Custom Cool - T Skirts & a Poncho

I have had the profound pleasure of making three custom garments for two very cool clients lately and I really want to share the results with you!  

A repeat client sent me a box of the most amazing collection of Star Wars T shirts you can ever imagine.  It took a few days before I was brave enough to cut them up.  

Chopping up Chewie???  Couldn't bear it.  And the Jedi mind trick, "These are not the droids you are looking for"!  Gasp.  

Black Skirt Number 1:

Gah!  Vader!    Asymmetrical draping and hemline is key to the flattering fit.

These skirts are going to Comic-Con!!

The back.

And my favorite, the Blue & Grey combo, Skirt #2:

Again, lots of angles and draping. 

In true eco fashion - the waistband was swiped from a pair of boxers:-)

 

 

I do custom skirts in this short 17" mini skirt length and a longer midi length on the Etsy site.  When you have enough skirts, send them a long and we'll collaborate on the perfect eco skirt for you! It usually takes about 14 panels for a mini and about 20 for a midi. (You can alternate solid/graphic as seen in these, or do them with all panels as slices of the graphics). I use the blank backs of shirts for the underskirt and waistbands, thus reducing fabric waste.  

Custom Order Smashing Success #3 - A rockstar Poncho:

This client sent along a stash of awesome concert T's, some of which featured her husband's band.  The "I am Your Tin God" is her own artwork for his band - how cool is that? I studded the appliques as usual and the poncho can be worn asymmetrically off shoulder or with neck line centered. I thought her color choices were brilliant and come on - Amelia Earthart + Johnny Cash - fantastic!

The back when worn symmetrically.

Amelia with studded star appliqué. 

Neckline

Details are EVERYTHING.

Send me your shirts!  

(Your kids' sport shirts, Concert T's, Sports Team T's, Race T's, Travel T's - they make great wearable art - a site more stunning than a memory quilt, eh?!)

YES! Upcyling Car Seats into Couture!

pic from Sustainable Brands blog, thank you.

I am so excited about this year's Redress EcoChic Design Awards competition.  Look what these designers came up with by upcycling car seat covers from the Ford Motor Company!  

Redress founder and CEO Christina Dean commented: “Waste-to-landfill is a big issue our planet faces and we at Redress work to raise awareness about how we can reduce this. The Redress Forum: Ford Design Challenge was a great demonstration of how sustainable design thinking is as relevant for fashion as it is for the automotive industry.”  (Sustainable Brands blog entry)

The winners were Veronica Lee from Malaysia and Amandah Andersson from Sweden with this entry: 

From Ford's website: 

“We scored the foam on the reverse side of the seat fabric, revealing color and texture reminiscent of the stone walls of the legislature,” said Andersson. The award-winning, architecturally inspired outfit was handcrafted in three hours.

Amandah Andersson is definitely a designer to watch.  You can peruse her amazing creations on her website here.

Veronica Lee doesn't appear to have a website yet but you can see her sketches here. 

"Trash" Art cum Fashion

Thanks to Pinterest, I just found the amazing artist and designer, Luis Valenzuela whom has invented a stunning collection of gowns constructed from a vast array of discards which he calls EcoArtFashion®.   

An excerpt from his bio outlines why he's now one of my heroes:

"...It was his love for all natural creations that inspired his“green art philosophy” and led him to found the first “green art community” in Florida, where his primary objective has been to actively engage the community in environmental issues. He is the founder of GreenArt USA©, EarthDayMiami™, EcoArtFashion© and created the first EcoArtFashion Week™** in the world, which has become a platform to express the present state of the ethical and new sustainable fashion world."

plastic bags

discarded soccer balls and flags from around the globe

Luis can be reached at shop@luisvalenzuelausa.com   and on Twitter  @valenzuelausa and http://artsyproductionsusa.com

**EcoArt Fashion Week is now called The Art of Fashion.  The 2014 schedule is not posted but you can see snaps from 2013 here.   'Looks like a smashing time by me!  

Is your Fabric Sustainable?

Made By, a fantastic not-for-profit European organization dedicated to advancing sustainable fabric sources and socially responsible practices in the fashion industry provides a handy guide to the sustainability of various fibers being used today.  Not a bad idea to bone up on these before you head out to shop for something new.

Fashion Week '14 - LIBERTINE

see all the pics on Style.com 

I haven't done a fashion show review in some time but today's the day.  Libertine has always been an inspiration since back in the early, up cycled vintage screened jackets day and this FW '14 collection did not let me down.  And really, Libertine was an Eco Fashion pioneer we just didn't realize it at the time, did we?

