Newspaper carrier makes dress out of leftover newspapers
by The Standard | Podcast June 4th, 2020 https://thestandardnewspaper.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Newspaper-Dress-June-4th-2020.mp3
COURTNEY McCLURE The Standard
SCUGOG: “I wanted you to be able to see the writing on it, so you could instantly tell it was made out of newspaper.” said 12 year old Isla Williams. She is a local resident who has been delivering The Standard newspaper for about eight months. The inspiration came to her when she saw a video of a woman making a dress by using feedbags. “I thought it was very original and funny,” she explained. Isla did not have any feedbags laying around, so she decided to use the newspapers she had left over from her last delivery. According to Isla, it is fairly difficult to sew through paper, because the material is easy to rip, so she used glue and some tape. The dress she made is mainly taped underneath the outer layer, so it is not very noticeable. A large portion of the dress is decorated with paper flowers as well. Isla did not want to paint the flowers because she wanted people to know they were made out of paper as well. The dress as a whole took her about 10 hours to make throughout the week. She spent this time gluing and taping the newspapers together and creating the decorative flowers. Isla made the dress on her own, using her interest in sewing and painting to fuel her passion. “I actually didn’t tell my mom until I had finished the skirt,” she said with a laugh. According to Isla’s mom, Heather Williams, Isla has had an interest in sewing since she was about eight years old. Isla’s aunt taught her how to use a sewing machine. Young Ms. Williams has made dresses and different types of clothing from conventional fabrics before, but this was her first time creating clothing out of materials people would not typically use, like newspapers or feedbags. If she were to do another project like this again, Isla said she would do several things differently. “… I would definitely use a different material, because newspaper is really thin,” she said. “So, it’s kind of difficult.” Although this was a first for Isla, she would like to try creating some form of clothing by using plastic bags as the material. But not just any plastic bags that someone could get from the grocery store. Isla said she finds that plastic bags bend easier than most fabrics, so she thinks thick plastic bags would make a good material to work with. If anyone else in the community is interested in creating their own clothing from material like plastic bags, newspapers or chicken feedbags, Isla advises them to take your time and create a design before starting. “I didn’t think it through, so I had to restart the skirt,” she shared. It was very frustrating for Isla when she realized she had to restart the skirt because she had already put a lot of effort into making it. When Isla is done delivering papers around her route, she said she will usually pick up one of the leftovers and read a few articles. She also uses some of the leftover papers for beneath her artwork when she paints at home. “They come in handy for really random little things,” she explained.