This project evolved into the Stadium Sweatshirt, which you can download as a PDF pattern
The origin story of these sweatshirts starts with a weird dream I had in quarantine. I occasionally have dreams where I design a garment and wake up unable to remember what this garment was, though I remember it being an exciting idea. The origin of this project came out of the rare instance in which I remembered the garment I had dreamt: a thick, squishy cardigan hand painted tiny motifs all over. After chatting with a friend about this dream, she suggested I paint mushrooms. And so the Decay cardigan was born.
I have always been interested in vintage sports apparel, especially old uniforms and Letterman jackets. A few years ago, I had an epiphany about floral printed shirts being the equivalent of a sports jersey or band t-shirt, showing your allegiance to flowers.
Aside from making clothing, I’ve always loved painting. I studied art in college and while I mostly focused on installation, sculpture, and performance, painting was always part of my process and one of my favorite skill sets. I can’t remember when I acquired them or who gave them to me, but I rediscovered a set of fabric paints in my studio which became a major part of conceptualizing this project.
All sweatshirts were sewn with US grown/knit organic cotton terry, either natural or dyed using plant dyes. The rib knits are either vintage/repurposed fabric or organic. The appliques are made using repurposed felt and the buttons are vintage.
The original sweatshirt that started this project feels a bit like a living garment. As I worked on it, I added more painting and I plan to continue to add more decaying plant matter paintings to the negative space over time.
Painting in process. I used a product called Dye-Na-Flow, an acrylic dye that behaves a bit like watercolor and its permanent on fabric once heat set. It also does not make the fabric stiff, like normal fabric paint. I painted the cardigan before sewing it together.
The felt used in the appliquéd letters on this sweatshirt was a gift from a friend. The color variation is from sun damage/fading. The sleeves were mordanted with aluminum sulfate and then dyed with marigolds from my garden. They are not 100% lightfast, and so they have faded slightly over time, particularly along the elbow creases.
Cuffs, collar, and hem are hand dyed with tannin (black tea) and iron. This one was made for a friend and the painting is of flowers from her garden.
This process eventually lead to the development of a sweatshirt pattern called Stadium.