Style Inspiration - eco friendly wildlife t-shirts

Two days ago I spot a girl wearing such a cute little outfit, a World Wildlife Fund panda t-shirt, coupled with a tweed skirt and flats.

Image c/o onlineshop.wwf.org.au

Vintage beige and grey tweed skirt $30 for sale through buymyvintage on etsy.

Vintage 60's Slate Grey Ferragamo Flats $58 for sale through TheLovedOne on etsy

Whilst searching for wildlife t-shirts online, I find a nice selection of eco-friendly t-shirts available through partybots:

Geometric Deers

Beluga and Narwhal

Cyclops Rhino

Partybots Eco Apparel & Art

Founded in 2003 by Seattle artist Karl Addison, Partybots is an environmentally conscience business with two goals: to be actively creative everyday and to have as little impact on the environment and the creatures that inhabit it. To carry out this mission of sustainability, Karl holds himself and his business to very high environmental and ethical standards. His printing process uses the latest eco-friendly methods, including platen glue, soy-based cleaners, and screen printing solvents that utilize renewable soy. Karl is also passionate about the non-profit organization Mercy for Animals www.mercyforanimals.org. He believes the work they do is so impassioned and important that, $2 of every online apparel sale and 5% of all wholesale orders is donated to MFA.

Eco friendly wildlife t-shirts that look good, and raise a little money to help wildlife organisations too. Great!

The Alternative Boxing Day Sale

Christmas is over for another year, gifts have been exchanged, smiling children are playing with their new toys, and we have perhaps all over indulged with food and drink.

Christmas is also the one day of the year that shops are closed, yet TV advertisements promoting boxing day sales are already airing. In Queensland, Australia, sales started early this year as retailers "desperately try to claw back profits after one of the worst years for the sector in decades" according to couriermail

Image c/o we heart it

How easy it is to shop for stuff because it is half price and a bargain. Now I know that some people hold out to buy their new products until boxing day and new year sales; stocking up on their clothes for the year, or perhaps buy that flat screen TV they've been dreaming of.

Before hitting the sales however, have a think about what you might really need, and whether you may actually be able to get it second hand instead.

Christmas holidays are usually a time when family members have a moment to sort through their unwanted items, donate them to their local charitable shop (op shop/thrift store). Unwanted Christmas presents may also be donated, or sold on online auction sites. Many of the smaller thrift stores may not re-open their doors until the first week of January, but if you can hold off till then, it is a good time to shop second hand, as charitable shops are often overstocked with donated merchandise.

Freecycle is also worth registering to if you have not done so already. The Freecycle Network is a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Many people upgrade their electrical goods (as well as other things), and give away their old on freecycle. I have seen many messages lately giving away TV's, DVD players, even an XBox!

If you are partial to a bit of boxing day sale bargain hunting for nothing in particular, then it might be worth considering online sites selling handmade goods, where individual artisans and vintage sellers are clearing some of their products, rather than succumbing to excess stock reduced in retail outlet shops.

Image c/o JanelleBurger on Etsy

* Dont forgot to enter our SAVED T-shirt giveaway

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone

Image c/o thescope.ca

80's + 90's = 2010 cropped cardi!

Has anyone else noticed cropped tops have made a comeback? Oh, how very 90's..

Current cropped sweater trend, as seen on the Missoni catwalk with 2010 Fall/Winter Missoni catwalk show

Christina Applegate in cropped cardi in 1990's sitcom Married with Children

Some time ago, I was given a bag of clothes from eBay seller Dogstar Bazaar. Clothes that were beyond repair, couldn't be sold on eBay, and op shops wouldn't be able to take them, so I gratefully volunteered to take the bag, and see if I could bring the dead (clothes) back to life!

I found this dusty pink cropped 90's cardigan in the bag of disrepair, and had to do something with it...


And a 1980's big shoulder padded, white, sheer, glitter number....

...which could have walked right offa Dynasty set ...

I had to do something with that floral glitter, and could see a collaboration of the 80's and 90's brewing..

Christmas came early, because I picked up my present (c/o Mr RF) at the weekend; an overlocker.

