6 Aug 2009

Second chances

It's been a while since I've featured lots of recycled goods on Autonomous Artisans, which is very bad of me, so today I'm going to show you some of the nicest recycled goods I've seen lately. I am going to quote something I read written by Katwise "there is so much beauty in the world that we ought to enjoy what we already have instead of blindly consuming and wasting." What a wise and talented woman...

Katwise makes many beautiful things, but of all the things she makes I love these long coats made of recycled sweaters the most. She takes multiple pre-worn sweaters, cuts them up and patchworks them with a serge machine into these gorgeous frock coats. I so want to own one. With a bit of design flare and talent old sweaters can be given a new and beautiful life.

Nutmeg Click loves to travel and collect pieces from all over the world to recycle into her own pieces. This piece combines re-purposed items from India, Turkey and Thailand and I think it is stunning. Go over to her shop to read where the fabric came from for this piece. I love that recycled goods often have a great story to go with them.

The beautiful pouch belt from Elven Forest Creations is made from reclaimed leather, so it has been softened in a previous life as some other garment. I, as a vegetarian, try very hard to never throw anything made of leather away. There is always a use it can be put to as this beautiful pocket belt shows. Even very small scraps of leather can be reused, so please never throw it away. Donate it to someone that can use it again.

Knitnats has carefully unravelled a merino wool sweater, taken the perfectly usable yarn and hand dyed it to give us this super soft beautiful yarn in shades of red and pink. Unravelling machine made garments in most cases is not possible as it comes apart in short strands, but all those lovingly hand knitted garments can be unravelled and used for new projects. So if you have a hat, scarf or sweater that your Aunt or granny knitted you that is no longer your style, you can probably unravel it and make something new.

Kaboogie is another person that takes pre-used leather and turns it into new goods for people to buy and use. This practical little purse with cherry blossom on the front is just so cute and pretty. I'm sure if you weren't told you would never guess it was made of recycled materials. Check out the shops for the baby moccasins. They are adorable!

Many people, when you say recycled goods think of things that look shabby and pre-owned, but as you can see from all these goods that is so far from the truth. Recycling all reusable materials is a must and if you yourself can't think of a way to use something or don't have the skills, don't throw the materials away, pass them onto someone that can make use of them. There are many recycling centres that are only too happy to take your old clothes, off cuts of carpets, leather, fabric etc, books, left over paints... pretty much anything. Don't send anything that can be reused to landfill. Reuse it yourself or find someone else that can recycle it.

Written by Lynne of Pirate Pixie Crew and Hyperloop Hoop

3 comments:

  1. Wow! Thanks so much for featuring me...it's so true what you say about recycled goods NOT looking like they're second hand. My shoes & other items look brand new, because I choose only the most gently used or new condition pieces to recycle! I love this blog....I am now a fan!

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  2. Too true - we should all work harder to reuse what we have

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  3. You might not have realized that you had featured recycled goods when you wrote about me Lynn. I try to use as much recycled items as possible. My crazy quilt purse that you showed in my article was made completely from recycled fabrics as was the pin cushion.

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