Published on May 9th, 2008
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You’ve now cut your old jeans to make a sexy upcycled mini skirt, craft supply organizer or I-pod case- what do you do with all those…well, leg scraps laying around? In a few simple & experimental steps you can have a super eco craft that has double the earth loving power- an upcycled denim BYOB (bring you own bag) tote! Not only is it eco savvy to reuse your old jeans but this crafty shopper will help stop the plastic bag litter that is poisoning ground water & soil. This sassy project deserves 2 green stars!
You Will Need:
*legs left over from your last denim craft project
*scissors
*sewing machine or turn of the century hand sewing skills
*thread of a fun contrasting color
STEP #1: Choosing - I chose legs from two different stone washed jeans to make subtle contrasting stripes, but you can use any number scrap colors. You can also go for the mono color look, and let the thread be your main contrast.
STEP #2: Cutting - Now is the time to lay out those jean legs and cut them open. You will want to save the thick seams for the straps of the bag, so cut directly up the seams on both sides and remove them. Then cut 9 rectangles at 13inch X 5 inch ( you can make them larger or smaller if you’d like to change the size of the bag, as long as every rectangle is the same exact size.) Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 8th, 2008
After the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge popped up in the news again, my mind couldn’t help but think of all of the great wildlife found in the arctic and in Alaska; the porcupine caribou, the arctic fox, and the polar bear. But do you know of the musk ox?
The musk ox is a large gentle creature similar in weight and stature to a buffalo. They have large curved horns and long shaggy hair and are more closely related to goats and sheep than to oxen. I first fell in love with these animals when I was researching the arctic a while back for work. For those of you that have watched the Planet Earth series you know how cute they are.
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Published on May 8th, 2008
Autumn recently posted The Eco-Crafters List of Demands, asking green crafters what they would like to see stocked in the craft store of their dreams. Katherine Cota of Spindle Bell had quite a few suggestions:
My ideal craft shop would have EVERYTHING! I love it all. I would especially love a great supply of pretty recycled papers and unique recycled beads. Non-toxic glues/adhesives, glass etching solution, paints. Unique synthetic yarns AND more stylish (affordable) knitting needles/crochet hooks.
Katherine also mentioned that she had stopped shopping at mainstream craft stores, but had concerns about the independent online retailers as well. How do you know their business practices are any better?
I can definitely sympathize with Katherine. In my fantasies, I can walk down the street and shop at a grocery store where everything is organic and either local or fair trade. Anything I see that I want, I can have without worrying if I’m doing something bad to the planet or people. Put a craft store next to that grocery store and I would be in heaven.
While we wait, though, I thought I would round up some recycled and fair trade beads we can all feel good about:
While this isn’t the same as walking into an all-green, fair trade craft store, it’s a start. If you have a favorite source for earth-friendly, people-friendly beads, please share it in the comments.
[Image from eShopAfrica.]
Published on May 6th, 2008
One of my favorite exhibits at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is the Japanese Arms and Armor collection… because it’s where they also keep several kimono. So beautiful. So priceless. So likely to get me in trouble if I touch them.
Lucky for me, vintage kimono fabric is available elsewhere without the bother of glass cases and security guards. I found out about online shop Ah! Kimono when I came across Maitreya’s cute flower pin on Craftlog. Ah! Kimono imports used and vintage kimono from Japan and resells the fabric.
Owner Cheri Bridges describes the founding of Ah! Kimono as follows:
In the ’80’s and ’90’s a person could buy 200 lb. bales of used kimono. The very idea of that seemed so amazing, but what would I do with that many kimono I wondered. I really just wanted a few of them to line some hand woven garments. In 1991, I was taking a garment class with a wonderful group of adventurous women. We decided to split a bale of kimono so that we could learn more about the textiles.
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Published on May 5th, 2008
Surprise, surprise the weather turned gorgeous this past weekend here in our Nations capital and I enjoyed the sun outside at a few choice locations. Usually one to bring along my own water bottle when venturing outdoors, I forgot. Inevitably I got thirsty in the hot sun and needed to quench it. So, I did the one thing that I really hate to do and bought a bottled water.
I know. I know. We actually all know the reasons not to do this. But my thirst won out and I was left with a happy sigh and an empty bottle.
To give myself a little bit of redemption, I gladly toted the empty bottle around for the rest of the day with all intentions for bringing it home, destined for the recycle bin. On my return home, I instead left it on my desk and contemplated the water bottle’s next life as a possible craft.