An overlock stitch sews over the edge of one or two pieces of cloth for edging, hemming or seaming. Usually an overlock sewing machine will cut the edges of the cloth as they are fed through (such machines are called ‘sergers’), though some are made without cutters * Wikipedia

Perfect for my little idea! I cut two sections of sheer fabric from the 80's white glitter top, serged all the way around to stop any fray, which also gives a much better finish. Then used my sewing machine to sew onto the bottom of the cardi

No bare midriff for me, I wear my cardi collaboration with a silk Missoni sleeveless top from my wardrobe (op shopped $6 from Savlos).





I like the way it looks; granny cardi meets wear-to-a-wedding-cardi. I can wear it as a casual, or smart outfit. It didn't cost me a cent, and I saved both garments ending up as dish rags, or in the worst case, landfill... hurrah!

Go forth my friends, and try mixing up different decades of fashion..you might be suprised with the end collaboration!

Worn on Self Stitched Sept, Day 6

Recycled Christmas

A recycled Christmas c/o recyclart.org

Cork Reindeer

Book Christmas Tree @ Gleeson library (San Francisco)

About Recyclart

"The goal of Recyclart.org is to bring you good products that are made from re-cycling, re-using, up-cycling,etc. We will not bother you with a lot of text or details, we prefer to give you inspiration through pictures and the link where you can find more informations. The goal is to be a kind of portfolio based on ideas in which you can brainstorm your creativity."

Check out the recyclart.org right now!

* Dont forgot to enter our SAVED T-shirt giveaway

SAVED T-Shirt Giveaway

Award-winning environmental group Do The Green Thing, have just launched a new anti-waist campaign, recycling t-shirts under a new sustainable initiative 'Saved'

"We all have unwanted and unloved T-shirts sitting in the back of our cupboard. T-shirts of bands we used to love and no longer do, a dreary corporate T-shirt forced on us at a dreary corporate event, T-shirts that stayed the same size while we grew a size or two.

Saved is a new sustainable product and anti-waste campaign that takes unwanted or unloved T-shirts, washes them, hand-stitches Saved lettering onto them, adds a Saved story, saved from bad taste, saved from disrepair, saved from neglect and in doing so, makes each T-shirt a bit more fashionable and a lot more desirable."

I am very excited to announce a giveaway courtesy of Green Thing. I have two Saved t-shirts, one male (a Tommy Hilfiger t-shirt in a former life, size L) and one female (Fruit of the Loom t-shirt in a former life, size M), to giveaway to two Recycled Fashion blog readers.


"We live in a throw away culture and so many things like T-shirts could be rescued, reimagined and Saved. Marina and the Diamonds, Imogen Heap, VV Brown, Professor Green and Zandra Rhodes agree and have all donated their very own T-shirts to be Saved.

We're adding these to our shop so anyone who buys a T-shirt could end up with the bonus of a special pop star Saved T. It's a bit like the famous 'golden ticket' in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - except, um, with T-shirts instead of chocolate ;-) For launch a few lucky folk will end up with some of Imogen Heap’s fabulous Saved t-shirts."

How to enter, tell us which T-shirt you would like, and do one or more of the following:

1. Leave a comment below
2. Follow dothegreen thing on facebook and leave a comment
3. Follow RecycledFashion on facebook and leave a comment
4. Follow dothegreenthing on twitter
5. Follow RecycledFashion on twitter and retweet the giveaway

Each activity above counts for one entry into the competition. The more you do, the more chances you have to win the competition.

If you have a T-shirt you would like to send in to be saved from disregard, or you would like to purchase a Saved T-shirt yourself, you can find out more information about the initiative on Saved's facebook page, or the Saved web homepage.

National and international readers are all welcome to participate in the competition. Winners will be contacted 1st January 2011.

Happiness is ....

....a new op shop opening in my local seaside town! Family Life opened its doors to the general public last Wednesday.

I popped in quickly this lunchtime, just for a nose, and left with .. a pair of shorts I never knew I needed.

I spotted these tropical treats sitting on a mannequin at the back of the shop, but not on a female....on a boy mannequin! Size small, and for a dollar, I bought them as beach shorts for myself, if they didn't fit, I'd use that gorgeous tropical bird fabric and turn it into something else.

Dollar madness

I got the shorts home, tried them on, and success; they fit, and I like 'em just the way they are..

Colour My Week with White

With snow scattering much of Europe and North America, providing picturesque winter wonderland landscapes, and Christmas just around the corner, I have chosen white for this week's 'Colour My Week', and would like to invite readers to participate by linking your own white items or finds back to this blog post.

