Thrift to Thread: Junior Skye Welch sews and alters thrift-store clothing

As her hands rifled through hangers, examining each piece of thrifted clothing, junior Skye Welch surveyed the Savers aisles for her next project.

Bright orange color? No. Corduroy texture? No.

Her eyes landed on a white tank top with blue and red fish. In her mind, she could already envision her plan: cinch the waist, make it more fitted.

“I kind of just see more or less what has potential, what I can easily fix,” Welch said. “Or if it's already cute, then I'll find ways I can make it more like something I would wear.”

Her love for sewing started with dressing up as Disney Princesses every day in preschool to currently thrifting her $5 junior prom dress she plans to alter. Welch has found a routine in making and altering clothes, joining the theater costumes crew and developing a system of re-donating to thrift stores.

Most of the items she gives back consist of old clothing she’s thrifted and altered before. 

“I think it's really important to give back to thrift stores, especially because there [are] so many people who can't afford to go to bigger places and buy really, really cute clothes,” Welch said. “So I always like to make sure that I can give people those clothes.”

Though one of her main goals is to give back to thrift stores, her fashion choices are also a form of self-expression she doesn’t often show anyone otherwise.

“I don't think clothes really define who I am, but I think it does show a deeper part of who I am,” Welch said. 

Because of her skills in sewing, Welch joined the theater costumes crew her freshman year. In addition to making and altering costumes, she became one of the costume crew chiefs this year. Now, she directs other crew members and is in charge of quick backstage changes.

Summer Finkelston, East parent and costumes coordinator, along with theater teacher Tom Defeo, recognized Welch’s hard work from previous years, including during the musical, “Zombie Prom.” 

“Her freshman year, her job was to steam all of [zombie] clothes over and over again,” Finkelston said. “But she never complained.”

Her motivation behind sewing comes from her grandmother, who wanted Welch to learn for years. Now, after lessons from her grandmother, she’s continuing the legacy through the crafting activities she’s involved in. 

“I saw [my grandmother] much more often when I was younger, but now I see her less and less,” Welch said. “Every time I'm alone, I just kind of think, ‘Well, if I sew I'll have a little bit of her with me forever.’”

Welch plans to sew her Lancer Day outfit for the band float’s theme: Ancient Greece.

“I haven't seen it in person yet, but she showed me the before picture,” Lucy Costello, her close friend and fellow costume crew member, said. “I already know that she's gonna make it super cool.”

Welch hopes to use what she’s learned from her grandmother, being part of costumes crew theater and her thrifting and sewing hobbies to start her own affordable thrift store in the future.

“I plan to sell them for a smaller price as well, just because I know how hard it is to get some clothes,” Welch said. “And it can be really hard to afford some of the stuff, so I just want it to be affordable for everyone.”