Created by quippingqueen (contact me)
Who knew so many funky things could be made from curious cast-offs!
The Quipping Queen and Empress of Eccentri... (more...)
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WELCOME TO CAST-OFF COUTURE
This light-hearted lens is devoted to cast-off couture.
What's that you ask? Well, it's a funky fashion trend that's based on making garb from garbage.
In this world of fast-food and fast-fashion, it's all about redesigning, reconstructing, and repurposing recyclables ...in a nutshell, creating wicked wearables from waste.
RECYCLING AND RE-USING RAGS MAKES SENSE!
Surprising new life awaits your cast-off clothing.Instead of storing clothes than rarely see the light of day in your closet or a trunk in your attic, give them to charity.
Who knows, your once trendy bell-bottoms, tie-dyed toga, cashmere sweater or flannelette nightgown may enjoy a bit of reincarnation as a factory floor mop, a pair of wooly winter mittens, ground up to make carpets, paper and car upholstery, or else on it's way to Africa or Asia to find a new life.
The recycled rag business has been steadily increasing over the last decade fueled by higher demand from used clothing dealers and exporters, rag wipers and polishers, and fiber recyclers.
According to the U.S. Council of Clothing Recyclers, charities process about 500 million pounds of recycled clothing annually (enough to fill 12,500 40-foot freight containers).
While charities provide tax receipts for donated clothing, textile recyclers pay millions of dollars to churches and charitable organizations for the left-overs they can't sell (like sweaters in July or bathing suits in December).
Rest assured that whatever sassy seamstresses and clothing collectors can't recycle and re-use, there will always be a humongous hand-me-down market as long as consumers keep buying all manner of cutting-edge clothing.
TRASHION TRIVIA
JEST-IN-TIME JEWELLRY
Paper Chasers will love them!
Egads Earrings (from aluminum pop-can tabs)
Button Bracelets (for babes only!)
Ripsnorting Repurposing (Dangerous Lady Necklace).
Entertaining Earings -- Her Creative Slip is Showing!
Monopoly Charm Bracelet for Moneybags!
Delightful Danglies from Odds & Ends
A bit of fun and funky for felines only!
Bird Brains will love this one!
Bodacious Bracelet (from old magazines)
BOOKS ON BAUBLES, BANGLES & BEADS!
Sparkletastic: Dazzling Jewelry and Fashion Projects for the Discriminating Diva (Impatient Beader)
Cast-off craft projects for beadazzled!
Amazon Price: $13.39 (as of 05/13/2008)
Bejeweled: Beautiful Fashion Jewelry to Make and Wear Using Crystals, Beads, and Charms
Easy-to-make recycled jewels of joy!
Amazon Price: $18.21 (as of 05/13/2008)
Simply Beautiful Beaded Jewelry: 50 Quick and Easy Projects
50 things you can do with old beads!
Amazon Price: $13.59 (as of 05/13/2008)
The Impatient Beader Gets Inspired: A Crafty Chick's Guide to Instant Inspiration
It's never to late to learn what to do with odds and ends (no experience necessary).
Amazon Price: $13.59 (as of 05/13/2008)
Hip to Bead: 32 Contemporary Projects for Today's Beader (Hip to . . . Series)
Whimsical wear -- or how to may something fun & funky!
Amazon Price: $15.56 (as of 05/13/2008)
TREAT YOURSELF TO TRASHY TRINKETS!
Are you bored with brand-name baubles?Then it's time to treat yourself to some trashy trinkets. (Note: These thingamybobs are for chic cheapskates only!)
Yard-sale enthusiasts with attitude usually grasp the fundamentals of having fun with frippery.
So cast your eyes about and pick up all manner of odds and ends to make "Vintage Button Bracelets" (found in your Granny's sewing box), "Naughty Necklaces" (made from pop can tab tops), or "Egads Earings" (fashioned from the Gods of Junk).
FUNKY FOOTWEAR FASHIONS
Shoes for Smarty-Arts.
Footwear for flamboyant types!
They go with absolutely everything!!!
Wicked welly boots for wonks!
Treat yourself to techie-toes!
Funky footwear for funky folk!
Rubber boots will never be the same!
Gloomy Day Gumboots!
Punky Boots naturally!
Blue Sky Boot (for fairweather friends)
TRASHION TRIVIA
GET GAUDY WITH GOURMET GUMBOOTS
Quit whining about somebody raining on your parade.Get out and start your own parade...replete with gaudy gumboots that will amaze your fear-minded friends and flummox your family (who may think you've lost your marbles).
