Harry Potter Stellan
Pattern: Stellan Tee by French Navy
Fabric: Cotton jersey stripes from Etsy
Sewn up: Summer 2019
I ordered this fabric entirely because it was named “Harry Potter House stripes” in the Etsy shop I stumbled upon in my semi-regular internet search of “yarn-dyed stripe knit.” The shop itself also had a great name – FabricHoarderDestash – which gave me such warm feelings toward the seller and her self-awareness. (If you’re reading this and don’t sew, it’s easy to acquire/hoard tons of fabric without realizing it, and a destash is one means of reducing the quantity!)
Working on this shirt led me to a mini-realization about sewing that I hadn’t quite appreciated before.
Background: I love seeing what people wear – it’s one of the main reasons I love public transportation. So many strangers! Who are they? Where are they off to? Clothing is one of the main access points we have to understanding anything about the people we pass every day. And what someone wears inevitably reflects a past search – entering a store and doing their best to find a match between who they are on the inside and clothing that will in some way channel that on the outside.
Realization: Sewing allows a more direct translation of what’s true about us into something that can be seen. Rather than go in search of that (rare, for me) feeling of recognition in a store, we can take matters into our own hands. I made this shirt to look exactly like it looks: Hogwarts stripes, slightly lengthened sleeves, slightly cropped length. It is on the loud side, and quite resembles the dress my friend’s baby wore to her first birthday party.
This project, I think because it is a sort of look that no around me (besides my friend’s baby) is wearing, left me with a new appreciation of the sewist’s ability to skip past that search in the store. No need to wait for someone else to create something that feels uniquely matched to who we are and what information we want to convey to the world – we can make it ourselves! I love that this shirt evokes Harry Potter without having a Hogwarts emblem on it (although I do also have one of those!), and that I can reach for it whenever I want to channel the sort of happy, hopeful, young-at-heart energy I associate with reading those books. And that maybe my wearing this out into the world and onto the subway will somehow in some tiny way pass that energy along to anyone whose path I cross.
~ Photos by Lizzie Epstein - thank you sister!
Drawing process reel: kitchen table photo, pencil sketch, digital drawing.
