DIY: my cheap little sheep

Speaking of DIY, my latest passion is feeding my knitting habit with thrift store yarn. Most stores combine several skeins into a bag according to someone's idea of a "color story" and charge around 2 or 3 dollars for the whole set. Given that there are usually 5-7 skeins of yarn in a bag, this a is  GREAT deal. The first bag is going towards a granny square afghan that won't be done until next winter. About a month ago I scored a wonderful assortedment of neutral-colored wool and wool/acrylic blends, including an undyed alpaca (now a double-cable scarf) and some curly wool blend that is turning into a herd of these:

 

The pattern is from Toy Knits by Debbie Bliss.

Upcycling and big retail: good news (?)

The New York Time has an interesting article today about upcycling (using waste materials to create new products) , built around an interview with Terracycle Inc.'s founder Tom Szaky. Upcycling has been around long before the word was coined in by the authors of Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (2002) -- remember all the jeans-to-skirt transformations of the late 1960S -- but it's usually been a small-scale activity, at the production and/or retail level. It's not too hard to find individual DIY-ers who upcycle, or to find boutiques and specialty stores who sell products made from "trash".

These efforts make large individual statements, but a more modest environmental impact. What is striking -- and hopeful -- about the Terracycle story is the scale of the operation. They buy their raw materials -- soda bottle and juice boxes -- from churchs and schools who collect them, and they sell them in huge quanities through Wal-Mart and Target. The low cost makes Terracycle's goods accessible to people who can't afford to pay the "green premium" that more affluent consumers are willing to pay.

I can imagine that in my college classroom, this would spin into a discussion on big box vs. small retailers, the impact of corporate upcycling on fair trade craft industries in developing counties and other compicated ethical and economic issues. This still feels like mostly good news to me; what say the readers?

(Thanks to the best son-in-law on the planet for this tip!)

Hits and Misses 4/11-17

The internets are full of news and information about green fashion and conscious consumption, I've decided to aggregate the best and the worst into a single post about once a week.

Hits:

• inhabitat's pendants made from recycled LPs, made by Brooklyn-based WrecordsByMonkey.
• Make it sew with Urban Outfitters. The trendy retailer is now selling sewing machines, fabric and notions. Wow, I am getting all nostalgic for the days when most big department stores had notions departments, and every mall had a fabric store.
• DIY project of the week: Making a Handbag out of a Book. This truly inventive project is from Curbly.com, a very nifty DIY design site.

Misses:

• Lovely dress in "handwoven Bamboo" from Elroy; I'm sure they meant rayon made from bamboo.
• Another article about a family earning over $100,000 struggling in the recession, following a 10% pay cut. Choice quote: "The twice-a-month maid service was the first thing to go."

My current project: a double cable scarf made out of some 100% alpaca yarn I picked up along with 4 other assorted skeins for $1.99 at my local thrift shop. Also, with the local weather steadily warming up, I have my small garden half planted (spinach, peas, lettuce) and am preparing the rest for tomatoes and cubanel peppers. The closest farmers' market opens next weekend. Ain't life grand!

Trashion inspiration: I could make that at home!

One of the lovely things about fashion is that everyone in a while the trends align to favor those of us who know our way around a sewing machine. To whit: Trainspotter's mixed-up plaid shirts, pure inspiration for the savvy trashionista.

DIY Michele Obama Cardigan from Fashiontribes.com

Michelle Obama is making headlines with her wearable, affordable fashion, and now the DIY fashion universe is catching the fever, too. Fashiontribes.com shows readers how to knock off the First Lady's sequins-and-argyle cardigan from Junya Watanabe.

Trashion: my new favorite word

I'll admit being late to this neologism, but quick to embrace it, since it's a great one: trashion, which is fashion made of nearly 100% recycled or secondhand materials. As often happens, I've done trashion before I even knew the word -- witness my amazingly successful (at least with my son) T-shirt messenger bag and laptop sleeve. The word "trashion" results in 85,900 Google hits, so there's lots of sharing and reporting going on out there. Here are  a few links to get you started:

A fun article about making an entire outfit, including shoes and a shoulder bag, out of Starbucks discards.
The Trashion Nation group on Flickr.
The Refashion Archives on Craftzone.com (not all strictly Trashion), but still some great ideas.
Wardrobe Refashion, which reminds me I'd like to sign up again and try some new projects.

