Upcycled Archives - Be Kind, Thrift and Rewind

I can hardly believe it is July. Time has flown. I meant to get to this post awhile back but I have been super busy. These are just a few of the basic summer accessories, but these are ones that I consider kind of the basic essentials.

A hat: Aside from shielding one’s face from the sun it helps protect your hair. Sunlight can be kind of harsh on hair. I also like to use a leave in conditioner to protect the hair sticking out of the hat. At my age I get brown spots from the sun, so I try to carry my hat with me whenever I can to help prevent getting more!
Scarves: They brighten solid color outfits or blouses when wrapped around the shoulders or neck. There are days when I need to get dressed quickly and don’t have the time for an outfit that takes more time and effort to prepare. On those days (often after spending a lot of time on a post) I will wear a solid skirt or slacks, a solid blouse and a nice scarf. The floral scarf in this post was a gift from my daughter years ago. The blue with sunflowers scarf; I bought at David Owen’s Vintage shop.
A shawl or large wrap scarf: Whether made of cotton, rayon or some other soft fabric. The train and buses are chilly; therefore I have seen countless ladies in NY armed with a wrap scarf. Anything from a rayon pashmina scarf that is so available from street vendors in NY to a nice Bavarian folk scarf, or in this post I wrapped myself with a sarong skirt fabric.
Bracelets: All kinds of bracelets are fun. In the summer I particularly like charm bracelets since one doesn’t have to worry about them catching on thick winter sweaters. I made that charm bracelet of various silver charms. I also made the button bracelet and the tutti fruity one is one I made in the 1980’s. It has cute little lemon drop earrings to match!
Obi belt: Mine was made by Wada Africa. At the moment that designer has moved to Japan and she doesn’t have obi belts in her shop. I inserted a post picture of one from the Etsy shop ThriftyUpenyu. I like obi belts for their array of color, and how one can immediately perk up a solid dress, or outfit by wearing it. So many women have a simple solid color t-shirt dress, or a lovely black solid outfit. I like to wear my obi belt year round as well.
Earrings: Most of the time I still wear little post earrings, since those are my favorite. Summer is a time to break out the dangly and more bold, colorful earrings as well though. The bright lemons for instance, or air planes, are quirky and fun. The fabric covered cloth earrings here are from Awoke Vintage in Willamsburg, Brooklyn, NY.

If you see a caption on the bottom of the photo, of a single item, that means it is from an Etsy shop. If you click on them it should take you to the designer’s shop.

I put some emphasis on African print accessories here because I like them a lot. I think the various colors in the accessories are incredibly cheerful and that fun, playful aspect of summer is captured in the fabrics.

Hats

Scarves

Shawl

Obi belt

ThrfityUpenyu

Earrings

ThrftyUpenyu

Thriftyupenyu

Bracelets

Lovely extras:

Sweater Clips

These are particularly fun if you like vintage, or vintage inspired clothing. I bought mine from FoxgloveFawnlily on Etsy. Next time I’d prefer to buy one that is smaller, however I like that this accessory brightens up my darker clothing, while giving it a more vintage look.

I hope that you are enjoying summer and getting outside for some fun activities!

FoxgloveFawnlily

Cluth bag

ThrfityUpenyu

Headband

ThrfityUpenyu

Aprons with Vintage Linens and “Granny Chic”

June 7, 2015

06/072015

I made these two aprons, for my daughter, Emily, using Tif’Fussell’s a ‘perfectly peach’ pinny recipe for making an apron from vintage and retro pieces. The only new things I bought, aside from thread, was ribbons since I didn’t have old sheets or other long pieces of fabric that I wanted to use for making the ties for the aprons. This “recipe,” as well numerous others for crafts projects or ideas for decorating your home in a lovely floral, or doily, “Granny Chic” style are available in the book, which was put together by Tif Fussell and her friend Rachelle Blondel. Both have a history of blogging, Rachel is still blogging. Tif is no longer blogging however one can view her older posts at: http://dottieangel.blogspot.com/ and Rachell’s still current blog is at: http://www.dockandnettle.com/ She also has her blog from at the time the book was written:http://talesoftedandagnes.blogspot.com/ I have found that looking through the old blog posts one often finds nice craft projects.

