Etsy Shop Feature: Sweet and Dirty’s Emporium of Good Stuff
This next shop feature is special because we are both members of the same Team on Etsy: The Etsy Recycler’s Guild Team. However, I noticed and marked a few of their items as favorites before I even realized that they we were teamies. So, without further ado, it has been my pleasure to interview Sweet and Dirty’s Emporium of Good Stuff.
ICouldSewDoThat (Serendipit): First, let me thank you for taking the time out of your busy designer schedule for this interview. Second, let me say that I love your stuff. I’m so inspired by it every time that I browse your shop. In fact, the rowdy girls bag is on my wish list right now; I love it!
What is your inspiration for these wonderfully unique items?
SweetandDirty: I was always encouraged by family to make sure that I love what I do, and I really think just knowing that I get to do that everyday.. wake up, be with my kids, and sew… that is all the inspiration i need to keep on keeping on. Of course coming across some good vintage fabric is pretty motivational too 
ICouldSewDoThat (SerendipiT): Wow, that is so cool that you had so much support from your family and you get to really enjoy what you do; congrats! I love vintage fabric too, for many reasons. I typically use vintage fabric because it’s eco-friendly. Do you consider yourself “green”?
SweetandDirty: Very much. My entire shop is made from vintage/recycled/repurposed materials… it’s so nice to give new life to something instead of discarding it. It all carries over into my home life too – compost pile, garden growing (soon to be canning this summer), crazy recyclers.. it’s true, my husband has been known to go get and give recycling bins to those we know who don’t!
ICouldSewDoThat (SerendipiT): So, now we know that you are an eco-friendly artisan, who enjoys crafting with your family, tell us a little more about yourself.
SweetandDirty: My name is Logan and I live in the wonderful mountains of Tennessee. I am a stay at home mom to two sweet babes (Harvey and Ruby) and wife to a super encouraging husband. I went to college and got a BFA in painting, worked a silly retail job for way too long, then decided to take what I was doing for my loved ones and try to sell it to a larger audience… so far so good. It’s amazing to be doing what you love. In my ‘free time’ i can usually be found putting on impromptu dance parties and concerts with ruby, she’s two.. Harvey is only 5months so he hasn’t joined in just yet. I also love to cook!
ICouldSewDoThat (Serendipit): Wow! Well you sound like one very well-rounded and equally busy lady who really lives life to the fullest; good for you! I always find talkign with other artisans who have taken their craft full-time to be so encouraging. I hope that one day I can too. There are so many great artisans on Etsy who really focus on the quality and good design; I find a new shop that I love every day. Do you have any favorites?
SweetandDirty: oh my goodness there are so many sellers i love, if you take a look at my favorites it justifies that!
a few off the top of my head…
http://www.etsy.com/shop/necessityisthemother
http://www.etsy.com/shop/spinthread ( i have one of her lovely necklaces and wear it all the time, love it)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/chelebert12
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ziazia
http://www.etsy.com/shop/sohomode
http://www.etsy.com/shop/blackbirdtees
ICouldSewDoThat (SerendipiT): I will definately be checking those shops out; thanks for sharing! So, besides creating and shopping on Etsy, what else do you really love?
SweetandDirty: I love it when my little Ruby gives me random hugs, Harvey smiles my way, I get a date night with my husband, I find “new” fabric, seeing someone happy with something I have made, oh and a good batch of gravy and biscuits works real well too!
ICouldSewDoThat (SerendipiT): Well, you are a woman after my own heart. I lived in Tennessee for a spell myself and I have to agree that it’s the simple pleasures in life that really make each day special, especially time with loved ones and the chance to express yourself through craft. The biscuits always help too.
Well, to close out the interview I always love to get at least one totally random fact about each person that I meet. Can you share an interesting tidbit about yourself?
SweetandDirty: Let’s see… I can’t drive a stick.. I have an unhealthy obsession with sweet tea…I know the words to lots of obnoxious rap songs…and I can weld!
