Presentation 
Sewing
In an attempt to actually experience the hard work Master Chen had to go through while making all those cheongsams, we decided to do a DIY (Do It Yourself) exercise. But it was too difficult for us to actually make clothing, so our teacher asked someone who sewed as a hobby, Teacher Hsu, to show us how to make things. Teacher Hsu decided to let make reuse discarded clothing for our DIY project, turning our old clothes into handbags. On the one hand, it lets us experience sewing, and on the other, it helps us recycle and reuse!
Teacher Hsu taught us to remark used clothes
◆Materials We Needed to Prepare：
An old piece of clothing, a long ruler, needle and thread, powder coating, a nylon ribbon, an appliqué, fabric scissors, and a cutting wheel.
◆Production Process：
1.On one side of the old piece of clothing, use powder coating to draw on the size of the desired handbag. Make it rectangular, and use the long ruler to make the sides line up properly.
2.One the handbag’s size is drawn out, leave a 1cm margin along the sides, and a 5.5cm margin along the bag’s opening.
3.Cut out the required fabric using the cutting wheel or fabric scissors. Cut out a second piece of fabric exactly the same size as the first.
4.Place the two pieces of cut-outs together, fully overlapping, and use the needle and thread to sew a U shape along three sides, using a running stitch. We could also opt to just use a sewing machine.
5.Flip the sewn bag over and sew again.
6.Neatly fold the bag opening over twice, towards the bottom of the bag, and sew it up with the sewing machine.
Using crayon to draw bag size on the used clothes
Using round knife cut cloth
Sewing bag
7.Using powder coating, make the spots where the nylon ribbon would go, and sew it up accordingly with the sewing machine.
8.Select the desired appliqué, place it on an appropriate spot, and stick it on using a hot iron. The handbag is now complete!
Thoughts from Doing the DIY：
Chen Jun-Lin：Through this DIY project, I learned many things about sewing and its skills. Though a long way off from what Master Chen would do, I have improved a bit. For this DIY, I feel that the hardest part is the sewing, because it’s so easy to sew a crooked line, and the easiest part is the cutting. The fabric cutting was each because I am rather strong, so although it’s not really easy, in the end I still managed.
Using sewing machine
Qiu Wei-Jun：When I started this DIY project in our Gifted Class, I thought it would be easy. But after, when I actually got to doing it, I thought it was very difficult. In the beginning, when I was cutting the fabric, I couldn’t even cut it out. While sewing, it was also very easy to sew off mark. But once the bag was done I felt a great sense of accomplishment.
Qiu Wei-Zhe：Today in our Gifted Class, we worked on an old clothing remarked project, turning old clothes into environment friendly handbags. At first I thought it was fun, but when I got to doing it I found it very difficult. Even in the beginning, when we had to cut out the pieces of fabric, it was very easy to ruin the fabric piece. Then when it came time to sew, it was very easy to sew crookedly. After much ado, I finally finished this handbag. What a sense of accomplishment!
Chu Shan-Heng：I find this DIY to be very hard work, because I have never sewn before. From the beginning, when I tried to use the cutting wheel to cut out my cloth piece, I thought the fabric was cut but it turned out that nothing happened. When I sewed, I often sewed in the wrong direction, like I was running in circles. In the end even my teacher couldn’t stand it and just made the bag for me.
Qiu Xiang-Yu：This time our teacher invited a special speaker to teach us how to do DIY handbags. He taught us sewing, tying, and narrowing. I found tying to be the most difficult, because to make a tie one had to push the needle through one hole after another, and it made my eyes really sore.
Zhang Ting-Xuan：While doing the DIY, even though my fabric piece was very small, the sewing part was a lot of fun. Also, some people were using the running stitch, where halfway through sewing they would circle around or make an auto turn. It was so much fun!
Ironing appliques
Taking picture with our bags
