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

Don't throw it out! Fix it!

I followed a link today that SwirlyArts put up on Twitter and it lead me to a site I have seen before but forgotten about, so thank you Swirly for reminding me of it. The site was Wardrobe Refashion and if you have never heard about it I urge you to go and take a look. It has been set up by Nichola Prested a fellow UK crafter that relocated to Australia in 2004. The basic idea is that people pledge to refrain from buying new clothes for a period of time. It can be one month, 2 months, 6 months or for life... whatever time scale you feel able to achieve. In that pledged time, instead of running off to the shops to buy new clothes when you need them you will either have to repair, repurpose or recycle clothes and fabrics into the garments you need.

I think it is a fantastic way to encourage people to be less wasteful and to encourage people to learn new skills. The site has lots of examples of what people have made and plenty of the people share how they made/repaired the items they are showcasing. Imagine just how much waste would be eliminated if we all jumped in and pledged to do this... So who is up for joining in and making the pledge?

These people are already recycling fabrics and fibers, so if you don't feel creative enough to do it yourself, then go to the handmade sites and type in "Recycled" into the search engines and find people that will do the crafting work for you.

Kaboogie has a shop full of recycled leather shoes and boots. I couldn't resist featuring these cute red suede Mary Janes.

Knit Nats had reclaimed this yarn from a merino wool sweater and then hand died it to get these pretty shades of red and pink. Now you can make whatever you need from it.

Taking a mixture of lovingly pre used sweaters and fitting them together in new ways is one of Spicy's talents. These arm warmers are a perfect example.

Are you looking for a hat to finish off that perfect outfit? Original Sample has just the thing for you. Again this hat is made from previously loved fabric and has vintage button embelishments.

Kenspeckle created this beautiful hoody by repurposing fabric from other clothing and then hand dyed it to get the beautiful shades of colour you now see.

All these people above have one thing in common. They are making a difference. They are not allowing perfectly good fabric to go to waste by reinventing them into other wonderfully useful items. More power to their elbow! I say lets all pledge to support them and rejoice in their recycling, upcycling, repurposing talented ways!

Our recycling month begins with St Davids day.

Today is the first day of our month of featuring people that use mostly or all recycled items to make their goods. It's also St Davids Day and as a good little Welsh girl, I thought we should mark that fact by combining the 2 topics. As the Patron saint of Wales, David is celebrated by little girls wearing the national costume and the rest of us wearing Daffodils or leeks in our button holes. Some young boys are also seen sporting the red and black dog tooth waistcoats and flat caps or the national rugby team's jersey.

So, before showing you some of the lovely items I've found to share with you, I thought I'd give you the recipe for a welsh tea loaf that you can make, and eat, in honour of the lovely St David.

Ingredients for Barabrith Cake

350 grams mixed dried fruit
400 ml cold tea (strong)
250 grams brown sugar
600 grams self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1 medium egg

How to make Barabrith Cake

1. Put the dried mixed fruit into a large bowl and soak over night in the tea.
2. Add the sugar and spice to the bowl and mix in.
3. Beat the egg and stir into the mix.
4. Add the flour and stir in with a wooden spoon.
5. Pour the mixture into well a greased loaf tin.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/356 F/gas mark 4 for 1 1/2 hours. The cake will be brown and firm.
7. Turn out on a wire rack and allow to cool.
8. Serve sliced and spread with slightly salted butter.

The maker of this cushion has the perfect name to start this month off. Useitagain made this cushion from vintage linen and the pretty yellow and orange flowers reminded me of the national flower of Wales, the daffodil. It has a very 1920's arts and crafts look about it. I like it's cheery spring look very much. By taking old damaged pieces of linen, and recovering the undamaged parts to make her pieces, Useitagain is giving something that most would throw away another lease of life.

As coal has a large part to play in the history of Wales, when I saw this vintage book up for sale I knew I had to include it. I have no idea where ArtPhotoGirl found this well used book but I'm glad she did as it made me smile when I saw it. After a bit of a search on the net I found out this book was first published in 1935 and was an American tale of the coal industry rather than anything to do with Wales, but coal is coal I guess.

This unusual item is a pretty vase made from a blown bulb. St David is always pictured with a dove on his shoulder, hence I picked this item to share with you. Rainestorm has other pretty recycle bulb vases in her shop. They come with a suction cup so you can attach them to a window. I think a row of these in a window with tiny flowers standing in them would look gorgeous on a cold spring morning.

Now you might say, what do recycled plastic fencing tote bags have to do with St David, well in all honesty nothing, but the maker is called David. These great orange totes come from Davidshockdesigns. He makes them from the discarded builders temporary fencing plastic that you can see on most building sites around the world. Not only is David removing this non biodegradable litter off our streets, but he is using it to create a useful product that I think looks great! Yay David!!!

I hope you have enjoyed my St David's day post and go away now and make yourself some Barabrith to munch on. Have a fabulous St Davids day and raise a glass to the Welsh. We may be a small country that many have never heard of, but we are proud to be known as Welsh!