Recycle-A-Bicycle
Looking for a bicycle this summer? Even if you need parts, safety gear or accessories I always recommend supporting your local bike shop. I was so excited to come across these bike shops in NYC. These retails stores take in bicycle and gear donations, refurbish them and sell them to the public. Best yet, profits from the retail sales go to support youth programs around New York City.
Recycle-a-Bicycle is an innovative, fun youth training and environmental education initiative that has taken root in New York City public schools and respected after-school youth programs.
These youth programs are actually based in the public schools where kids can sign up to learn bicycle mechanics as an elective. Body do I wish I could’ve taken that in school! What a great way to get kids interested in biking early, who may not have had the opportunity. Bicycling is great for health and the environment and and caring for your own bike, which can otherwise be an expensive endeavor, is a great life skill to learn. For kids who don’t have the resources to buy a bike from the retail shops, they allow students to drop in after school and work in the shop to earn a bike. Additionally they sponsor summer programs focused on arts and the environment. All of these programs help teach these kids responsiblity, ingenuity and proof that good things can be achieved through hard work and volunteerism. So, if you are in the NYC area, you can donate a bike, volunteer your time and spread the word. For the rest of us, check out more about the program here and donate what you can. Help support a great program that supports the recycling and kids. Hey, maybe you could even start a movement like this in your own city…
TerraCycle is working to make products from Trash: Join the Brigade
My mother called me last night to tell me about an interesting notice on the side of her Wheat Thins box. Apparently Wheat Thins has teamed up with Terracycle to recyle their packages. My mother proceeded to tell me a bit more about it and then sent me a link to read through today. Here’s what I found in their “About Us” page:
TerraCycle makes affordable, eco-friendly products from a wide range of different non-recyclable waste materials. With over 50 products available at major retailers like Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, OfficeMax, Petco and Whole Foods Market, TerraCycle is one of the fastest growing eco-friendly manufacturers in the world. Our hope is to eliminate the idea of waste by finding innovative, unique uses for materials others deem garbage.You can be a part of our eco-revolution, just sign up for one of our FREE Brigades or look for TerraCycle products at your local retailer.
Founded in 2001 by a 19 year old Princeton University freshman named Tom Szaky, TerraCycle started as an organic fertilizer company and has grown into a multi-category, eco-friendly powerhouse. Tom’s dream was to find way a new, more responsible way of doing doing business that would be good for the planet, good for people and good for the bottom line! TerraCycle has won many awards and accolades for its environmentally responsible business model from Inc. Magazine, Red Herring, The Home Depot, The Environmental Business Journal, The Social Venture Network, Zerofootprint and many other highly regarded organizations.
TerraCycle also runs free national collection programs that pay non-profits and schools TerraCycle has exclusive partnerships with major CPG companies such as Kraft Foods, Frito Lay (Pepsi), Stonyfield Farm, Mars Wrigley and many more. The partnerships create free collection programs that pay schools and non-profits nationwide to collect used packaging such as drink pouches, energy bar wrappers, yogurt cups, cookie wrappers, chip bags and more! The collected materials are upcycled into affordable, high quality products ranging from tote bags and purses to shower curtains and kites. In addition, TerraCycle works with these partners to find innovative uses for all of their waste streams and, by making products from these various waste streams, TerraCycle prevents 1000’s of tons of waste from going to landfills.
Intrigued I check out their products and noted that they are doing some of what I’ve seen on Etsy an other websites, just on a much larger scale. I signed up to be a member of the Brigade and have chosen to donate my earnings to the Nature Conservancy. I fully intend to volunteer clean-up after our pot-lucks at work and harass the poor women I work with to bring in their garbage so that I can get to work. Unfortunately you have to sign up for a Brigade and there must be open slots and so far the items that I collect most often, don’t have any openings. I’ll continue to look into this and let you know once I’m able to start recycling my garbage with Terracycle. This is a great idea though and I’m glad that we are beginning to see recyling and upcycling on a larger scale.
