Sustainable Fashion In Brooklyn
By Lauren Beebe
Amalya Meira is a sustainable, zero waste fashion designer, stylist and tour guide based in Brooklyn. She makes hand made, imaginative, sustainable clothing and textiles from her studio in Bed-Stuy. Her motto is clothing as wearable sculpture and each piece is one of a kind. Amalya works primarily with natural fibers and her passion is creating pieces for the curious to love. Each piece is one of a kind.
In 2019, Amalya collaborated with Like A Local Tours to create Brooklyn’s first Sustainable Tour. The award-winning walking tour explores conscious design, sustainable fashion, forward-thinking cuisine, natural wine, and innovative architecture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. On foot and through the eyes of a local tapped into the sustainable fashion community, the tour offers insider access and unique perspectives on Brooklyn life.
Amalya turned her fashion focus to sustainable design due to her love of fabrics. She considers herself a bit of a hoarder who gets attached to interesting and beautiful things and zero waste design offers a way to giver her favorite scraps and treasures a new life. Reusing has also given her design parameters to operate within, and she finds this is a secret to her success.
“My designs are often driven by textiles that I have either created or found. I really like to create a silhouette that will show them off. I often create an entire garment from a textile and then use a patchwork technique I developed to create multiple pieces using the remaining scraps. This way I can really get the most out of a textile. For this reason I favor prints that are not directional/literal. I am strongly impacted by nature, the punk/raw energy of nature contrasting with an urban setting and how an overgrown root or moss in the cracks is ever reclaiming. This contrast, resilience, unexpected beauty is what is interesting to me. I think this sentiment is something we deal with ourselves existing in a permeating society, it is important to tease out that beauty that peeks through and nourish it.” Amalya shared.
Quarantine has affected all of us greatly but for Amalya it has also meant an opportunity for all of us to become more conscious and more sustainable. “We can't get that much! Be it not wanting to leave the house, shipping delays or any myriad of the ways the Coronavirus [COVID-19] has impacted what we came to be used to things are a bit harder to come by now. Instead of being frustrated by this, it really should be seen as a welcome crash course in sustainability. As little as reusing a shopping bag as a trash bag and as much as setting up an apartment farm of microgreens-we have a moment now to figure out how to be sustainable in a way that makes sense for each of us individually. On some level it is recognized that this entire situation is a result of prolonged universal bad habits, perhaps a silver lining of this will be new better habits that are carried on into the future. We should be buying less that we love, not just to fulfill the short term rush of a purchase.
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Amalya takes us into her studio where she discusses some of her designs, how they’re made as well as offering an in-depth, how-to demonstration of making a face mask.
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Amalya nos lleva a su estudio donde habla sobre algunos de sus diseños, cómo están hechos y ofrece una demostración en profundidad de cómo hacer una mascarilla.
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Make your own Face Mask
Materials:
• 100% cotton fabric (ideally a tight weave)
• 7″ long flat elastic for ear loops, I used 1/4" thick but really anything can be used
• fabric scissors
• ruler
• pins or clips
• sewing machine and thread (or can sew by hand, needle + thread)
- serger (overlock) machine for clean finish if you have access, can also use pinking sheers or just normal stitch
Directions:
1. Cut 2 6.5" X 7.5 rectangles of cotton fabric
2. Sew the two pieces together along the short edges face to face (wrong sides out) using serger or stitch then use pinking sheers so it won't fray
3. Flip right side out, crease at stitched edge and iron flat
4. Sew the long edges together using serger or stitch and cut with pinking sheers
5. Cut two pieces of elastic — each 7-inches long
6. Hold the cotton rectangle with the long side horizontally, Pin elastic 1/2" overlapping with the cotton and 1/4" down from top of cotton, pin it in with the 1/4 folded over. Do the same with the other piece of elastic at the other end of the rectangle top, pin the 1/4" fold at center to anchor the rectangle fold creating a clean edge. Sew the 1/4" horizontal fold catching the elastic at each end.
7. Create 3 evenly places 1/4" pleats along the vertical edges of the rectangle, create matching pleats on the other side, pin securely
8. Stitch the pleats down by starting at the bottom edge of the rectangle 1/8" from the side and stitch up going over pleats. secure your stitch with a back stick at the top elastic to further strengthen.
9. Careful not to twist the elastic, create the earlobe by taking elastic from the top edge and pinning in at the Bottom of the rectangle. Do this the same way you did at the top, elastic overlapping at 1/2" and rectangle folded over 1/4". Do this on both sides, pin the center to secure 1/4" fold over and clean front. Stitch. Finished!
