April 22, 2016

Happy Earth Day

I’ve been so busy that I forgot all about Earth Day this year. Thank goodness for social media to help me remember things I don’t want to forget (and be reminded of things I wish I could forget, and see things I wish I had never seen and now can’t forget, etc.)

Earth Day became such a strange day for us, when my then 8 year old came home from school confused and asked, “shouldn’t everyday be Earth day?”

Yes, it should. And I think it’s a good thing to make people aware of all the ways we can improve to help protect the Earth and help make it healthier. Upcycling worn out, outgrown, or unwearable clothes is a great way people have been caring for the earth for decades, which is now a trend. It’s also really fun to do 🙂

One of my favorite ways in which people have been upcycling (or repurposing) clothes is making quilts. When I was young, my Aunt made my mom a quilt. She used their old dresses from when they were young. When it arrive, my mom took one look and remarked, “Oh, I remember that was from a dress of mine. And that was Carol’s.” And “Oh, I remember this one–one of my favorites!” It went on like this for a while, touching each one as if reaching into a memory.

I sat there listening and even though I had never seen these dresses and shirts, I felt good about it all. I loved that quilt. I was allowed to use it on my bed for a while and I would stare at the pieces of cut-up dresses, cut-up memories, and thought about my mom’s and sisters’ childhood.

My mom used to make us clothes from her old dresses. I remember thinking that was so clever…my mom was very talented. It’s funny to see how popular upcycling is today. For my mom, it was a way to make things stretch and save money. I remember all the handmade clothes I wore as a little girl and how some of the cloth was worn by others in its previous life. Necessity is truly the mother of invention.

I would upcycle as a teen, and made some clothes for my kids by upcycling, but just cause it was fun. It was not a necessity for me. Nowadays clothes are sold for very cheap.

(You can find tutorials for all these projects on the Tutorials page)

Pillowcase Dress from a vintage pillowcase with hand embroidery

Upcycle Tutorial: Women's Tee into a child's Tunic or Dress — Upcycle Tutorial: Women’s Tee into a child’s Tunic or Dress

Upcycle Sewing Tutorial : Men's Dress Shirt to Girl's Tunic or Dress — Upcycle Sewing Tutorial : Men’s Dress Shirt to Girl’s Tunic or Dress

Upcycle Sweater Tutorial : V-neck to Ruffle Cardi

Avery Lane Sewing Blog A Button Down SKirt Upcycle Sewing Tutorial — Upcycle tutorial How to make a women’s skirt from a men’s dress shirt

Now that all my kids are much older, I use worn-out and outgrown clothes to make doll clothes. I’m not sure it has the same meaning, but sometimes it is just the right fabric.