I was considering doing an entire post on this “Granny Chic” book; however it seems like it’d be easier to do various posts about some of the different projects as I go along. The book is great, by the way, especially for those who have a notion to be “crafty.” There are covered lamp shades you can create with floral fabrics, round pillows, bottles covered in fabric, these are just to name a few. If you’d like a glimpse into Dottie Angel’s world you can go to Flickr and view her albums like Mossy Shed, which display photos of Tif Fussell’s lovely home and air streamer. I’d show you some pictures; however they are not available for download. You can view them at: https://www.flickr.com/search/?q=dottie+angel I have spent an hour or two viewing these albums a few times since they are so inspiring!! The other good news is that Tif has a pattern coming out for her “Dottie Angel Frock” this month with Simplicity patterns. I am eager to buy it as soon as it comes out since her dresses are marvelously simple and beautiful. I created a small gallery below, of a picture of the book and a few photos I took of the book, and some of its pictures inside.

The first apron I made was relatively simple to create; it is the orange and yellow one in this post. I used one side of a vintage pillowcase, added a vintage placemat, sewed down the center of the placemat to create large pockets and added some colorful ribbons to the top. Emily had just folded over the ribbons in the photos and I didn’t realize it! I used an old t-shirt’s orange lace for the lace. I found the t- shirt at a clothing swap. We all know I like to recycle things, find a new use for them.

The second apron was significantly more work, yet it was really fun to create it. I used a retro pillowcase my mother had embroidered years ago, a few pieces of vintage linens and some small pieces of fabric, or patches of embroidery to cover stains, or spots, where the fabric was wearing thin on the blue vintage piece in the center of the apron. I was very pleased with the lovely collaged look of the final outcome of the project. I have a history of enjoying making collages so that part came naturally to me. The corner pieces in the apron that are patchwork quilted is from a fair in Pennsylvania, where I bought several of those squares for a low price from a quilter about thirty years ago.

I hope you enjoyed this post about making these lovely aprons. I certainly enjoyed making them, and Emily will enjoy having them. I want to make a couple for myself now! I need to go hunting for more vintage pieces to add to what I have!

Street Art of the Lower East Side NYC

April 26, 2015

04/262015

I thought I’d bring some street art from New York City and New Jersey to you this spring and summer. This first post has pictures of New York Street art from the Lower East Side of the East Village. Every time I walk around there are always people around the First Avenue Park and lots of them are having their picture taken with the street art, or just taking pictures of it. Street Art really livens up the scenery outside and draws a lot of attention. The Huffington Post even mentioned that the popularity of street art assists in driving up real estate prices, since people currently feel that it is a colorful addition to a neighborhood. This means no more sneaking around to paint a mural like in the 1970’s or early 1980’s for street artists. Artists are traveling the world to do murals and have their work recognized in various places. I think it is great that street art is more accepted and therefore available to be appreciated.

I was a bit annoyed to see that subway cars are now being used for ladies’ lingerie and underwear advertisements. It is a shame they took away all the street art on the subways and now are replacing some of it with these advertisements. New York Subways do have great art underground and I will go into some of that in another post. There are loads of stations with wonderful art and mixed in with this blog on urging you to rewind, reduce and recycle I like to share some other artistic things I enjoy with you.

Some of the pictures I had to take at a distance, one through a fence (the one of the woman that says Miss Behave). Some had no signatures, or at least not that I could easily see. I did find information online about several of the artists.

The Belgian artist Roa Metazoa, painted the lovely bird that is on the East Village mural on East 2^nd Street between the Bowery and 2^nd Avenue. The website http://streetartnyc.org/ has more information and pictures of his artwork. Apparently he has an exhibit at the Jonathan LeVine art gallery at 529 West 20^th Street in New York, NY. The exhibit runs through May 2^nd, 2015.

Mural by Roa Metazoa

The constructions bins for collecting waste from construction sites were decorated by a variety of street artists. There was a large one of these bins right behind the park on 1^st Avenue. Matthew Denton Burrows has a Master degree in Illustration from The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan. He has a website at: http://dentonburrows.com/index.php/text/work

I was particularly intrigued by the lively pink Pidgindoll, which is a fashion icon created by a NY Illustrator, Joshua David McKenney. He has become a doll maker as well and his dolls have a lovely, classic look. On his website:www.pidgindoll.com/ he carries a line of his paper dolls, which I was pleased to see since paper dolls are not as popular as they once were when I was a child. He also creates a line of boudoir dolls, which was a popular item in the 1920’s. So McKenney has a flair for vintage classics.