Easy Refashion: Dress + Tshirt = Fold-over Waistband Skirt
This tutorial is short, sweet and perfect for a beginner. I’ve made variations of this skirt at least five times already this year and I never grow tired of the supremely comfortable, soft and stretchy fold-over waistband skirt. I am petite which means that dresses rarely ever fit me right. My proportions just aren’t the industry standard. I do however, frequently fall in love with the pretty fabric of dresses at my local thrift store and this is the solution to my former dilemma. For this refashion I used a thrifted dress with a cute floral pattern that was ill-fitting and had a few stains on the bodice. I also used a tshirt that had bleach stains and underarm stains, but would still had enough usable fabric to form a waistband.
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
- Cutting tools (pinking shears, fabric shears and a rotary cutter). If you don’t have all of these, you can get along just fine with a simple pair of shears or scissors.
- 1 Dress that will fit comfortably over your thighs. Take a dress that you want to work with and hold it up to see how it will look as a skirt. If it looks good, move on.
- 1 tshirt that fits comfortably around your waist and over your hips.
- Sewing machine or needle and thread
- Ruler or Cutting mat (or both)
- Tailors Chalk
How-To DIY:
1. Hold the dress up to your body and determine the length by folding it where you want it to hit on your waist. I chose to make my new skirt knee length. I folded in half and then marked with chalk. Cut the dress through all layers just above the line.
2. Measure 5″ from the bottom of your tshirt. This will create a fold-over waistband that is approximately 2″ wide. Mark with chalk, then cut through all layers to form a tube.
3. Slip the skirt into the tshirt tube and align the seams. The bottom hem of the shirt should be facing down toward the hem of the skirt. The right side of the dress (pretty side) should face the wrong side of the tshirt tube (inside).
4. Gather and pin the skirt to the tshirt tube waistband. Start by pinning the skirt seams to the tshirt seams. Next pin the center and then gather and pin at 1-2″ intervals until the skirt is secured to the waistband. You may need to gather and form a few small pleats if the skirt is wider than the waistband. You can do this at random around the waistband by spacing them evenly. You don’t have to be precise. Ensure that the top of the skirt meets the top of the tube.
5. Sew the waist band to the skirt using a zig-zag (or other stretch knit stitch). The zig-zag stitch allows the waist band and skirt to be stretched without breaking the thread. If sewing by hand, use the whip stitch.
That’s it! You’re done! See how easy that was? Now, just slip on your skirt and fold over the waistband so that it hides the top layer of stitches. Do a little dance, twirl around and show your friends and family how cool you are. You just made your first fold-over waistband skirt from a dress and a tshirt; how exciting! If you are lucky, you may even get a warm compliment like the one I received from my daughter, “Wow mom, it doesn’t even look like you made it!” 
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
Enter the Inhabitat Spring Greening Competition
Inhabitat, a blog devoted to sustainable design, wants you to make something awesome out of old junk and share it! They are hosting the Spring Greening Competition, where you can compete for praise, recognition and $250 gift certificate to be used in the Inhabitat Shop. The Inhabitat shop has everything from worm composters to fashionable pumps, so you’ll have no problem spending your new loot. So…find some old junk, make something rad, take a bunch of photos and enter the competition already!
Threadbanger How-To: Spring Skirt from Old Dress Shirt Sleeves
That’s right, you read that title right. Take some old cotton dress shirts from your friend, father, or significant other, cut off the sleeves and make a really cool spring skirt with cute button embellishments. I’m planning on whipping myself up one shortly. I’m thinking I could also grab some corduroy or flannel shirts for some fall/winter wear skirts layered over tights; oh the possibilities. Thanks to Threadbanger and Brooksie of Haute Stew for this awesome refashion tutorial! I’ll post pictures of mine once I have it finished; if you make one comment and let me know how it turns out.