SO. much. FUN. 

I am in love with the myriad vintage-style coats embellished in crazy ways.  The Marilyn granny punk from Look 16, above, was a stand out - the coat is just perfection.  

Enjoy some more...

 60s style ski jacket shape is an all time favorite silhouette

absolutely gorgeous.  would never get tired of this.

spiderwebs!!

NEW Mini-Collection: Ode to a (punk?) Lilly Pullitzer

As posted before, when Lilly Pulitzer died this year we were so sad.  Her elegant, cheerful summer dresses have always been exactly the thing to perk up a miserably hot day.  It doesn't hurt that the likes of Jacki O adored them too!

Jackie + LillyP courtesy of lovely blog Elements of Style, thx!

Just for kicks, in homage to her fabulous legacy we created a small collection of One-of-a-Kind -but you knew that- upcycled wool skirts imagining Lilly as a city girl 2013; a Preppy Punk if you will:-) 
We've included a few for the youngster mini skirt crowd and a few you could wear to the office.   A cashmere sweater, boots or tall Mary Janes and voila! a dashing, unique look.  As Lilly P herself said:
 

“I didn't set out to be unusual or different. I just wanted to do things my way.”

Available until they're gone! 

There's no doubt wearing one of these will establish "your way"!  Cheers to being original.

What do Punk Rock, Anatomy & Hawaii have in Common?

What do Punk Rock, Anatomy & Hawaii have in Common?  Probably not much more than the fact that they're represented by 3 new capes up on Etsy today.  Click on captions to see more.

Rock Star

Hawaii, among other fab far flung locales

Science never looked so good

Wine: (Bottles) Fun for You - Good for Hummingbirds

Wine Bottle Hummingbird Feeders are a colorful and ecologically sound way to attract the little busy bodies to your yard.  Several of them frequent our feeders every day which makes the kids very excited.  We have also planted special flowers for hummers, bees and butterflies.  Southern Houston, where we currently reside, is an important fill-up station for hummers before they make the long arduous journey south for the winter.

I made these out of wine bottles, t shirt strips, fabric & plastic bag flowers and stoppers I purchased from Annnna on Etsy.  If you want to try your own, be sure to specify WINE bottle size when you order from her.

Notes about feeding Hummers - 

• the syrup recipe is 4 parts water to 1 part white sugar. NO colors please!  Food colorings are neurotoxins for humans and all other creatures.  Bring the solution to a boil and let it cool completely before filling feeders.  You can store excess in a sealed glass jar in your fridge for 2 weeks. 
• sterility -  If you life in a hot climate the syrup needs to be changed every few days to keep it from growing bacteria.  I bleach out my feeders every refill cycle and rinse well. 
• once you start feeding you must keep it up during the appropriate seasons as the birds learn to depend on you for nutrition!  Google when to put up/take down feeders in your area.
• bugs!  One site I read said to hang a porous bag of orange slices near the feeders as the decaying fruit (change them regularly :-) attracts fruit flies which hummers also eat to fatten themselves up.  

Have fun bird watching!  

WEBSITE!

We have an official website now and you can see it

HERE!

It's nice to be all under one roof:-)

Announcing. . . U Pick U Design

How do you follow up the delicious, smoldering Edward?  How indeed.  Decidedly not possible; but you can wear him at any rate. . . 
We have created a new category in our Custom Order line - the U Pick U Design group.  We show the shirt and you chose whether you want it cut as a Tube Top or a Halter Top.  To your specific measurements, of course.

To begin with... here are a few of the shirts:

Pain & Suffering in Various Countries - back

Summer Dresses

We are featuring the summer dresses this week.  From StrapHappy to FlapHappy, they're all here!  Each one is thoughtfully designed to flatter the body with careful color placement and asymmetry.   You can custom order one in just your size!

StrapHappy

Grafitti Applique

Grafitti Applique & FlapHappy

FlapHappy

Details, details: Studs!

More Cool Textile Recycling Facts

Here's why we should NEVER forget to donate cast-off clothing!

It pays off; it really, really does.  The Council for Textile Recycling has a terrific graphic demonstrating just how successful textile recycling can be. Click here to see in better detail.

No one has ever accused me of being a numbers person... BUT data like these make my pulse race:
* Every 1000 lbs of donated textiles when recycled generates 2 man days of labor!
* Only 5% of textiles that are recycled ends up as waste!  5%!  That's amazing considering that according to the EPA 5% of landfill is clothing:-/