Photo c/o Emillie Ferris on we heart it

For some, white may not be considered a colour at all, but more of a blank canvas to introduce other colours to. In the Western world, white is considered the traditional colour for brides, whereas in the East, white is considered a colour of mourning and funerals * c/o desktoppub.about.com

We see white as a colour in nature; snow, pearls, chalk, milk, dandelions and seashells to name a few.

In fashion, according to fabsugar.com.au the LWLD (Little White Lace Dress) has recently replaced the LBD (Little Black Dress) in popularity.

Ashley Tisdale in a white lace dress at the InStyle Golden Globes party in L.A.

Photo c/o peoplestylewatch.com

Here are my white finds for the week..

Something from my own wardrobe; white beaded sandals refashioned last week

Organic Hemp Linen And White Lace Mary Jane Shoe

$25 handmade by mother and daughter team bobka baby, for sale on bluecaravan.net

Shark on a Bicyle T Shirt

US$18 by Dark Cycle Clothing

(Husband and wife team, from a small screen printing shop in Tampa, Florida)

Replica Handmade Vintage 60s white cotton crochet lace mini dress

up for auction, made by Kitsch Bitsch on eBay

Have you found any white fashion items recently? Do you have a white second hand dress in your wardrobe? Have you been eyeing up a pearl coloured bag on etsy? Perhaps you are making a piece of jewellery from recycled white glass? Add your link below, lets brighten this week with a white! Linky tools will close in a week from now...

DIY Beaded sandals

Some time ago, I fell in love with a pair of beaded sandals, much like these flats from Betts shoes current summer range:

Retailing at $89 brand new

Rather than buy new, I thought I could try to create my own beaded sandals. I used a pair of gladiator sandals that have been sitting in my wardrobe for well over a year. Roman sandals may not be the current trend, but they'll do ...


Firstly, I used a cheap brown shoe polish to give the sandals an off-white appearance..

A necklace purchased for $5 from Savers, cutting one strand to release the beads, and hand stitching them onto the ankle straps with clear thread:



And that's it!


I'm pleased to say I didn't have to completely distroy the beaded necklace, only cutting one strand out of three meant it stayed intact. Hooray!

What does your bag say about you?

There is a really cool flickr group of which members (currently sitting at 19,866 members!) upload photographs of the contents of their bags for the worldly web wanderer's to view.

I love this project, because lets face it, we are all a little nosey aren't we? Having a look into someone elses bag is a little like looking into ones personal life, yet still leaves enough for us to wonder.

So, without further ado, here is the contents of my bag today:

Silver bag $1 from an op-shop in Mornington
Raffetys Garden childrens fruit bar empty wrapper
Keys
Blockbuster video keyring card
Leather wallet
'Nemo' toy truck
Camera
SOOV
Cat vaccination certificate
Memory stick
Mobile phone
Sunscreen
Two artist's business cards (check out illustrator E.M.Hurst awesome!)

So go on then, what does your handbag say about you??

Thanks to Sophie @ HerLibraryAdventures for inspiring this blog post

Vintage skirt to halterneck dress

I saw a lilac vintage skirt in Salvos last week, I didn't buy it, then I couldn't stop thinking about that skirt all week. Once again, the thrift gods were on my side because as I stepped into the same Salvos on Monday, the skirt remained on its rack, waiting just for me. Not only that, but tagged with a yellow half price tag. I picked it up for $3.50. Score!

This was not a straight forward ready-to-wear thrifty purchase, no, no! It is too big for me




But I saw past its size and length, and had another idea to rework the skirt. And here is how the story goes....

Firstly, off with those pockets (yes, the skirt had pockets, I didn't even know it!)


I put the skirt on inside out, and pinned to size using safety pins (Hayley @ thinkermaker.com.au gave me that tip). I took it off and used a blue chalk to draw a line where I had pinned. Then machine stitched right down that blue chalk line, and cut off the excess...






I used the excess cut off material to make some straps.. (can you see where this is going yet?)

Stitched the straps to the top of the skirt 'waist', and ta-dah!.. from large full length skirt, to halterneck summer dress..

Here is a little before and after action...

I bought the white KOOKAI belt along with some other goodies from Salvos and Savers too, the beads have been used with another refashion project, details will be next, and the clubs and spades glass tumblers for the house $2 each that I couldn't resist!

Thrifty finds for the week!

For more op-shop, thrift store, garage sale, car boot sale, and flea market finds, check out Her Library Adventures