‘Organised Mess – Self Portrait’ is a representation piece of all aspects of my life. I am a mess, but it is always organised. Chaotic but beautiful.

Within this project I set out with the intention of trying to use up all parts of the shirts. I had 3 shirts in varying large sizes, 2 were from the opshop and 1 was from my brother. The op shop shirts included price tags and the lady gave me a plastic bag to hold my things. I decided I would like to incorporate those extra pieces into my final design and prototype. I decided on a dress which included smooth material, ruffles and pleats to try and use up all pieces of material. The double layered yokes were used as ruffles at the front of the dress, the body for my bows which also included the tags inside for structure and shape, and straps on the side of the dress that tied up at the back. The sleeves were used to create a halter top and the two bows. The back panels of the shirts were used to add volume to the dress as the bottom. Within one of the folded up back panels, I inserted the plastic bag for extra volume. The side panels of two of the shirts were used to create the side body of the dress and was double layered for strength. One of the side panels of 1 of the shirts was created into a bow and the string from deconstruction was used as the body of the bow which is located at the back. The other side of the panel was used to create the knife pleats on the body of the dress as I wanted to explore a different way of fabric manipulation and create an ‘organised’ idea to the chaos of the rest of the dress. The buttoned placket that I cut off was placed around the back sides of the dress to cover the seams of the ruffles. The collars acted as a structural idea under the breast area but also was able to create a neat finish as it hid the seams. They also created a fixture at the back to hold the dress. I needed to add one of the spare buttons to create a more fitted garment. The other collar was used to hide the seams at the front and compliment the collars at the top of the dress.

By incorporating all aspects of not only the shirts but also the waste (plastic bag and tags) I was able to create a zero-waste garment.