Conscious Consumption, Christmas edition #5 --Homemade Gifts

The main reason I decided to simplify my holidays years ago was that I wanted to enjoy them in real time, not just when the holiday photos came back. With two small kids and a full-time job, it was easy to get overwhelmed with events and obligations and end up missing the parts that meant the most to me. In no particular order, these were: music, making things and having chill time with friends and family. This is about #2: making things. I love making all kinds of things, all year around -- edibles, wearables, little origami things just to see if I can. Making stuff is way more fun to me than buying them.

Sarah Snow at TreeHugger has a very spiffy, link-filled article on going green with handmade gifts; so spiffy I won't even try to top it. (Love the gourd lamp!!) But I want to add a few personal examples of when this has worked for us.

• a "memo board" of white cardboard covered in clear plastic (Con-tac) made for my mother by my daughter when she was about five. She wrote "Grandma's list" or something at the top and added some decorations before the plastic went on, and we tied a purchased wipe-off pen to it and added a magnet trip on the back. Instant refrigerator favorite.
• mulling spices for cider or wine, made by both kids at various times.
• a box of thrift-store finery from my daughter's godmother, who clearly knows about dress-up magic.
• a family tradition: snickerdoodles from the recipe I learned in Bluebirds in 1955, enough for us, the cookie party at church and Santa.
• origami picture frame ornaments, each with that year's school picture for each kid (I've also made a set of twelve for my brother from old family photos)

Burdastyle: for the emerging homesewer

I meet many folks -- especially young women and teens -- who are eager to learn to make or alter clothing. Like so many Baby Boom women, I first learned to sew from my mother and a rather terrifying middle-school home ec. teacher. Then I taught myself for a few years before heading off to college and majoring in apparel design, where I picked up all kinds of new skills and information and unlearned a few bad habits. But where's the Stitch 'n Bitch for sewers? I've found one prime candidate online: Burdastyle. This site offers free downloadable patterns, photo and video how-to's, a "sewpedia" of terms and (best of all) a series of inspirational challenges and minichallenges.

T-shirt laptop sleeve

Following on the success of my T-shirt messenger bag, I used two more shirts to make a padded sleeve for my son's laptop. Each side is a sandwich of T-shirt fabric, fusible fleece interfacing (it's a bit thicker than the usual type) and a cotton-twill lining. He didn't want a zipper, so I didn't use one, but it would not have been too hard to insert one before the side panels were joined. Skills needed: careful measuring and cutting, iron-on interfacing, machine sewing. Total time: about half an hour.

The good life: refashioning and mending party

The NWL household was a-buzz Saturday afternoon with the sound of sewing machines. My daughter and I each had a stack of projects, and since I currently have two sewing machines and she has none, we scheduling a "sewing party" (to quote my 7-year-old granddaughter). Between 11 AM and 7 PM, we did the following between us:

finished the T-shirt messenger bag
made a laptop sleeve out of two more T-shirts (description coming as soon as I can get it back!)
made a cloth and vinyl photo wallet for K to take to Girl Scout camp
inserted elastic into my son-in-law's too roomy swimming trunks (actually he did 95% of the work on that one)
mended a wonderful vintage apron (late 40s, early 50s)
mended K's night gown
mended K's ruffly tie-dye skirt
turned a floaty triangular remnant into a tulip skirt for a little girl's make-believe
started a terry cloth head wrap made of old towels

Somewhere along the way, stories were told, dinner was served, the dog was walked and origami ornaments were produced.

Total cost of supplies: under $10.
Amount of stuff diverted from the trash: a pile about 3 feet high
"new" items produced: 9

Value of time spent together as a family: priceless.

Who says sustainable living means sacrificing "the good life"?

T-shirt messenger bag

My Wardrobe Refashion project for this week was challenging, but immense fun. My college-student son asked if it would be possible to make a messenger bag for him out of a few of his favorite T-shirts. With his permission, I sacrificed the old bag to make a pattern (and scavenge the shoulder strap). I used fusible interfacing to stiffen it and lined it with canvas to add stability. Eight hours later, he has a new, one-of-a kind bag and is thrilled with the results. So am I!