ICouldSewDoThat (SerendipiT): Those are some really fun facts; thanks for sharing! I’ve always wanted to weld, maybe I can trade you for some lessons in driving a manual. So, now that we know how to find you on Etsy, where else can we keep up with you?
SweetandDirty: I do a lot of local festivals in my area.. the two largest being The Big Crafty in Asheville, NC (it’s in July and December) and Rhythm and Roots in Bristol, TN/VA (it’s in September). I’m looking forward to doing a lot more here this next year though!
Sweet and Dirty on Twitter, Facebook and Blog.
Thanks again for sharing your story; I really enjoyed learning more about a favorite teammate of mine.
Filed under Environmentally Focused, Featured Seller, Featured Seller, Products, Uncategorized | Tags: clothing swap, design, eco-friendly, Etsy, Etsy Recyclers Guild Team, Featured Seller, interview, product review, recycle, refashion, sustainable, thrifty | Comment (1)It’s Party Time!
That’s right folks, it’s officially party season. From now through New Year’s Eve you will be expected to don your best duds and doll yourself up to spend time with friends, family, coworkers and acquaintances. You can’t be seen wearing the same fancy dress year after year or be caught wearing the same suit and tie in every after party photo can you? What’s a green girl or boy to do? Even worse is the thought of shelling out all of that hard earned dough during this tough economy for a single purpose dress to be worn once and then hung in a fancy bag in the dimmest corner of your closet until you finally give up and donate it. Well, before you do that try refashioning. If you like to sew just grab a dress from a local clothing swap, goodwill or best friend who doesn’t want to wear it anymore. Purchase or make your own pattern and refashion that frock. I realize that this isn’t likely to happen for most of us during this busy holiday season, so I present to you some environmentally-friendly, budget conscious alternatives to grabbing that shiny new outfit from the rack. Check out some of these great recycled and vintage pieces from the crafty sellers on Etsy:
What’s So Scary About Halloween?
If you guessed it’s environmental impact, you’d be right. The amount of waste generated by this annual celebration is truly terrifying! The tradition of wearing costumes on Halloween has been around in the U.S. since the early 1900′s. With all of the parties, costumes and candy for trick-or-treating Halloween is one of the largest, most expensive and wasteful traditions second only to Christmas. As environmental awareness has begun to gain traction in recent years more families are beginning to look at ways to reduce waste and, due to the current economic climate, expenses. Fortunately both of these are good for the environment and hopefully will help result in more sustainable traditions for future generations. One group that has formed for the purpose of creating “healthier and more Earth-friendly holidays” is Green Halloween. A small grass-roots movement, now sponsored by a collection of household named organic and natural food producers and smaller sponsors focused on health and the environment are backing this group who have helped to raise awareness and organize opportunities for people to participate in making Halloween a healthier holiday. If you’d like to participate in a Green Halloween this year; here’s a list of tips from their website to get you started:
Spread the Green this Halloween
Get started with these simple steps
- Bring Green Halloween to your city by becoming a volunteer coordinator, or offer to help the coordinator in your area
- Host a costume exchange for National Costume Swap Day (second Saturday of October)
- Help spread the enthusiasm for Green Halloween® via Twitter, Facebook or your blog. Here are some pre-written Tweets, posts and articles to make it easy.
- Talk to your children’s school about Green Halloween®
- Talk to your children about Green Halloween® and how you can participate as a family
- Talk to community businesses about helping you celebrate a Green Halloween®
- Contact your local grocery store and ask them to stock Green Halloween® items
- Ask us for some informational Green Halloween® post cards and hand them out wherever you can
- Stage a Green Halloween® party
- Organize a Green Halloween® neighborhood bash
- Make a Green Halloween® window sign (or buy one here) and give away Green Halloween® treats and treasures
- Purchase Green Halloween® products
- Become a Green Halloween® sponsor
- Host a post-Halloween candy composting party
- Sign up for our newsletter (from our homepage)
- Contact your local press/ media about Green Halloween®
- Write about Green Halloween® in your blog, or include a blurb about us in someone else’s blog
- Send us your ideas for next year
Downloadable action kits and materials to help you spread the green*
- Neighborhood action kit
- Parent action kit
- Teacher action kit
- “10 Easy steps” (tip sheet)
- Green Halloween posters: small and large
- Green Halloween® logo
- 2010 Sponsors sheet
- 2009 5×7 Postcard
- Green Halloween® Blurbs, Articles, “Tweets” & More
*If printing, please use recycled or tree-free paper.
