The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge
I Caroline,
Pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months.
I Pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle pre-loved items for myself for the term of my contract.
I Pledge that I shall create and craft items of clothing 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!
I rarely buy new clothes so I doubt I'll have trouble with keeping that side of the pledge for the next couple of months - but what I'm interested in is revamping some of my old clothes or inventing new ones. As a child I used to create all sorts of clothes out of newspaper, some of which would get translated into fabric - I found this a lot more fun than the proper dressmaking that someone attempted to teach me in needlework classes at school - talk about how to kill an interest for me - you take all the creativity out and call all experiments errors!
As a student I used to haunt jumble sales and charity shops and though its ages since I've been to a jumble sale I still haunt the charity shops. There are lots near here:
Amnesty Bookshop, 103 Gloucester Rd - books from 20p
British Heart Foundation, 191 Gloucester Rd
Cancer Research, 9-10 Gloucester Rd
Marie Curie Cancer Care, 107 Gloucester Rd
Mind, 167 Gloucester Rd
St. Peter's Hospice, 95, Gloucester Rd
Sue Ryder Foundation, 145 Gloucester Rd
Tenovus, 181 & 285 Gloucester Rd
As far as previous experiences of altering clothes go I had one pair of trousers that I would doodle on in biro whilst I was wearing them and then take them off and embroider the doodle. I've added various embroideries to other things too but nothing at all recently. Like most people I've hacked the ends off a pair of jeans to make cut-off shorts. And once I went so far as to screen print some T-shirts... now much more easily done by printing out iron-on transfers... I did one of those last year... but nothing since I've been blogging...
If you want to join in you need to sign up soon - registrations will be closed once it gets started until the end of July when the first 2 month stint is up. Visit Wardrobe Refashion
Is there anything that you used to like to do that seems to have fallen by the wayside since you've been blogging?
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24 comments:
I love the idea of doodling on jeans and then embroidering. Even I could do that and I'm a complete disaster with needle and thread! Great idea -- I want to see what you do since I'm such a loser in the fabric dept.
PS Gloucester Rd is clearly *the* place to be.
wow...it's like we're sharing the same brain (i honestly don't mean that in the insulting way that it came out!)
this past weekend i purchased a book about redoing T shirts and started a post about it yesterday...i have been thinking that it is ridiculous that with all the clothes i have in my closet that i don't just use them to make new ones...today i visited a thrift shop at lunchtime to get some Ts because i gave all my old ones to charity (how ironic) but at least even though i bought "new" ones today they are being recycled :-)
sorry for blathering on so...i just cannot believe the timeliness of you post!! going to the website right now...
cannot wait to see what you make/post!!
Hey, thanks for this link. I am going to sleep on it. If it still seems like a good idea tomorrow morning I am joining.
Nevermind. I am just going to join. Period.
Andrea - sewing and embroidery etc. were things that I really did not like being taught... oh the number of times they told me to undo and redo! But I also do not like not being able to do something.... I went from the worst embroiderer in class to selling embroidered patches to my class mates.
Susanlavonne - I thought there wasn't as much space as usual in here! Glad it was timely for you. And I look forward to seeing what you do too - sometimes I've found it easier to cut up charity bought clothes than old ones I've owned so maybe it'll work out better the way you're doing it.
Krista - excellent - I'll look forward to where you go with this too.
That's awesome. There's a lot to be said for reusing and recycling things that are still good. The world has gotten so wasteful and everything has become so disposable these days. And of course the planet isn't getting any bigger. I think what your doing is going to be the way of the future for many people, if we start wisening up. I myself am very much like that in purchasing used cds and books. Anyway, good for you!
I can't wait to see this!
two months?! do people shop that regularly? that explains why i get funny looks whenever i go to the mall...
there's a recycle/re-use scheme in gloucestershire. you put stuff online you don't need anymore and people who do come around and take it off your hands - furniture, books, old bikes and all sorts.
it's a bit like eBay but without the sense of capitalism. there's a link, of course, but i don't know it offhand.
Steve - thanks - I like the idea of doing more than I've already been doing which is why I've joined this group - I hope lots of people find different ways to do more.
Joy Eliz - I hope you aren't diappointed - I was wondering about using some of the camel exchange images on t-shirts...
Ian - some people do shop a lot more often - do you realise we could accidentally walk past each other at the mall one day if our three times a year trips happened to coincide... - I've only gone for 2 weeks as one of the commitments is to blog about it weekly and I know that sometimes I may not have that much to say... I'd like to know about the Gloucestershire swapping site. Bristol does quite a lot to recycle and today we've had some mysterious flyers (littering everywhere!!!) saying that things are going to change again and they'll let us know more later...
