Three Middlebury Students on DIY Fashion

Featuring Melanie Chow, Ruhi Kamdar, & Megan Mahoney

Interview by Megan Mahoney

Do you make or design apparel? Know someone at Middlebury that does? Email or DM us!

Gen Z has seen a renewed interest in learning to sew, repurposing, and DIY fashion likely long before the pandemic forced us to pick up new hobbies. For Megan Mahoney, one of Clover’s creative directors, a love of crafting her own clothing began in her teenage years, and she’s found that she shares this experience across campus. Middlebury is home to a rich diversity of creatives, but we don’t typically think of our school as a place for fashion, nonetheless fashion design; we’re here to tell you that our community does indeed have young designers, and we’re on a mission to find them.

Below, Megan speaks to her own experience and interviews two Middlebury students on their process.

When did you ‘officially’ begin making clothes?

Melanie Chow, ‘22: “The reason I first made my own clothes was because every year my highschool held a fashion show - the Fieldston fashion show. You could make anything, as long as you didn't use fabric. I started sophomore year of highschool and, with my friend, I made a dress out of plastic (similar to a shower curtain) and stickers. The next year I made another dress out of fake money. It had a base of a mesh material I found in the art room at school and duct tape, and then glued fake money to it with rhinestones on top. My senior year I used the same shower curtain plastic from sophomore year, and added rhinestones… And then since I still had left over plastic and rhinestones from senior year of highschool, this summer I decided to make another dress.”

Ruhi Kamdar, ‘22: “A bit in previous years, but more so during quarantine.”

Megan Mahoney, ‘22: I grew up sewing some, but first made clothes for a fashion show in Burlington (STRUT) when I was 11. The whole collection were dresses made of duct tape. The following four years, I continued to sew themed collections for the fashion show. Apart from those shows, I have continued to sew myself clothes that I can wear day to day.

What is your favorite piece that you've recently made?

Melanie: “The rhinestone ball gown.”

Ruhi: “My Nike sock top or asymmetrical jeans.”

Megan: Probably just a dress that I made a few weeks ago. Even though it is super basic and honestly not that special, I love the fabric and it is easy to throw on.

How would you describe the clothing you sew? Is it couture? Wearable?

Melanie: More couture - “These clothes, since they're made out of weird material, they're really uncomfortable.” 

Ruhi: “All of them are pretty functional and wearable.”

Megan: Besides some of the stuff I made for STRUT, definitely wearable.

What inspires your creations?

Melanie: “For the first one, my friend and I were on Pinterest and really liked the aesthetic of really colorful stickers so we decided to do it on plastic because it was stable and similar enough to fabric. The money (for the second dress) was kinda because we thought it would be funny since it is so boujee and eye-catching. And then my senior year it was just me because my friend didn’t have time to do it with me. It made sense to use the same plastic base and cover it with rhinestones since it was a combination of the two. Also, then it was also the most glamorous. Since I had so much left over, I knew I wanted to do a tube top and miniskirt because I thought it would be really cute and fit the sort of Y2K aesthetic… but I never got around to it until this summer in quarantine”

Ruhi: “Fashion bloggers, TikTok, and I guess I have developed my own style over the years.” 

Megan: Most often, I will sew something as an alternative to purchasing a store bought version. Although it certainly takes much longer than a simple “add to cart,” the fun of knowing I made it and adding my own twist is worth it (usually). Otherwise, I am inspired by different people on social media or by the materials I have already.

What is the most recent thing you've sewn?

Melanie: “Clear and rhinestone two-piece during quarantine.” 

Ruhi: “A Hailey Bieber inspired shirt and bandana jeans.” 

Megan: A denim corset-like top.

Which article of clothing took the longest to make?

Melanie:“The rhinestone ball gown. It took forever to glue the rhinestones and hand sew the panels together, so it probably took at least 40 hours to make.” 

Ruhi: “Bandana jeans.”

Megan: Of the things I've sewn in the past few months, I would say that my cow print pajamas took me the longest. I was trying to figure how to structure them, include piping, and focus on details, so that I could create a professional outcome.

Which was the fastest to make?

Melanie: Honestly, not sure! Because the first two were so many years ago it’s hard to say. I do think that if I did them now I would be much faster now that I have more experience.

Ruhi: My one shoulder tie dye top.

Megan: Since I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, I decided to make (instead of buy) the Frankie Shop ‘Eva cotton-jersey tank.’ It was super quick to make (even with having to make my own shoulder pads) - so I ended up making it in white too.

What machine do you sew with?

Melanie: “With the plastic dresses, I handsewed them.”

Ruhi: “Brother”

Megan: Brother sewing machine and I recently got a JUKI 1000 overlocker.

What are the biggest tips you've learned since starting to sew?

Melanie: “The first two years I didn't know what I was doing at all. I just cut out what I thought would work. But then, my senior year I got a pattern and it really helped.”

Ruhi: “Patience and practice!!”

Megan: Practice can make such an impact. The periods where I am super into it and sewing almost everyday, my technical skills get noticeably better. Also to just go for it.

Do you do any other art?

Melanie: “I usually do 2D art. I was a 2D art major in high school, which meant it was treated as seriously as any other academic class and met 6 periods a week rather than the usual 2 for art classes. I do a lot of drawing - with pencil, markers and charcoal - and I also do digital art.”

Ruhi: “I honestly love clothes in general - styling, reworking, and dressing in a lot more DIY type things that interest me. I started to learn how to sew just so I have a general knowledge of how it works, but I personally would much rather design or rework clothing items. I also love painting which I have recently started to do a bit of.”

Megan: Over quarantine I started learning to draw digitally but in general I like to create and build 3D things.

Future plans?

Melanie: “I still have a lot of plastic so I would use that. I kind of want to make something with pink rhinestones, and similar things but in different shapes.”  

Ruhi: “I want to make fusion Indian prints and make asymmetrical tops but we’ll see (Masaba masaba prints are cool).” 

Megan: I have tons of different projects in the works, but among them is potentially creating a series of PJs in different prints!