Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Being Mindful

It's been a busy couple of weeks since I last posted. I remember saying that my next post would include a holiday craft to do list, but I've barely even thought about that (which isn't a good sign with all the gift crafting I'll need to do this year). What has been piling up in my bedroom and sewing area for a long time is clothing that I've been meaning to re-purpose. I decided to challenge myself this week and see what I could make from these three things (just a small dent into my pile!) In the picture are a pair of women's red velour yoga pants that I thrifted for $1, a pair of women's flannel pj pants that have always been too short for me but I love the mushrooms print, and a worn out orange towel.


Re-purposing and altering clothes has become something I've been thinking about more and more. I donate a lot of things we're not using or have outgrown but sometimes I love the print or the fabric (often because it's useful ie: velour & terry are super absorbent). Another reason I've been doing more re-purposing is economic, I just need to. It also feels like the environmental and ethical thing to do since it creates less demand on manufacturing, creating and transporting fabrics and goods. And sometimes I'd rather create what we need with things we have on hand rather than make a trip into town for something we 'need'.
I have managed to get started on creating some new goodies from these items and I'm hoping to get back this week to post them. One thing I'm still learning is to have patience when you're taking an item apart. Look at the notions I scored from the flannel pj pants...elastic, some trim, and a wooden button. There's also a sneak peek at at least one thing I'm making from these things, can you guess what they are?

3 comments:

Melissa said...

I'd say nursing pads? I was going to say that velour makes wonderful wipes! Both the obv kind and the regular kind. I buy up velour from dollar racks at thrift shops just for that purpose. It also seems to come in great colours!

Crunchy Diva said...

i was going to say nursing pads too...lol. i love re-purposing stuff as well a great way to be more friendly to the environment, plus i also find it keeps me creative & forces me to stretch my thinking.

County Cloth Creations said...

Nursing pads is a good guess, but they're family cloth wipes. They're about 7" across and I like to make mine circles so they don't get mixed up with all the other wipes around here!

I agree with the velour for diaper wipes, I made a bunch for Rowan before she was born and they work so well.