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Published on May 5th, 2008
Cork is just one of those materials that I never give much thought to. It just keeps my wine fresh and makes a great organizational board. Lately, however, I have seen cork popping up more and more on Etsy and discovered that it is actually a great environmentally friendly product. Here is what I learned:
Cork is harvested from the outer layer of bark of the Cork Oak tree found mostly in the Mediterranean. The bark is harvested every ten years, with each harvest producing a softer batch of cork. By keeping these trees in production, they provide homes to wildlife in about 1800 acres of cork forests and provides many jobs to the people of who harvest the cork by hand. Cork is also 100% recyclable! Of course they can be used for these cool crafts, but companies like Yemm & Hart also collect donated wine corks to make products like tile flooring. This sustainability and ability to recycle make cork an environmentally conscious crafting choice!
These images are just a few cork crafts I discovered on Etsy! Check out their shops for even more!
- Classic Chair Cork Coasters from Annacote
- Cork Beehive Brooch from Ottoman
- The UN-DIamond Cork Ring from Uncorked
Tell me about your cork crafts in a comment!
Published on May 2nd, 2008
This is a fabulous fun mini skirt project that will leave you some left over scraps for a DIY ‘bring your own bag’ project after. Don’t fret, it’s quite easy to make those jeans into a denim mini!
Supplies Needed :
*Funky jeans past their prime (beyond patching or your style threshold)
*Scissors
*Sewing machine or mad hand sewing skills
*Thread of any color you enjoy
Step one: Choosing - use either old jeans, or thrift jeans that you really love the color of but you just don’t wear that MC Hammer style anymore. Just make sure the jeans fit your hip or waist where you plan to wear the skirt.
Step two: Length - I like mine short, and I measure it against a skirt I already own that is the length I like by laying them flat on top one another. It’s a good idea to start with a longer length, since you can always go back and cut it shorter. Decide whether you want it to hit your knee, mid thigh, or super high.
Step three: Cutting- Once you know the length, cutting will be easy. Cut straight across both the legs at the length measured and wa-la, now you have some jean shorts! But you want a sexy mini, so take the scissors and begin cutting the inner seam line and cut open the crotch of the jeans. Then cut along the front seam up to the zipper. (If you made your skirt longer you may want to cut along the back seam 2-3 inches, so it doesn’t pucker in the back when you sew it back together.) Read the rest of this entry »
Published on May 1st, 2008
In Kelly’s recent post Tools To Use: Batting, she outlined several organic and sustainable choices for quilt batting - including my favorite, Hobbs Heirloom Organic Cotton Batting. Kelly was curious, though, about re-using old blankets or sheets instead.
Being creative with your quilt ingredients is part of the history of quilting. Now granted, many of the choices that early quilters made were due to economic constraints. I suspect that if the pioneers had sewing machines and fabric shops readily and affordably available, a lot of them would have taken advantage of those options. However, quilting does have a historical ethic of conservation and re-use. Quilters today manifest this ethic through the obsessive saving of fabric scraps too small for any reasonable project, “just in case.”
So if you’re willing to look past batting, there are other earth-friendly alternatives for your quilt’s insides. Your linen closet, thrift stores, or donations from other people’s sewing supplies may provide just what you need. Read the rest of this entry »
Published on April 29th, 2008
Michael Miller Fabrics is co-sponsoring a Baby Bootie contest with Craft Magazine. I would love to see a green crafter win this with organic or recycled materials.
I do suspect there’s some kind of craft hive mind episode going on here, because I’ve planned to write about their organic fabric line this week - and just last week, Autumn posted here at Crafting A Green World about recycled handmade shoes. I fully intend to investigate this set of coincidences, but first let’s talk about Michael Miller Organics.
Michael Miller Fabrics launched its organic line at the beginning of the year. The sneak peek on their blog last fall included a shot of the supercute booties shown here. That blog post gave a snapshot of some of the challenges facing folks who want to bring organic cotton to market:
Did you know that organic cotton has to be grown for at least three years without chemical pesticides, defoliants, or fertilizers? It costs more because organic farms are more labor and management intensive. They’re also usually smaller and do not receive federal subsidies like conventional farming.
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Published on April 28th, 2008
For those of you on the West coast, this weekend is an amazing 2 day event packed full to the brim with DIY goodness. Put on by Make Magazine and Craft Magazine, Maker Faire celebrates things people create themselves—from electronic gizmos, to “slow made” foods and homemade clothes. The event is a non-stop “wow-fest” where surprises and inspiration are as ubiquitous as the festival air.
The 2008 Bay Area Maker Faire will put a special emphasis on “Green” living. There will be a huge exhibit featuring Farm Aid’s Homegrown Village, a local farmer’s market, Swap-O-Rama-Rama’s giant used clothing swap, DIY workshops and fashion show, Bazaar Bizarre’s crafts fair, a live Prius plug-in car conversion from Bay Area’s Calcars.org, and much, much more.
The Swap-O-Rama-Rama is a huge clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops. Bring a bag of your unwanted clothes to swap with other participants and then learn to make modifications or totally transform your new finds. Recycling reused clothing has never been more fun.
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