Target’s Eco-Friendly Page
I buy my household supplies at Target monthly and have always been satisfied with the number of eco-friendly products that they offer in terms of cleaning supplies, etc, but I always do my shopping in store. Today, when I received an email advertisement from Target I decided to check out their online deals. What I was really surprised to find what that they have a link to their eco-friendly products. Half-expecting to find a bunch of green-washed stuff for sale, I actually wasn’t disappointed by their offering. As always, it’s best to do without if you really want to help the environement by reducing your consumption of any raw materials, but I’m just not going to live that way because I live in reality land. So… if you are interested in learning more about some of Target’s eco-friendly alternatives you can find them here. Everything from reuseable bags and organic cotton bed sheets, to furniture “Made of 100% formaldehyde-free birch plywood with eco-friendly, 100% nontoxic, water-based stains and UV-curved finish to minimize greenhouse gases”. I was pretty impressed with the selection of seemingly lower environmental impact products. While I’m certain that the most hardcore of environmentalists may not agree with shopping at Target at all, those of us in the moderate, just-trying-to-do-our-part category, this may be a useful way to investigate greener options to the products were were going to buy anyway. Just remember to try to combine shopping trips and don’t buy more than you really need; for the environment and for your own well-being (to be read as fiscally responsible) curb your shopping a bit and try to stick to picking up your basics once a month. Oh! Don’t forget; another important service that Target offers is recycling your batteries and cell phonesand donating the proceeds to charity. Just take your stuff to their Guest Services desk and they’ll contribute to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
Refashioned T-Shirt Gauchos Tutorial
In Megan Nicolay’s newest book titled Generation T: Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt
Here’s how DIY:
1. gather 3 tshirts (l or xl), chalk marker, ruler, scissors, pins, needle thread and Megan’s book.
2. Turn your shirts inside out and cut two of the shirts into 15″ wide rectangles that extend through the bottom seam.
3. lay all four pieces together and cut off the bottom seams.
4. separate into two pairs of rectangles and pin along one side of each to create the legs of the gauchos.
5. Lay the pinned legs together and draw a gentle arc on each side to form the crotch of the gauchos about a 1/4″ from the edge and extending about 2″ long. Cut along the chalk line to finish shaping legs.
6. Open the panels and place them design side together, matching the curved edges and lining up the seams. Pin and sew with at least a 1/4″ seam allowance.
7. Use the third shirt to cut 2″ wide tubes of fabric from the bottom, just above the seam to create the waistband ties.
8. pin to the tops of the pants with an even amount of fabric hanging off both sides of the pants and sew on.
9. Turn your pants inside right and rock out! To wear, start in the front or back and tie the first panel around your waist like an apron. Pull the other panel up and tie to overlap. Now go show everyone how awesome your new pants are.
If you don’t want to make these pants yourself, pick up a pair in my Etsy shop. If you don’t see the ones you want, just convo me with your measurements and color preferences I’ll make them to order.
DIY Sweater Boots Instructable
I adore this instructable so I had to post it. Grab yourself an old sweater and a pair of flats from the thrift store or a clothing swap and make some fashionable sweater boots.
Upcycled Sweater Boots – More DIY How To Projects
Rethinking the Cotton Round
Photo: Sproutzstore.blogspot.com
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the production of cotton uses a lot of water which is a valuable and dwindling resource. Shortages of fresh water worldwide lead to famine and starvation, war and terrorism, poverty and disease. In thinking about how I can do my part to help eliminate the unnecessary use of this precious resource globally I have been looking to reduce consumption of disposable products that I can replace with reuseable options. The first and easist switch for me was to stop purchasing new clothes and reuse fabric that I have available locally. Next, I began to investigate other household items that I could replace and while I was washing my face last night it dawned on me; cotton facial rounds! These little cotton pads are great for removing eye make-up and cleansing, but I use several of them each and every day. I thought,”surely, there must be some way to buy or make my own reuseable pads”. This morning I began to look for alternatives and was pleased to find that I can both buy and make my own easily and inexpensively. There are packs of Organic Reusable Cotton Face Rounds
