Sustainable Fashion on the Red Carpet

The Oscars ceremony is renowned for its red carpet fashion, as we eagerly wait in anticipation of which designer dresses and suits A-lister's will be will be wearing.

Waving the sustainable fashion flag once more, Livia Firth, wore a red Valentino gown made of recycled polyester sourced from plastic bottles to the recent prestigious 2012 event.

More on Livia's dress and fitting here and here

In 2009, Livia Firth, together with Brit journalist Lucy Siegle, founded the Green Carpet Challenge, vowing to only wear eco-friendly dresses to all red carpet events, and with it, raise the profile for ecological and social justice within the fashion industry.

Supporting his wife's challenge, Livia's husband, Oscar winning actor Colin Firth, wore the same Tom Ford wool tux he wore to last year's ceremony, a usual no-no for any movie star.

Joining the Green Carpet Challenge this year, Meryl Streep wore Lanvin's first ever custom made eco gown. Her gold, full-length gown was made from Eco Certified Fabric.

Three cheers for an ever-so-slightly greener red carpet this year!

Curtain Dress - Project Upcycled

I am thrilled to be in the finals of Project Upcycled! For my final project, I've made a dress from a piece of fabric that I picked up from Bentleigh market, which apparently, used to be a curtain..

I've made it into a dress, which you can see more of over on the final contest here

If you you think I should win, feel free to cast your vote!

Petticoat from a slip and cushion cover

Lots of petticoats and underskirts have been circling the net recently, with DIY versions seen here, and here. Petticoats give volume and interest to otherwise ordinary skirts.

I've made my own petticoat, using a slip and a frilly cushion cover purchased from the op shop. Slip $2, the cushion cover was sitting in a bag out the back of the op shop, deemed as unsellable. I gave the op shop 50c for it!

First up, I cut the slip to an appropriate skirt shape,
there are two pieces of fabric here..


I cut the cushion cover into strips, leaving the frilly bit for the bottom hem. I serged (overlocked) the edges of all strips to prevent fray.


I did not have enough strips to completely fill the skirt, but that's Ok because only the bottom 1/4 is seen.

Included elastic band casing at the top, and serged (overlocked) each side of the skirt together..

Petticoat worn under skirt, notice how it goes volume?

And if gallivanting around! here's what you see..




Head chopped off, as we had to remain anonymous during Robin's Project Upcycled contest, of which this is my second to last entry. Now that I've made it to the finals, my final entry does not need to be anonymous, so pop back to thetshirtdiaires.com tomorrow to check out my final entry (and vote if you like it!)

Recycled Fashion Finds #34

Friday! What a joy to see so many new bloggers in last weeks Recycled Fashion Finds.

Agy's refashioned shorts with polka dots!

Her dots were made tracing around googly eyes!

Amber's muumuu from savers, made into a top for herself, and a halter dress for her little girl.

OrloSubito's sweater to vest refashion..

Lisa's dress she made for her niece, was a ladies skirt in a former life

And look at Adin's stunning pink dress, thrifted for just $1!

There are more link up's from last week right here.

Would you like to participate in Recycled Fashion Finds this week? Why, thank you! Click here for the rules, and don't forget to grab yourself a Recycled Fashion Finds blog badge for your blog post or side bar. Thanks readers!

<center><a href="http://www.recycled-fashion.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Recycled Fashion" src="http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n637/wushka/RF_fashion_finds.png" /></a></center>

BERNINA WeAllSew Challenge

Upcyclers, and refashionista's, this one is for you! BERNINA has announced a contest, the WeAllSew Challenge.

Throughout the year, crafters will have the chance to enter three unique challenges that focus on upcycling or reinventing pieces of clothing and fabric.

For each challenge, one winner will be selected to receive a $1,000 BERNINA Gift Certificate. The theme of the first challenge is “Wedding Dress Makeover” where you will be aksed to upcycle a wedding gown or bridesmaid dress into something new.

Visit Bernina's Facebook fan page for instructions on how to enter, and full contest rules.

Inspiration Image c/o Resurrection Rags

Broken Plate Necklaces

Readers, do you remember last year, we spoke of upcycled ceramic jewellery? Well, I can barely take my eyes away from Laura Beth Love's broken plate necklaces, introduced via Recyclart yesterday...

More here

Inspiring, yes? How easy/difficult would they be to make?

Fiddy Cent Dress

Image source here

Imagine my delight in discovering a discount rack in my local op shop where all garments were reduced to 50c. I find two dresses that fit, including this little one..

Fifty cents? Probably the cheapest one can pay pay for a dress, surely? I can't however, bring myself to part with just $1 for two dresses, I gave the op shop volunteer $2 instead..

What is the cheapest second hand garment you've purchased before, and where from? What would you consider, to be your best ever fashion bargain?

T-shirt to fitted sleeveless top

I'm through to the next round of Project Upcycled, which means I can share my last submission to the contest. We have to remain anonymous on each week's contests, so my head is chopped off here!

T-shirt to fitted sleeveless top, and scrappy flower headband

I took a souvenir t-shirt from my wardrobe, originally purchased from an op shop because I liked the palm tree print on it. As a t-shirt, it's boring, so I've changed its shape to a sleeveless top for summer, by cutting off the sleeves, adding ribbon to the neckline for a tie, elastic around the waist, and taken it in either side.

Here's how:

1. cut off sleeves and neckline

2. Pin and sew armhole

3. Stitch casing for neck ribbon tie, and the same for elastic casing for the bottom hem

4. Thread ribbon through the top casing, elastic through bottom hem casing Wear it ...

I don't like to see much waste with refashion projects, so I've used the cut off sleeves to make a flower headband..

I'm pleased to say, the only scrap pieces of fabric leftover as a result of the above refashion, is this little pile..

Stay tuned to see tomorrows projects on tshirtdiaries which has the theme "bottoms up" and vote for the crafter who will be headed to the finals

How Pinteresting!

Pinterest, the vision based web bookmark sharing website, has broken all records as the fastest growing stand alone website ever, more on that report here.

Trying to explain pinterest to someone unknown of this social media almost-overnight success, one might suggest an online pinboard, on which one would bookmark and save ( 'pin' ) articles or images of interest found on the worldwide web, then organise pinned images by theme or topic. I am fond of Lakota's take on pinterest, in her blog posts Not Pinterested I quote: "the website more addictive than watching the X Factor with your crack-pipe and a tube of Pringles" *Lakota, quite right!

My colleagues at Refashion Co-op introduced me to pinterest last year, and it didn't take too long to get hooked on pinning pretty pictures, recipes, sewing projects, funny quotes from around the net, and so on.


Pinterest can be a little bit of a time waster, a way to think we're being creative and interesting but the reality is far from it, we're sitting on our backsides, with our eyes fixed to a computer screen - nothing creative or interesting about that? Have I traveled to any beautiful new travel destinations I've pinned recently? no. Have I replicated any pinned outfit ideas? no. Repeated pinned motivational phrases to anyone? no.

However, there are times when a pinned image relating to a project of awesomeness really inspires one to step away from the computer, and try out something new. Of all the hundreds of pins on my pinterest board, I can say I have tried a handful of recipes, and about a dozen craft projects..well, it's a start.

Pins this week:

nice dress for inspiration

Strawberry and mango salsa recipe to try

Wine barrel turned dog house.. to look at!

Colour/travel inspiration

Soda can brooch tutorial to try

Just for fun!

Are you hooked on pinterest? Do you find it pinteresting? or time waster?