Upcycling is everywhere with money being tight and people becoming more concerned about waste. Fashion is taking a massive u-turn as folks turn from the catwalk to the charity shop in a bid to have something no one else does. The perfect find can be tricky but there are ways to end up with that one-off everyone else will want.
Adventures in dressmaking offers up a dress a day. An ambitious target that they almost live up to with an impressive amount of information on all things sew-flavoured.
The tutorial on how to take apart and reuse a garment takes a simple mumu dress and helps you turn it into something sassy. Step-by-step photos help you on your way with clear and concise instructions.
Excellent stuff for those of us who need to find affordable fashion from almost empty pockets.
We all have t-shirts that we love to death and find it hard to part with when they start to lose their t-shirt youth. You've been through so much together why should you throw your beloved tee away? What better way to honour your t-shirt than by turning it into a pair of funky undies and giving it a whole new life?
The Zen of Making's Haley Pierson-Cox quite agrees that loved clothes should be allowed a second chance. The Brooklyn magician of making shares her plan for turning an old t-shirt pantswise to help you 'upcycle' for the ultimate in undie creation.
Haley uses one of her husband's old t-shirts in her tutorial, which suggests he was finished with his tees.
We suggest you ask the t-shirt wearer before you start creating undercrackers, or, if they have one you really like, you can always spill curry/red wine/engine oil on it to make it unwearable and perfect pants material...
I'm all for turning something that was wearable into something that is more wearable now. Want to know how to turn a small selection of stuff you rarely wear into a new pair of boots anyone? Of course you do.
The thrifty and crafty Starr X of Cut Out and Keep has come up with a quick and simple tutorial to turn mix a cheap pair of flats, an old sweater, and lots of hot glue into a fine pair of boots made for walking.
See the full tutorial in glorious photos here and get your glue gun going.
The credit crunch may seem to be tailing off but that doesn't mean we haven't learned a few thrifty lessons from it all. We're looking for craft we can recycle, reuse and repurpose.
Momtaz Begum-Hossain, a crafty girl on a mission to make stuff, gives us a helpful shove in the direction of charity shops with some helpful tips.
Momtaz's Top 10 Rules for Clothes Shopping in Charity Shops should hopefully help with that feeling you get when you walk into the sea of second hand style and feel a little lost.
She takes you through the dangers of Primark rejects, looking for labels, getting on good terms with the staff and having fun while you ferret through the rails and rails of bargains.
With the ten rules at hand you should be able to dress yourself for less worry free.
I like the idea of 'plarn': yarn made from plastic bags and used to make all manner of reusable planet-friendly stuff. The trouble is that it's not a straight forward to knit with as your average run-of-the-mill yarn. With a new fibre a bit of guidance is sometimes helpful. This is where the new book Eco-Friendly Knits using Recycled Plastic Bags by the green-needled Emily Blades comes in.
The new book features 20 patterns to turn your yarn into a perfectly purled piece. The items range from the expected plarn bag to the unusual plarn earrings with a few plastic-based twists in between.
Perfect for keeping it green while you keep the sharp edge of your stitching knowledge keen.
(Insiders info: Stitch and Bitch London are running a competition to win one of five shiny plastic copies on our blog too. Feel free to join us and enter.)
People are much more eco-friendly these days and Valentine's Day is no excuse to fall off the green wagon. Flying blooms in from the deepest Amazonian jungle just doesn't cut it anymore as your intended recoils in horror at the carbon footprint of the perfumed posy. It makes perfect sense to go green with your pinks.
The Pompom Emporium features two how to tutorials on some fabulous fabric flowers.
The first bunch are Anjie's Ribbon Roses, made from 'lucky dip' ribbon from her local haberdashery's bargain bin. Graduated coloured ribbon gives them a perfect in-bloom effect.
The second bunch of Zip It! flowers are a bit more steampunk. They're made from zips with the teeth side out giving them a bit of a sweet but sinister air.
A minimal amount of sewing up creates both, there's no rifling through cupboards to find a vase to put them in before they start wilting and you'll be recycling for romance.
Huge woolly jumpers are often lurking quietly in draws soaking up the smell of moth balls and lamenting the fact that they will never escape to be worn at fancy parties. It's a sad tale that happens in many a crafty household. But wait. There is a way to give giant jumpers a second life.
Craftser member Frithalouise show you how to turn the humongous into something hot and handmade in a matter of hours. Wielding a sewing machine, some scissors and a bit of clever work with pins (avoiding stabbing yourself is a necessary step) jumper becomes sassy little dress.
See the full how to here.
New life for the drawer-lurking jumper and a new outfit for you. Everyone, but the moths, is happy.
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