Thank you!
The website has lots of great ideas, helpful hints and even a marketplace where you can purchase green halloween items. As for my family, my now teenage daughter and I, will plan to continue the tradition of wearing thrifted, swapped, recycled halloween costumes. We use basic black clothes and update them each year with different accessories. I’ve been wearing the same main black costume every year for about 10 years, but thanks to a bit of creativity and some careful accessorizing have managed to be everything from a devil to an angel, with masquerade, goth, and vampire in between. This year I’m going as a raven, with a change to my mask and the addition of a thrifted feather boa. Americans spend on average around $5 billion on costumes, decoration and candy, so give your family a little economic stimulus by focusing on refashioning your costume, upcycling your decorations and enjoy the opportunity to spend more time at home and less time at the mall.
Here are a few of my favorite recycled halloween supplies:
My Green Halloween! (check out the Etsy Treasury by clicking the link)
$19.00 USD
$25.00 USD
$0.75 USD
$15.00 USD
$255.00 USD
$10.00 USD
Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap
Boy am I sorry I didn’t see this sooner! I was posting a comment on the Baltimore Sun this morning and to the right saw and ad for the Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap. I had never even heard of this, but I was immediately excited. Woohoo, someone is organizing clothing swaps in my very own city! I love clothing swaps because you can shop for free and reducing your carbon footprint by reusing the clothes that someone else no longer wants. I love to swap out my closet at least twice a year and since I discovered clothing swaps I don’t have to feel bad about it anymore; It’s glorious. I clicked on the link and noted that they were having a swap this Saturday, May 1 from 10am – 6pm in Mt. Vernon. I’ll be out of town on Saturday celebrating my Dad’s birthday, so unfortunately I’ll have to miss this one. The good news? They are traveling all over the city (and have been since early April) through the middle of May. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for the next swap so that I can spruce up my wardrobe for Spring. The Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap has it’s own website here where it says:
Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap:
Style & Sustainability Through Common Threads
April 18 – May 17, 2010All ages, genders and sizes are welcome to participate in a new kind of shopping experience that benefits the environment and the Baltimore community. Donate, trade or take clothing and accessories in an exciting, outdoor, store-like, money-free exchange. (Even if you do not donate, you may take up to three items!) The Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap will travel to a variety of locations throughout Baltimore city for one month.
The swap is free and open to the general public.
Their mission is simple, “The Baltimore Clothing Stop & Swap’s mission is to raise awareness about recycling, focused on secondhand clothing and accessories, through an exciting and free service that benefits the environment and brings together the Baltimore community.” There are two very important differences from the little clothing swaps that I attend (usually put on by friends at my local bar/restaurant The Parkside):
1. You can only bring Ten (10) items to donate
2. You have to tag your items
Still, choosing only ten preloved items to donate may be the hardest part and if shopping for free means that you have to fill out some little paper tags I think it’s worth it.
Here are the remaining events; see you there!
Saturday, May 1
Mount Vernon Park, North Square
699 North Charles St
Baltimore, Maryland
10 am – 6 pm
JUST ADDED:
Sunday, May 2
Baltimore Farmers’ Market & Bazaar
Underneath the Jones Falls Expressway at Holliday & Saratoga streets
7 am – noon
Sunday, May 9
Patterson Park (specific address not yet determined)
10 am – 6 pm
Friday, May 14 – Monday, May 17
Maryland Institute College of Art, Mount Royal Station, Frost Plaza
1300 Mount Royal Ave
Baltimore, Maryland 21217
Fri: 11 am – 8 pm
Sat-Mon: 11 am – 5 pm
The Coming Water Crisis
While listening to NPR on my way back to Baltimore yesterday I listened to a very interesting story about the coming Water Crisis. Essentially the guest speaker, Steven Solomon, was discussing how global water usage is increasing at a leve that cannot be sustained. In fact, some of the hardest hit regions who will be facing water shortages soon are areas in which terrorism has taken, or is beginning to take hold. The global consumption of our limited water resources may even spark the next major conflict. You can read the article on NPR here and listen to the broadcast for more information, “Will the Next War be Fought Over Water?“.