NS/BC is a collaboration of illustration done by Nicole Salger and Chuck Berrett. They have a website at: http://nscb.tumblr.com

I really like the polar bear in the blue water. I have no idea who painted in since they only put their initials. The young lady peering down into her coffee cup is a mural I found further down in the Little Italy area of Manhattan.

The lovely statute of the lady holding a fish is in front of Urban Archaeology down in Tribeca, on the West Side, near where I usually go kayaking in the summer. I just wanted to insert that picture too for a bit of eclectic variety. Once summer arrives I will have stories of the kayaking on the river , which is free and one of my favorite things to do in NYC since I am a lady on a budget!!! In the event that you live here and are interested, or are visiting soon you can get all equipment needed from the NY Boat House for free as long as you can swim. They lend you the kayak and paddles, life jacket and as long as you sign a waiver and can swim you can go kayak in the river. I see a lot of wonderful sites walking around before and after kayaking and will share them with you this summer.

I hope you enjoy this post. Also I imagine you are getting out and enjoying spring where ever you are. It is a lovely time to get out and walk around, bike ride, hike and enjoy street art!

My Inspiration to Start This Blog

March 1, 2015

03/012015

I wanted to write a post about how I became inspired to start this blog. In the fall of 2013 my daughter and I went to Portland, Oregon for several days. My daughter, Emily had been telling me about Portland for years and finally it just seemed like the time was right. We made arrangements to stay with a friend while we were there and we had a great time.

I felt like I was twenty five again for the few days I was there. The shops, art and music scene reminded me of Greenwich Village and Soho, in New York in the eighties. There were so many small business owners with unique shops and a creative vibe was so very alive there. I was also struck by the experience of being in a place that more than any other place was a reflection of my personality. That was a feeling that hit me even before I had the chance to really get around. Therefore I was very excited to be there and we set out walking long distances pretty much every day that we were there.

There were numerous vintage shops in Portland and my favorite was the House of Vintage. It was so large it was as if we were in a department store for just vintage! The store had fifty five vendors spread throughout 13,000 feet. It was a really fun experience to see all the various vendors sections and explore. We also went to Powell’s City of Books which is a huge book shop. I found a copy of Cut Up Couture about upcycling there and looked at several other books about upcycling. We went to a large craft fair and I also saw several vendors there selling upcycled clothing. I was so incredibly inspired by all the art, cafes, and wide open space it was just wonderful.

I wanted to make sure we got to go to Japanese Botanical Garden so one day we took a bus, then hiked up to that. It was beautiful and relaxing to be there. We also went to the forest one afternoon with our friend Sarah. I had never seen such a mystical looking forest! I had been in forest in Colorado, New York, Vermont and other places in Europe such as Germany, France and Italy but I had never seen a forest like this! The sides of the trails were so steep and full of moss and long branches with sharp scraggly branches reaching down, also covered in moss. I felt as if we had entered a mystical land, like something I had only seen in movies. Now I know what my friends meant when through the years they had said I had to go far out west and see the trees and forest. I was in awe of the lush beauty. One of the pictures here is of Emily sitting in a large tree trunk in the forest there.

Anyway after our vacation there I was so full of creative energy I could barely contain myself. I threw myself into upcycling projects as often as I could. I had already been crocheting like mad for about a year and I have always been very creative but somehow I got the idea that I should start a blog. I didn’t even read blogs regularly. I just felt I had things I wanted to express and through the years people have always noticed I have had a knack for knowing how to find nice clothing on a real shoe string budget. So amidst my excitement about the trip to Portland, Oregon and all this creative motivation that came as a result of the trip the idea was born. I also wanted to express myself since I really like to be real about sharing my interest in shopping at thrift shops, garage sales, antique or vintage shops, etc… I have been told in the past that “Oh, you should just let people think you got that new” by some people and I just don’t relate to that. I see nothing wrong with sharing that I happily found something further down the chain from mass production, that was perused and I am not only happy but proud to give that item a longer life. I also know from past experience that shopping this way allows me the opportunity, when my work is steady to travel a bit and visit my family, which is spread out all over the country. As my mother has often said “In our family we are more concerned with when are we going to buy our next plane ticket!”