The actual design was pretty simple; what made it hard was the stretchiness of the T-shirts and sewing the seam binding around the edges, especially when it got thick.



The finished messenger bag, front.

To see more pictures, follow the link to my Flickr photos.

extreme refashioning

If thrift store shopping and refashioning enjoyed the sudden popularity of ethanol, would middle-class green fashionistas drive up the prices and deplete supplies of clothing needed by the poor?

I am participating in the Wardrobe Refashion challenge by remaking little-worn garments in my own closet, while using up my neglected fabric stash. My goal is not only to refrain from buying new garments for the next two months, but to maintain -- or reduce -- the size of my wardrobe by September 1. I figure that by transforming, mending or altering an item a week, I will have eight more options in my closet than I do now. Accomplishing that economically and ethically is what I'm all about this summer.

My latest project was a pair of well-loved but little-worn shirts. I loved the fabrics -- one is a celery-colored linen shirt with faggoting trim and the other is a cotton-linen plaid in gorgeous blues and greens. The problem with both: the sleeves are too short. I'm 5'9", and it's a common issue, which I usually solve by buying Tall sizes or 3/4-length sleeves. But I was too weak to resist these two, and seldom wore them, as a result. Less than an hour's worth of work, and I have a lovely celery green 3/4 length shirt-jacket (I added some machine embroidery on the collar and cuffs in a very light pink) and a fabulous short sleeve plaid shirt.

Look ma! My pants stay up now!

My second foray into refashioning is even more boring than my first -- I inserted elastic into the waistband of a pair of lightweight denim cropped pants. I bought them on sale last summer because they were just what I was looking for (right length, deep pockets, transitional weight fabric that would take me into fall) but they had one flaw that revealed itself on the first wearing. They fit great in the dressing room, and for about the first hour after washing. But by the end of the day, the waistband was riding lower and (even more annoyingly) so was the crotch. I was wearing them less than twice a month, usually on laundry day -- and certainly NOT out in public!

Here's the fix:

I cut a piece of elastic wide enough to fit in the waistband and about an inch and a half shorter than the distance from one from belt loop to the other, going around the back of the pants. I threaded it through the waistband (using the time-honored giant safety pin method) and tacked it down by machine right under each belt loop, so the stitching is not visible.

Degree of difficulty: sharp scissors and sewing machine basics
Materials: about 24" of 3/4" elastic and thread to match pants
Time: about 20 minutes (could have been less if I had the TV off)

Results: pants that stay up and get worn twice a week, including to my favorite local brew pub.

The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

I, Jo "Nice White Lady" Paoletti, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of
"new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 / 4 / 6 months. I pledge that I shall refashion,renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated,recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that my thriftiness brings!

Signed JP, the NWL.

Pamoyo -- Green Design with a Difference

Since I set up my various ecofashion news and blog alerts many months ago, my inbox has been flooded with PR from dozens -- nay, scores -- of emerging designers and boutiques. Some are interesting, but too many were just the same ol' same ol' -- all about the fiber (100% cotton! bamboo, the wonder fiber!) both otherwise built on the existing industry model. After a while, the eyes glaze over.

Enter Pamayo, the brainchild of a Swedish designer living in Berlin. It has the usual stuff -- sustainable fibers, repurposed vintage -- but it promises to add one interesting twist: it is the first open source fashion label, as in Creative Commons. (You may need to scroll down on the blog; it was posted on April 28.) They plan to publish patterns and designs online, thereby connecting the DIY and independent design community with a RTW fashion line.

I have only one, tiny quibble.In their April 22 blog entry, I find this:

"Every piece is hand made and unique. Integrated recycled materials and a rough sewing style make them feel authentic and exclusive." As a craftsperson, I rankle at the suggestion that it is necessary to "dumb down" my technique to convince prospective customers of the authenticity of the product. For centuries before the industrial revolution, people made beautiful handmade textiles, clothing, pottery and other goods. No one expects a homebrew to taste crude and nasty; why does microproduced fashion have to be rough and amateurish?

DIY Eco-Friendly Cosmetics

I love the fine people at Threadbanger, with all their creativity and enthusiasm. After you watch their video on "How to Make Eco Cosmetics", you may love them too!