The (Organic) Jeans That Never Die!

These are my Loomstate Organic Ethos Jeans that I bought about 3 years ago, they are my most favorite organic denim eva' in the whole world and they keep falling apart on me!!! Literally, I will go out wearing them and some spot (usually the knee or ass) will suddenly rip on them - like while showing girls at a party how to do the New Orleans Pop (upside down)... or the time I dismounted someone's scooter and heard a rip... or when a giant hole appears after I take them off at the end of the day and wonder how long I walked around like that. I can't stop patching them back together! And you know what, I think that this look is in style now - check out this video, when they get to dancing in the desert sand ( at 1:15)...Mmmhmmm. Looks like my adorable mess of jeans. :)
XoXo

Creating Gardens with Bottles and Bamboo

This is what I have been working on the last few weeks, in spite of the non stop rain storms we've had. Creating a place to garden, which is alot like putting together an art installation or some wild 3-D project that actually can feed you in the end.The space in the picture above was just a hill covered in brush. I found an old path under the dirt which I dug up and lined with rocks, some of the dirt got hoed some tilled, and the terraces on the hill are made with the plentiful (taking over & invasive) bamboo growing next to the house. I found a few treasures in the ground like the cool light post in the left corner of the pic and tons of old dried up snail shells (they get ghostly white and brittle).
One of my favorite trash to treasure garden borders though are bottles - which there seems to be tons of around here between the alcoholics, parties, and my personal consumption of olive oil ... would be super neat to build a "cord wood" style hut using some bottles too! I am using the bottles for my new herb garden. Drink up people, I've still got half way to go with it! ;)
xoxo

Sustainable Candy Wrapper Dress

What would you sew together if you were asked to create something to wear using candy wrappers headed for the landfill? This is the super fun challenge designer Melissa of Mountains Of The Moon took on, when she was asked to participate in Chicago's Fashion Week "Sweet Chic" exhibit. Here is her experience in her words...
"Charleston Chew is recognized as a favorite vintage candy, my design was also created with a vintage feel, evocative of late 1950’s Audrey Hepburn chic (with a modern twist). Finally, sustainability was an important part of the design process (I am an eco-fashion designer), and I was thrilled to able to recycle wrappers into our creations."
"We were given excess wrappers and candies that would have otherwise ended up in landfills to work with. Because we had to make these designs 100% wearable, we were also able to incorporate fabrics, and I chose a gorgeous vintage silk dupioni that featured the same tones seen in the wrappers. Despite the sketch I designed (I knew from the moment I was assigned my candy the exact look I was going for), the dress really changed and evolved with every hour I put into it. This project was a major challenge - the wrappers wouldn't sew without ripping, for instance - but it was proof that you really can make something new and unique out of materials that most would consider useless trash. "

Pictured here is Designer Melissa of MOTM (isn't she so cute!) with her fantastic creative design being displayed at the Chicago Modern Museum Of Art.

Today's Magic Word: UPCYCLING

The concept of upcycling completely enthralls me, the way I imagine an archaeologist feels when they stumble onto a new site full of bones that they'll have to reassemble. But I am stumbling onto a gravesite of old out of style garments left to collect dust in wayward thrift shops. The fuglier the better when it comes to upcycling because you know that crazy ole' puff sleeve prom dress with the big stain on it will never be used again in it's current condition. For those of you who are new to the word, as I was not too long ago, Wikipedia describes upcycling in plane terms like this : "Upcycling is the use of waste materials to provide useful products. Ideally, it is a reinvestment in the environment and embodiment of the notion that while using resources one is also contributing to them and their value. This is antithesis of the consume and waste concept in society."
So I have this box of super ugly clothes that I am setting out to transform into adorable new creations. To learn more about all you can do to green the craft of upcycling check out this post at Crafting A Green World. To see a great example of upcycling check out Clare Bare @ The Oko Box.