Actually I learned many of my thrifty ways from my mother. When my parents were saving to buy a house when I was fifteen was the first time I was ever told we needed to buy some of our clothes at a thrift shop for a while. Once we moved into the house my mother woke us up at five or six am so we could go out and help her look for furniture on the day the trucks came by to gather other people’s discards. We helped our mother haul home many items. She bought antiques at fairs or markets and brought them home and refurbished them. Through the years, even after my mother became head of her department at work she still would go to the thrift shop to buy certain things. I learned a lot watching her and I am thankful she taught me those things. As a result I go through my life buying certain things new and many others I prefer to see what I can find through thrifting or buying at vintage or antique shops instead. I find it also keep things fun and more original.

My grandparents were all creative people also. I learned a lot from them and inherited their love of handmade items and crafts. My ancestors were farmers until my grandparent’s generation and then my grandparents became engineers, carpenters and sales people. Both of my grandmothers loved to sew and my mother sewed a lot when I was very young.

I also wanted to be a voice to encourage people to develop their own style and be unique. Life really is more fun when we are true to ourselves and reflect that in our own style. So much of the time we have to go to work and conform to the norm. Yet especially in our own free time, it is important to keep our uniqueness and celebrate it.

Much of the inspiration for the blog also comes from my love for nature and concern for the environment. It comes from the trees, creeks and mountains. From the silence that nature speaks and the ground which celebrates when we till the soil and plant with nurturing care seeds that grow and bloom in time. It comes from the songs of birds that are joyful when spring arrives. When I lived in Boulder, Colorado, I saw animals of the wild pretty much every day. Rabbits scurried around the grassy lawns and it was not uncommon to come upon deer while walking, hiking or even driving. I once came upon a family of deer while walking down from a hike. Making eye contact with a mother deer while she stands with her children behind her is a beautiful thing. I had to silently convey to her that I would yield and cross the road once the traffic passed, so that she and her family might continue on the side of the road back to the mountains. I saw raccoons daily as they often ran from one corner to another, or hid behind the trees and bushes at the end of our apartment complex’s open grassy area. I saw foxes, hawks, crows, gecko’s, salamanders and many other animals. I once saw a fox which ran out as I was driving and when he passed he looked back at me with mischief in his eye, showing me the egg he had stolen as if to say “Look what I got!” After all those years of living there I came to really care about preserving the environment, not only for myself and other people, but for them as well. Grey wolves, for instance are constantly under threat due to congressional debates that could mean the end of protection for them as an endangered species. Maintaining open spaces for animals to live and thrive is not only healthy for them but for our environment as well. The wolves have a role in our ecosystem and therefore supporting them is supporting our environment. I am a big fan of Defenders of Wildlife, a nonprofit that is concerned about speaking for the animals, since they cannot speak for themselves.

As the writer, Elizabeth Cline brings up the topic of mass consumerism in her book ‘Overdressed’: The High Cost of Cheap Fashion, and that there is a point when many of us feel we need a change. To get away from the mass consumerism that has become so common in the US. I realized I had kind of started to get sucked into the frenzy. I wanted to back up, slow down and really be more aware of buying less, buying better quality and making sure I removed myself from that consumerism, mass consumption frenetic energy. I seriously cut down what I buy, am more aware of how I buy it and enjoy upcycling items when I can. I wanted to share and express the joy in doing this. I also watched a video called the Story of Stuff which is available on YouTube. I had found it through Eco-Cycle, a Boulder, Colorado site but it is on YouTube and if you would like to watch it, it explains the cycle of mass production and really assist in making one more conscious of what is going on behind the scenes of mass consumerism.

I don’t know how many of you have seen the work of an artist named Gregg Segal. He is a photographer who photographed people with a week’s worth of their own trash. He also photographed himself and his family with their own trash. These photos are so thought provoking. It really is something to think about what we consume and toss.I just added one of his pictures below. For more either go to Flickr or this article has several: http://www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2014/07/08/gregg_segal_photographs_people_with_a_week_s_worth_of_their_trash_in_his.html

Several of you have asked me how I technically started the blog and about my theme. I chose TD Persona theme, which is a WordPress theme. I had no idea how to set up a blog however I found Court Tuttle’s videos very helpful on getting started. Here is a link to his site: http://www.theblogbuilders.com/how-to-start-a-blog/?gclid=CKHggZOf8rsCFUtp7AodPgwAfQ

Other than that I have used the free WordPress videos and YouTube. So far it has worked out fine and I believe that using Blue host as a host has helped.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post and for quite a while I felt like I was blogging to just a few friends and family members. Since I know I have a larger audience now I wanted to share with you my thoughts on how I became inspired to start this blog. I appreciate all of you who stop by regularly to read the posts and share them with your friends or family members.