If you have trouble connecting the dots or painting by numbers, you'll have no trouble with this craft project.
Hit the flea-market, a garage sale, or rustle around in your attic to retrieve a pair of gumboots or galoshes. Then pick-up some acrylic paints at a craft store and decorate them with doodles.
Exercise your creative flair - think big, think colorful, think fun and you're half way there.
If doodles don't do it...then grab a glue gun and stick all sorts of bits and pieces to your rubber boots. Because if you don't want to wear them for fear of criticism from your spouse, neighbor or your kids...at least you can use them as an alternative to buying flower pots this year!
RIPSNORTING RECYCLE REPOSITORY
FUNKY CURTAINS (from recycled plastic)
WHIMSICAL WHATNOT (when is a paintbrush not a paintbrush?)
BREAKFAST-CEREAL BOOKCOVERS (why not!)
RECYCLED KEYBOARDS - Funky Fridge Magnets
MIRTHFUL MOTORBIKE (what to do with bits & pieces)
JOLLY PUMPKIN SNOWMEN?
OLD PLATE (Why not draw & paint them)
RECYCLED SCULPTURE (funny fish)
GIVING OLD IMAGES NEW LIFE!
JUST A BUNCH OF CAST-OFF CANS!
PET PONCHO (for pets who hate winter)
RABBITWEAR (for those with large ears)
COLORFUL CLOAK FOR ROARING RECYLEMAN!
A SAD SACK (recycled plastic)
WEEE MAN (recycled appliances and parts)
WONDERFUL WEARABLE ART FOR WICKED WENCHES
Forget about forking out the mega moolah for maven-ware.Why not let your inner child out to play with some scissors, thread, needles, and oodles of old clothing that has seen better days.
Today is your "Creative Clothing Day" -- time to whip up your customized clothing. Who says fashion can't be funky and fun? Tap into your genial genes and have a flair affair!
When you've zapped and zipped your zingy little number together, why not hold a "Trashion Show", and donate the proceeds to your favorite charity.
If you need a few hints on how to do it, pick up a book by Virginia Avery entitled, Wonderful Wearables.
JUST FOR THE FRILL OF IT!
Just for the Frill of It: 25 Flirty, Fabulous Styles to Make from Clothes You Already Own
A stitch in time for flirty felines pays off handsomely!
Amazon Price: $9.58 (as of 05/13/2008)
Antique Trader Vintage Clothing Price Guide (Antique Trader)
Introduction to vintage clothing - for value-oriented vixens.
Amazon Price: $16.49 (as of 05/13/2008)
After a Fashion: How to Reproduce, Restore, and Wear Vintage Styles
How to reproduce, restore and reclaim bygone bits and pieces!
Amazon Price: $27.36 (as of 05/13/2008)
Viva Vintage: Find It, Wear It, Love It!
Somethings never go out of style...so find it and flaunt it!
Amazon Price: (as of 05/13/2008)
Retro Chic: A Guide to Fabulous Vintage and Designer Resale Shopping in North America and Online
For retro-chic reusers only!
Amazon Price: (as of 05/13/2008)
CAST-OFFS IN THE NEWS
- THRILLING THREADS!
- Who says old threads can't take on a new life?
- REEL CLOTHES
- They sell old movie props and clothes used in films...a steal of a deal!
- THE SCOOP ON OLD DUDS
- All you wanted to ever know about the cost of North American clothing addiction.
BATTY BOOKMARKS FOR DRESS-CHALLENGED DUMPSTER DIVERS
CRAZY COUTURE MEANS CUFF LOVE!
Finding new uses for discarded dregs and dross is what makes Contexture Design in Vancouver, one of a kind!The company names says it all -- they creatively alter the context of the materials they use to evoke new textures.
The owners, Nathan Lee and Trevor Coghill, both studied landscape architecture at the University of British, are definitely into recycling not only on an ecological level but also on a cultural level.
Ardent thrift-shoppers, they also rely on friends who bring in odds and ends that they hate to see thrown out such as high-end cabinetry veneer with a gorgeous grain.
"Cuff Love" was born from just such a serendipitous second-hand inspiriation. Handmade jewellry reclaimed from exotic wood veneers such as the popular "Bentwood Cuff Cuffs" retail now for $68. These bling bracelets also serve as disposable java jackets used to protect caffeine swiggers' fingers from hot cups.
