Upcycled Archives - Be Kind, Thrift and Rewind

I spent Christmas in Denver with my daughter, Emily. We had a great time. Her apartment is so vintage punk, but that is for another post. I didn’t get to see a lot of Denver but one day we went downtown to a section with vintage shops and a shop called Sewn that sells all handmade clothing, or upcycled vintage clothing, and lots of other little trinkets and fun items. We also went to a crafts shop called Fancy Tiger Crafts. Emily had bought me a gift certificate so I chose some lovely fabric to make myself a Dottie Angel dress. I had made her one for Christmas but that is also another post since I am waiting to get a picture of her in it without her winter sweaters on top for warmth.

One night we walked down to the mint and I took pictures of it all lit up in its holiday glory. We also spent some time in lovely Boulder, Colorado, where I had raised her. I took some pictures of the downtown city hall and the lights in the surrounding area.

It was great to be back in Colorado where the mountains go on for miles. I always feel so comforted knowing they are there. I used to like to think that the mountains offered nurturing protection, as if they held me when I slept all those years as a single parent raising my daughter. It may be a ridiculous sounding romantic idea but sometimes when I had to be strong all the time, whether I was weary or not, those notions offered much needed comfort. The Flatirons were dusted with a light snow as it snowed on Christmas just a bit. I really like rocks, stone, whether in brownstones, as mountains or rocks on the beach. I am not much a of a beach gal; I prefer lakes. One of my friends was saying that even when we went to the beach I wanted to sit near the rocks. My ideal idea of a beach is where my mother took me in 2006 when we went to Italy and she wanted to go to the Viareggio beach. There were mountains in the distance. Now that is a beach view I will never forget!

We also went to this little café in Denver called Weathervane a couple of times. I really liked it; such a charming place. The sandwiches I had were yummy and the atmosphere in there is so down home, a country rustic feel to the place. I bought logo t-shirt there as well, which I thought was as charming as the café itself. They also had a small vintage shop upstairs.

Well I had a great trip. I saw a couple of my old friends, met some new folks that I really enjoyed meeting and it was wonderful to be with my daughter. I really enjoyed getting to know Denver better and look forward to seeing more of it in the future.

Happy New Year! I hope you all have a good year and hopefully I will find steady work this year! I have more ideas of creative things I want to do and share. As usual I will try to keep creating and sharing my experiences with you.

Photo by Bill Bernthal

colorado trip 058

weathervane, denver, co

Upcycled Raspberry Linen and Silk Dress

November 30, 2015

11/302015

I originally saw a dress similar to this one on Pinterest. It was made by clothestalking. Immediately I really wanted a dress like that one. Since I have been upcycling my clothing the last couple of years I knew I had a top or two similar to the boxy shape loose top of the clothestalking dress. Plus I had the skirt of an old silk Thai dress my uncle had sent me years ago. I needed a way to put those pieces to use. So when I finally got the time I upcycled this dress. I like that it is loose and comfy, but it is also a combination of rose-like colors, which are some of the colors that look best on me. I like the avant-garde look of the outfit. I have always liked avant-garde garments but usually can’t afford them on my budget. That is where even simple sewing really can come in handy; in being able to create what I yearn for but otherwise would have to do without.

I did have to sew my pieces together from the top, so that I could make sure I was keeping the line straight on the top of the silk. I pinned it from underneath when I had it reversed. I didn’t add pockets where the sides extend. I might later on but I doubt I would put anything in them so I decided to skip them for now. This dress is very comfortable and the fabric makes it such that I can wear it year round if I wear layers of warm t-shirts, undergarments or stockings underneath. Plus I like wearing it with my batik jacket from the early 1990’s, which has lovely fall colors in its pattern. The top piece of the dress was from Liberty of London when I worked there. It was part of my yearly allotment of clothing that we were given for wearing to work. The Thai dress from my uncle was kind of huge on me, so eventually I decided to cut it and keep the skirt from it. One thing I like about this type of upcycling is that when the top wears out (which it inevitably will before the bottom does, since it is thinner fabric, and lighter in color), I can replace it with another top. So upcycling can really extend the life of used garments, and create the chance to upcycle them again down the road. That really reduces reproduction energy and effort from the chain of production in mass manufacturing. When I was a really young single parent I used to think of this as the extend-a-life-program. I had lots of items in that program. Now with upcycling being so common we have a new word for it!!

Well I hope you enjoyed this post. I am working on sewing another dress. That one is from a pattern though. I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I did, plus I tried out a new recipe for gluten-free stuffing that I might share soon in a reduced-packaging post. I always like to try to cook as many things as I can that don’t require buying prepackaged mixes, or boxes. I cooked at home then went out later in the day to a friend’s apartment and spent time with her family. That was great fun.

