Call for contributions: DIY FAT CRAFT ZINE
Make It Work is a DIY fat radical craft zine, focusing on strategies for resistance, tutorials and craft projects for fellow awesome fats. “Make It Work” has been a mantra within fatshion communities since I can remember, and I’m interested in exploring it as a radical premise of fat positive politics. Fat people have and have always had very limited options in ready-made clothing, and, whilst retailers are starting to produce more on trend pieces, the process is slow and in the meantime, we have to come up with our own radical alternatives – whether it’s making clothes, thrifting, altering clothes or making straight sizes work for us. I want this zine to be about sharing the resources, skills and knowledge that we’ve gained, and for it to provide strategies for people to move forward with.
All contributions are welcome, and here are a few suggestions:
- DIY tutorials (resizing smaller items, designing patterns from scratch, adjusting clothes, costume making, accessories)
- Radical craft projects.
- Craft and fatshion related personal pieces.
- Organising fatshion events – clothes swap, DIY fashion shows, selling on etsy and so on.
- Sewing and crafting on a budget – how to do it, where to find cheap supplies, etc.
- Thrifting tips, shopping guides and etsy recommendations for fat positive sellers.
- Strategies for shopping – how do you find the pieces that you want if they aren’t immediately available? Shopping in straight size stores, vintage shopping, resource guides.
- Dressing queer as a fat person – how does being fat impact your choices? How do dominant aesthetics limit your choices, how do you resist them, and how does your sense of dress interact with these dominant aesthetics?
- Resources for trans and gender queer identified people.
- Letters to high street retailers, commentary on outsizing, plus size ranges and any other rants.
- Pieces on fatshion role models.
- Illustrations (that look good in black and white and are photocopiable!), comics, visual art of any kind.
- Critiques and criticisms of fatshion – how could we be more inclusive? Who do you want to see blogging?
Email any ideas, contributions and questions through to me at fattyunbound@gmail.com. I’m going to set a preliminary deadline of 30th November for submitting, though that will probably slide and if anyone can’t make that, let me know and I’ll try and set some space aside for you.
Reblogs much appreciated xx
