(C. 04/2026) _Billingslea [Reconstructed ‘QR CODE’ Denim Jacket]
[Rationale] Personalized women's Joe Fresh white denim trucker jacket with a custom full-back Billingslea QR-Code embroidery, which I digitized myself. Inspired by QR code flyers I designed to promote billingslea.ca during my final undergraduate semester, I repurposed my mom's old jacket as the canvas. Using Embroidery Legacy software and a Marquee 15-Needle Ricoma Commercial Embroidery Machine, I completed the piece in about five hours, totalling 50,000–60,000 stitches. The result is a unique statement jacket made from family preloved garments, showcasing both technical skill and personal branding.
(C. 04/2026) _Billingslea [Reconstructed ‘Black & Blue’ Flared Denim] ♻
[Rationale] A fully upcycled pair of ‘Black & Blue’ contrast flared denim pants. This project was born of a desire to make a new pair of Black flared denim from leftover material from another pair I made back in August 2025.
When I went to retrieve the material, I discovered I didn't have enough to make a full-length pair, but enough to split it with another material to utilize both to create an upcycled pair of denim.
I immediately thought of a split pair of denim: top blue, bottom black. I used this deadstock Blue Cotton Denim fabric, gifted to me by my good friend László, for the blue base, and the black from my previous flared denim project. He bought this material for a group project in our course, FSN 101: Discovering Textiles from the Textile Museum of Canada, and found this beautiful blue denim with a nice yellow vintage tint, a dense twill weave, and a soft hand feel. After the course, he gifted me the material, and since then I had no use for it until this project arrose.
At first, the whole top was going to be this blue denim, but I ran out of material when I started laying out my front, back, fly pieces and back pockets. From there, I sketched how I could use the black denim for the pocket facings, yoke, waistband and belt loop components to save this project. From there, I cut out my pieces and sewed them together to create this one-of-a-kind split-colour denim made from leftover material readily available to me.
(C. 12/2025) _Billingslea [Reconstructed ‘Patchwork’ FullCount & co Rework] ♻
[Rationale] Meticulously repaired Fullcount & Co Japanese Selvedge denim jeans with full reinforced custom seat and pocket opening patches.
I bought this pair of faded black Fullcount & Co jeans off Grailed in April of 2022 from a previous owner who had already repaired the front legs and decorated the back with patchwork and stitching. I had them in my basement for quite some time until I dug them up a few months back and started wearing them a lot more. I wore them until the seat and pocket openings were developing holes, and some front patches were coming loose, so I started to imagine a fix for these problems, using design and pattern drafting to breathe life back into these jeans.
I started by picking apart the inseams and outseams until the front and back were separated. I first patched the holes in the back of the pants with a black fusible patch so the fabric couldn't fray any further. From there, I had the idea to create a giant seat patch and angled pocket-opening shields, and started drafting these pieces, ironing the pants flat, pinning muslin over them, and tracing it with black chalk. I then cut these pieces from leftover black denim, prepped them, and sewed them onto the pants.
Once the main structural patches for reinforcement were completed, I moved on to the front knee areas, fixing the original core patches, then using scrap black denim and cotton fabric to create square and rectangular patches to attach all over the front of the jeans. Finished with a ‘Billingslea’ back tab and leather selvaged from my local fabric store's cut-offs section to create a one-of-a-kind work of wearable art that can be reworked for years to come.
Billingslea [Reconstructed ‘stadium’ Hooded Sweatshirt] ♻
Billingslea [Reconstructed ‘Hybrid cargo’ Pants]
Billingslea [Reconstructed ‘Combo Sleeve’ LS Waffle Knit Shirt]