I will have some street art from the Grove Street stop in Jersey City coming up. Sorry I have fallen behind here on postings. It is quite frustrating how much time and effort it takes to find work so I have been juggling these things. I am grateful for what I do have and hopefully the work piece will fall into place soon!! Meanwhile my walking and my right foot are doing much better since I have been going to physical therapy. I have been able to walk around a lot and hope to get lots of Christmas window photos for you this year.

By clothestalking on Etsy

Wall Streamers and “Handy Dandy Notebooks” From Granny Chic

October 12, 2015

10/122015

The handy dandy notebooks recipe comes from the Granny Chic book by Dottie Angel and Ted & Agnes. The idea is partially a way to reuse unused bits of paper or recycle old envelopes. So the first thing you need to collect is the stacks of paper you wish to reuse. When I am working at accounting jobs there are often unused pieces of paper, so I had a stack of unused pieces that I recycled. For fabric I used some old pieces of Liberty fabric that was pretty much swatches for upholstery or thicker household fabrics.

They do not have a recipe for streamers in the book. However, there are a bunch of pictures of them in the book itself. Plus in Dottie Angel’s Flickr photo albums there are enough pretty streamers draped across walls to make you want to create your own.

If you have basic sewing ability it is easy enough to figure out the streamers. If you are a real novice at sewing I can give you a few hints. You need a long piece of ribbon to hang your little bits of fabric scraps on after you have cut them into the shapes you desire. After that I found it easiest to sew a small zigzag hem on the little bits of fabric. Then attach them to your ribbon where you want them, with another zigzag stitch across, and remember to leave the edges open for space to hang the streamers.

If you get carried away or wish to make more elaborate streamers you may want to check out this video:https:/watch?v=er43ZIKEh64. I also attached it to my DIY recycling videos page. Aya’s project is much more intense, but if you really want to get into streamers, since they are colorful and pretty then this is another route.

These two are small projects that don’t take a lot of time. They could also make nice gifts to send to people over the holidays. The little streamers are nice since they can quickly cheer up a bland-looking dorm room where someone has just moved in.

I haven’t gotten to more projects from this book just yet, other than the “quirky & jolly string,” which I made heart-shaped strings from, and the “perfectly peach half pinny” aprons, which are made of vintage fabrics, pillowcases and linens. Both of the links to those posts are attached to the bottom of this post. I also bought Simplicity’s Dottie Angel pattern 1080A in two sizes so before too long I can make dresses for my daughter and myself from Tif Fussell’s pattern. Tif Fussell is the creator of Dottie Angel. Both Tif and Rachelle Blondel, who are the authors of Granny Chic, previously had blogs. Rachelle now has another blog, Dock & Nettle. If you wish to see Tif’s previous blog posts from her blog they are at http://dottieangel.blogspot.com/.

Rachel Blondel’s current blog is at http://www.dockandnettle.com/.

If you wish to see her previous blog posts from “tales of ted & agnes,” they are at http://talesoftedandagnes.blogspot.com/.

I hope you enjoyed this post and are enjoying the beginning of fall. I have attached a small gallery again of pictures from the Granny Chic book.

Josh Davy and His Robots Made From Reclaimed Materials

September 14, 2015

09/142015

Several months ago I saw a photo of a robot made by Josh Davy. I immediately wrote my friend to ask where he bought that robot. Josh has been making his robots since 2011, when his first one was made of wood. In 2014 he began making a collection of robots, one per week for three months, and the collection grew more elaborate as time went on. He began using bits of metal, parts from bicycle gears and old vintage tools. He would then fill in any gaps in the work with his silversmith skills and equipment. When he had his first robot gallery show he sold eleven of fourteen pieces on the opening weekend.

I really like Josh’s robots. They are as unique as various individuals. They vary from looking somewhat serious to playful. Josh leaves his viewers to interpret the robots as they choose. Some of his pieces have broken watch faces from old timepieces; others have small bits of animal bones. They all are very interesting to observe.

Josh also is a jewelry maker. He grew up being intrigued with his grandmother’s jewelry box. He began making jewelry and miniature metal sculptures. Later he was accepted at the Cleveland Institute of Art. While in Cleveland he was a partner in a small artisan jewelry shop for four years. In 2010, after joining a Denver art gallery as a painter, he began silversmithing again. Between his jewelry and sculptures he has been creating enough art work to do two solo shows a year at Denver galleries. You can view more of his work at his website: http://www.joshdavy.com/

I hope you enjoyed this post about Josh’s work. I am aiming to find more artists to write about. I will be on the lookout for artists who are using reclaimed materials especially.