More about Amalya: She has shown at NYFW, Paris Fashion Week, Miami Art Basel and Vancouver Fashion Week. Amalya holds degrees from Central St. Martins, Parsons and Eugene Lang. Shop her pieces at amalya.com.
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Crea tu propia mascarilla o cubre boca
Materiales:
• Tela 100% algodón (idealmente un tejido apretado)
• Elástico plano de 7 ″ de largo para las orejas, usé 1/4 "de grosor pero realmente se puede usar cualquier cosa
• tijeras para tela
• regla
• alfileres o clips
• máquina de coser e hilo (o puede coser a mano, aguja + hilo)
- Máquina de remallado (overlock) para un acabado limpio si tiene acceso, también puede usar pinking sheers o simplemente puntada normal
Instrucciones:
Corte 2 rectángulos de tela de algodón de 6.5 "X 7.5"
Cosa las dos piezas juntas a lo largo de los bordes cortos cara a cara (con el revés hacia afuera) usando una remalladora o una puntada y luego use los sheers para que no se deshilen.
Voltee el lado derecho hacia afuera, doble en el borde cosido y planche de forma plana
Coser los bordes largos juntos con remalladora o puntada y cortar con pinking sheers.
Corta dos piezas de elástico, cada una de 7 pulgadas de largo.
Sujete el rectángulo de algodón con el lado largo horizontalmente. Sujete con alfileres el elástico 1/2 "superpuesto con el algodón y 1/4" hacia abajo desde la parte superior del algodón, fije con alfileres con el 1/4 doblado. Haga lo mismo con la otra pieza de elástico en el otro extremo de la parte superior del rectángulo, fije el pliegue de 1/4 "en el centro para anclar el pliegue del rectángulo creando un borde limpio. Cosa el pliegue horizontal de 1/4" atrapando el elástico en cada uno al final.
Cree 3 pliegues de 1/4 " colocados uniformemente a lo largo de los bordes verticales del rectángulo, cree pliegues a juego en el otro lado, fije con alfileres
Coser los pliegues hacia abajo comenzando en el borde inferior del rectángulo a 1/8 "del lado y coser hacia arriba pasando los pliegues. Asegure la puntada con un palillo trasero en el elástico superior para fortalecer aún más.
Con cuidado de no torcer el elástico, cree el lóbulo de la oreja tomando el elástico del borde superior y fijándolo en la parte inferior del rectángulo. Haga esto de la misma manera que lo hizo en la parte superior, elástico superpuesto a 1/2 "y el rectángulo doblado sobre 1/4". Haga esto en ambos lados, sujete el centro con alfileres para asegurar un pliegue de 1/4 "y limpiar el frente. Cosa. ¡Listo!
Más sobre Amalya: ha aparecido en NYFW, Paris Fashion Week, Miami Art Basel y Vancouver Fashion Week. Amalya tiene titulos de Central St. Martins, Parsons y Eugene Lang. Compre sus piezas en amalya.com.
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Lauren Beebe
Originally from Wisconsin, Lauren is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University and worked in finance before launching her tour company, Like A Local Tours in 2014. Like A Local Tours offers small group, food, fashion, and art walking tours in Manhattan and Brooklyn that bring guests to locally owned small businesses for an authentic experience. She is a member of Tourism Cares and Tourism Ready, a program run by NYC Go that helps local businesses learn to work with the travel industry. Passionate about travel and the environment, Lauren is currently earning a certificate in Sustainable Tourism Management, creating additional tours focused on sustainability and helping her partners rebound as NYC reopens.
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Lauren Beebe
Originalmente de Wisconsin, Lauren se graduó de Pennsylvania State University y trabajó en finanzas antes de lanzar su compañía de viajes, Like A Local Tours en 2014. Like A Local Tours ofrece recorridos a pie de grupos pequeños, de comida, moda y arte en Manhattan y Brooklyn donde llevan a los visitantes a pequeñas empresas de locales para una experiencia auténtica. Es miembro de Tourism Cares y Tourism Ready, un programa administrado por NYC Go que ayuda a las empresas locales a aprender a trabajar con la industria de viajes. Apasionada por los viajes y el medio ambiente, Lauren está obteniendo un certificado en Manejo de Turismo Sostenible, creando recorridos adicionales centrados en la sostenibilidad y ayudando a sus colaboradores a recuperarse a medida que la ciudad de Nueva York reabre.
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