Chico artist gives old fabric new life

CHICO - Sifting through racks of discarded tablecloths and bed linens, Savina Green envisions something different from the fabric's intended use - she imagines elaborate corsets, patchwork pants and billowing skirts.

Thrift stores are where Chico State alumna Savina Green exclusively shops for sewing material. As a self-taught seamstress, she reworks donated items to create ornate fashion pieces that she shares on Instagram under her artist name, Thea Meadow.

Green's digital world is dream-like and mythical - with a climbing 2,500 followers, she showcases her art in soft pastels and jewel tones, garnering a predominantly female audience.

For Green, fashion and creativity have always been intuitive. From as early as 2-years-old, she remembers playing dress-up with her grandmother's clothes and frequently getting in trouble at school for wearing bright lipstick, begrudgingly wiping it off in the bathroom.

"When it comes to creativity, you really do know from a young age what that looks like for you," she said. Now, at 25-years-old, Green continues to honor those same instincts, employing childlike wonder as a motivating force behind her work.

Though creativity has always been a pillar of self for Green, her path to sewing has been nonlinear. After graduating from Chico State in 2023 with a bachelor's degree in media arts, design and technology, Green moved to Thailand to teach English for three months. Upon returning to Chico, she said that she felt lost.

"What do I have? Not a lot of money - but I have a lot of time," she said. In the midst of uncertainty, Green began teaching herself how to sew, unearthing her old sewing machine from high school and using old clothes she didn't wear as material.

"Limitation is the greatest source for creative expression, because the less you have, the more you have to think outside the box," she said,

Sewing soon became more than a hobby for Green - it became a way to tell a story through her artist persona, Thea Meadow, which she describes as her "alter-ego."

Green describes Thea as an extension of herself, only more fantastical - an identity that is "safe from internal criticism," she said. Her inspiration behind creating an alternative persona for herself also stems from an effort to tap into her childhood imagination.

"As an adult, it's kind of seen as childish if you love to dress up, whereas I see it as just another outlet of expression - another outlet to feel free," she said.

As a queer-identifying person, Green also emphasized the importance of queer representation in her work. She said that sharing her individuality through fashion is important to her identity - much of her work resonates with "hyper-feminine" styles.

Inspired by sustainability

Sustainability is at the core of what Green aims to achieve with her work.

Sourcing most of her material from local thrift stores like Pawprints Thrift Boutique and American Cancer Society Discovery Shop, she describes herself as "anti-Goodwill," opting to support local shops in lieu of large corporations.

The mass production of cheaply made clothing, often referred to as "fast fashion", is something that Green challenges through upcycling. She describes fast fashion as "upsetting," noting that overconsumption has become a "norm" for young people because of affordability and social expectations.

Green said that it's become routine for people to wear something once and never again.

"It's normal to just toss it out or donate it after you wear it - especially because of brands like Shein and Temu," she said.

Through her work, she hopes to inspire others to rewear or recycle what they already have in their closets. She also emphasized the importance of self-expression that consumers lose when buying into fast fashion trends.

"We're not necessarily loving what we're purchasing … whereas I think that when you curate a collection sustainably, you have a lot more respect for the process of the creation of clothing," she said.

Green also uses elements of nature in her work. One of her dresses incorporated real moss, which Green gathered and dyed before hand-sewing it onto fabric.

Online presence

Upkeeping and curating an image on social media is something that Green describes as a "double-edged sword."

"As bad as social media can feel, it can also be used in a really positive way," she said. Though she sometimes struggles with self-comparison online, seeing other people share their work dually inspires Green's creativity.

She doesn't hold herself to any set standards when it comes to posting - instead, she uses her platform as an opportunity to share quality instead of quantity content, she said.

"I do feel a pressure, sometimes - but I just remind myself that it's not that deep," she said. Green said that there have been weeks where she posts every day, and other weeks that she neglects posting entirely.

Green shared that the online community has been overwhelmingly receptive to her work, and through her Instagram, she's worked hard to build a network of creatives with the same passions.

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This story was originally published June 21, 2026 at 6:17 AM.