These artful alchemists know how to turn old skates into a pair of posh boots, laces and all, while well-worn bowling shoes become wicked wallets, and scrap wood is reworked into fashion rings, belt buckles, money clips and that ultimate identity piece, dog tags.
As if that wasn't enough, they've also managed to figure out how to combine groovy entertainment formats that evoke memories of the past with the latest, hippest music technology ...by refashioning old vinyl records and cassette tapes into iPod Nano protectors.
Life Lesson #11: Never discard dross...because behind it there's definitely design gold!
LITTLE BITTY LINK LIST
- VINTAGE CLOTHING
- A great spot to find out about vintage clothing!
- VINTAGE JEWELRY & FASHIONS
- Where vintage vixens will find everything they need to get in the siren spirit!
- VINTAGE GODDESS
- For sassy, second-hand clothing collectors!
- SYDNEY'S VINTAGE CLOTHING
- A great resource for ripsnorting remnants!
TANTALIZING TRIVIA ABOUT TOSSED-OUT TEXTILES
For those who can't sew worth a darn or who are bored out of their environmentally-friendly tree, here's some tantalizing trivia about tossed out textiles.Did you know that the average Canuck, (those weird winterland wunderkins who live north of the 49th parallel), accounts for 7 kilograms per person of textile waste (from bedding to clothes and curtains) which ends up in landfills every year?
As if that's not enough, did you know that 85 per cent of recyclable clothing is thrown away annually, when more than 80 per cent still have 75 per cent of their wearability left?
Think of it, if every conservation-minded, clothing-conscious consumer in this country full of environmentally-friendly beavers, blackflies and big brown bears bought just one reclaimed woolen garment each year -- it would save an average of 300 gallons of water not to mention and 400 tonnes of chemical dyes.
Lest one feel a tad overwhelmed by these not-so-friendly numbers, rest assured those Crazy Canucks who spend a good deal of time whacking hockey pucks around most of the year, do do their part to save the planet by recycling their remnants. Each year more than 75,000 tonnes of textile waste is recycled into raw materials for the automotive, furniture, mattress, course yarn, home furnishings, paper and an assortment of other industries...including the creative artistic and fashion community.
So forget about buying new togs for holidays or birthdays. Recycle those old togas and tie-dyed t-shirts. Give them a new life as a restyled garment for a positive-planet-thinker!
TITILLATING TOTES & HANDSOME HANDBAGS
All the items displayed below are handmade, one-of-a-kind handbags and totes made from recycled rags and other used materials.
Pre-loved Pouch for Pooch-Lovers
Motifs for munchkins!
For cats-on-the-prowl!
Oh yoo-hoo!
Woof to you too!
The tartan tote naturally!
Vintage vanity purse.
A hot handbag for a cool chick!
Made for a Leprechaun Lady!
A herringbone & houndstooth handbag!
RECLAIMING & RESTORING YOUR RAGS
Clothes (Recycling and Re-Using Materials)
How to recycle rags for fun and flair.
Amazon Price: $28.50 (as of 05/13/2008)
Secondhand Chic: Finding Fabulous Fashion at Consignment, Vintage, and Thrift Shops
Every "siren" needs a bit of "Secondhand Chic"!
Amazon Price: $20.95 (as of 05/13/2008)
Altered Clothing: Hip Fixes and Transformations with a Needle and Thread (Domestic Arts for Crafty Girls)
Domesticated divas will love these transformed togs!
Amazon Price: $16.49 (as of 05/13/2008)
Subversive Seamster: Transform Thrift Store Threads into Street Couture
Remant-Bin-Divers and Yard-Sale Enthusiasts will adore this one!
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 05/13/2008)
Fashion DIY: 30 Ways to Craft Your Own Style
Recommended by the Duchess of Deconstructing Duds.
Amazon Price: $14.76 (as of 05/13/2008)
FASIONABLE FEEDBACK
Feel free to leave your ripsnorting recycled and reclaimed comments here.
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SusanVillasLewis
So how would I actually go about recycling my clothing? Should I just continue to give it to Goodwill and then let them sell it to a recycler? Want to know that it's getting there rather than a landfill. Great lens as always!! Posted April 15, 2008 |
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DazzlingDesigns
What a neat lens. Here's 5-Stars for you! Please feel free to stop by my Unique Handmade Jewelry Lens. Posted March 27, 2008 |