This is quite intertesting. Thrifting can be really fun. You never know what you are going to find. I may consider this as well. It all depends on how big I get this pregnancy. Here is hoping all my clothes don't start getting too snug. Plus I really dislike shopping. Great post. Cheers!
Holly - I think there is a pregnant woman already doing the challenge so you wouldn't be alone.
I've seen this pledge at a few sites I visit...sounds interesting. I myself can't sew a straight square pillow. I don't think I could do this challenge. I like the smell of new clothes too much, heehee.
Can't wait to see what you come up with!
a.
I signed up for the 4 month stint, and I'm looking forward to it. I really need this to push me into doing something about the large quantity of clothes I have in my this-would-be-really-great-if-it-was-just-______ (fill in the blank with anything from "smaller" to "less hideous" ) pile.
By the way, thanks for the nice comments you left on my blog. If you like the look of Japanese craft books you should check out Crafting Japanese. It's a small sort of database of them that is really handy (and inspiring). I was drooling over the books I saw there for quite a while before I braved the Amazon Japan site to buy some for myself.
No I still do all the things I love to do, but I love this post because a couple months ago I decided this very thing and i used to buy a lot of my wardrobe vintage and from the thrift shops when i was young so when i was reading your posts i felt like kindred spirits with everything you write about! I limit my blog intake so that i don't compromise my other interests. But when i first started blogging i blogged to much...
well, caroline, i didn't realise how big this thing was...
when i posted earlier, i was certain it was a gloucestershire organization. talking to the missus last night - for i confess it is she that does the horse trading in our house - she said no, it is a nationwide thing!
but this morning, looking up the website, i find it is a global movement!
obviously, for practical purposes it is managed on a local basis - you'll need to look down the list to find your area. here's the url...
www.freecycle.org/
Andrea - sewing straight lines is hard! And getting the corners to come out well even harder - but there are techniques that help.
Petula Darling - I have one of those piles too, also a pile of clothes actually bought to be altered and not yet ready to wear! Thanks for the info on the Japanese books.
Valgalart - I suspect I still blog too much... but thinking about it what has displaced has taken up my time has really been getting to grips with Painter IX and playing with that and although that is a consequence of blogging its not really fair to blame the time on blogging...
Ian Russell - I've joined the Bristol group now thanks for the link! How odd this week I've joined several yahoo groups - before I'd only joined that one and it was just the way I got onto a mailing list, clearly the time for this, thanks again.
Wow, Gloucester Rd. must be a busy place.
I love Value Village, which is a huge second hand "department" store. You have to be willing to take the time to find good stuff, and it helps to know labels. I've found killer bargains there.
I love creating "new" from "old." I often shop at the salvation army and goodwill for fabrics...and clothes.
I'm not as enthusiastic as I was once, about redesigning clothes I find. Maybe it's my age. I'm happy in a pair of jeans and a clean blouse. Though I am still known to embellish my jeans. I guess I am still a hippy, after all.
ROFL
This wouldn't be hard for me....I never shop,I've been sewing since I was twelve, and I already love thrift stores. I do think I'm blogging FAR TOO MUCH! I'm cutting back, so I can get back out in my garden!
Wandering Coyote - the Gloucester Road is great - lots of cafes and restaurants too.
Catnapping - well I've decided that I need to embrace my inner hippy - thanks for naming it!
Janet - Wow maybe you could give me some ideas please! (Though not if it keeps you from your garden!)
I can't even remember what I did before blogging... I must have done something...
Hey, this is inspiring stuff. I rarely buy new stuff, too--but I rarely buy clothes period! Ha! I'm not much of a giddy shopper, but you're reminding me that I do have some neat stuff in the back of my closet that could use some revamping....
Oh well, I will likely get a thump on the head 4 this but here goes ... there is some really fun NEW stuff out there! So between drawing on your pants & artizing ur Ts, support your local economy & shop. ; )
My new favorite store (& today they are having a big TENT SALE in my hood): http://anthropologie. I just love this stuff. Works for my hippie & inner child Tarty modes. I think it would compliment all home made threads as well & your laminated cardboard thing fm Kyknoord's bloggy, natch!
So happy recycling & shopping,
The Tart
; )
Anthropologie
Hope this link works!
Smooch,
The Tart
Viking - I hope you weren't boiling milk!
Roz Foster - I've begun the search amongst my old clothes and discovered that almost everything I own is in need of some sort of revamping!
Jocelyn - I know and that link looks good - amongst those "old" clothes are quite a few new ones that I bought especially to modify but haven't got around to yet... I need to sort those out before I buy new. (oh dear I was trying to avoid buying any of Kyknoord's cardboard miracles... now I can see I'll just have to have one or two)
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