Immediately after hearing this story I was reminded of an article I read while back on Treehugger, where it lists the amount of water needed to produce a single new tshirt or pair of jeans. Fortunately I found that article here, “How Many Gallons of Water Does It Take to Make…”
Here are the facts straight from the article:
Pair of Jeans
It takes around 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce just one pair of regular ol’ blue jeans. [2]
Cotton T-Shirt
Not as bad as jeans, it still takes a whopping 400 gallons of water to grow the cotton required for an ordinary cotton shirt.
Now, if you think that just because you make your own clothes by knitting, crocheting, or buying fabric in the store that you are helping to reduce your water consumption, just look at what the article says about your raw materials:
One Pound of . . .
Wool: 101 gallons of water
Cotton: 101 gallons
In short, one great way to avoid consuming more than your fair share of water and starting on the slippery slope that will lead to famine, death, terrorism, and finally war is to stop buying new clothes! There are thousands of vintage stores, second hand and thrift shops available where you can purchase used, or as I like to call them, previously loved clothing. There are so many great resources online that can show you how to sew, refashion, and remake clothes, If you prefer to knit, but can’t find a sweater that you really like, buy a used one and recycle the yarn. If you can’t bear to take up sewing or knitting, but still want to do your part, but don’t want to dig through thrift stores, then buy online. Online sellers like Etsy have tons of shops selling recycled couture, so you can still look good and do your part to slow the damage to our Earth. I’ll include more links below to help you do additional research on the size of the issue at hand as well as places to purchase used clothes and links to groups of folks who have pledged not to buy any new clothes to help reduce their footprint on the Earth.
The Water Crisis:
The Coming Crisis: Water, Not Oil
Failing Wheat Crop Causes Afghan Food Crisis
Obscured By War, Water Crisis Looms In Yemen
We Use How Much Water? Scary Water Fooprints, Country by Country
Groups Embracing the Stop Shopping or Nused Clothing Movement to Recycle, Upcycle or Refashion Clothing:
The Great American Apparel Diet
Great Places to Shop for Refashioned, Recycled, Vintage Clothing:
So, maybe you can make one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2010 to stop buying new clothes? So go on, get shopping, just make sure it’s been previously loved. Maybe you can even check off two resolutions, by using all of the money you will save not buying new clothes to pay off debt…not a sermon, just a thought
Summer Swap Announcement: 06.14.09 5pm @ The Parkside
I have good news everyone! Our friends at The Parkside located in NorthEast Baltimore City, MD at 4709 Harford Rd. Baltimore, MD 21214, have offered to host our upcoming summer clothing swap. The swap will be in full swing by 5pm and will run through 9pm. Please bring at least one bag of clothing (feel free to bring more) and accessories and then swap them out for something new. We will have demonstrations on how to refashion/recycle clothing that you love. Please bring only items that you can wear on your body (jewelry, bags, clothes, shoes, etc). This swap is open to men, women, and children and the more folks we have the better selection of clothing we’ll have to choose from, so bring a bag of clothes and a few friends to enjoy a glass of wine, or a tasty beverage, dish, and do some free shopping on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at The Parkside.
If you would like to volunteer to help sort clothing or provide racks/hangers please contact me.
*Unfortuanately due to issues at recent events, if you are unable to bring clothing to the swap a donation of $5 will be required for entrance to the swap. However, as long as you have at least one article of clothing to swap your admission will still be free.
Filed under Events | Tags: Baltimore City, clothing swap, DIY, eco-friendly, recycle, refashion, thrifty | Comment (1)