach by organizing the Incline Art Crawl in 2017 to help other artists display in a pedestrian friendly, clothesline art show. With bags of material and slews of ideas, Elizabeth is at a point to support others’ creations with bulk supplies and endless influence.
“Not everyone appreciates my weirdness.” I definitely did appreciate and bought in.
Her prices are not like thrift stores as much of the collections contain vintage, high end couture like Betsy Johnson and Victor Costa. Even though the energy of the garb may have a shabby chic feel, it is definitely more chic and she describes it as “affordable fun.”
As she begins to take inventory for the new year and focus on presenting her fabrications on Instagram (FunkyJunktion) and etsy (CountryFunkyJunky), she is booking private shopping parties that can be as custom as the treasures you will find. Reach out to Elizabeth at HoRadioCafe@gmail.com or through Funky Junktion on facebook.
What Not To Wear
A negative attitude or a closed mind in regards to someone’s choice of fashion. Not saying to purge your closet of all mass produced, cheap clothing but a night of creating one Frankenstein fashionista ensemble is encouraged.
Sew on and sew on.
Dreaming of wanting to be a writer since she could remember, Jessie Gantt-Temple moved here three years ago from the Carolinas with her husband, and has found roots on her farm in Soddy Daisy.