Aug 30
While I was already committed to buying used or refashioning to help with the environment before participating in GAAD, I have found that I ofteen used GAAD as a reminder not even think about buying anything new. After all, I’d made a promise. As time passed I realized that I was less and less concerned with purchasing new clothes and really enjoyed reworking what I had. I rarely, if ever, felt like I was constrained or missing something. As I move forward beyond the GAAD I’ll try to remember what I’ve learned. I’ll continue to host clothing swaps and will always shop for second hand or refashioned clothing first. But, I also know that a good cardigan is hard to find and I’ll save the shopping for my most essential items that need to be replaced. I look forward to continuing my commitment to the environment and to my budget and buying only whats essential, but to continue to have fun with what I already own. If there are any ladies in the Baltimore area who are interested in future clothing swaps, please do contact me. Thanks for the great learning opportunity Sally, and for giving me a reason to stay disciplined and to really practice what I preach.
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Tagged with: Apparel Diet, clothes, clothing diet, Clothing Swap, Consumerism, etsy, recycled clothing, Refashion, shopping
Mar 25
Currently I am facing a real pants problem. All of the pants that I wear for work (4 or 5 pairs of khaki’s) are too tight in the waistband. I suspect that this is due to two reasons: shrinking and growing. I purchased all of these pants when I started my new job 3.5 years ago, so I believe that over time they have shrunk from repeated washing and drying coupled with the fact that I am growing. Now that I am over 30 (ssh, don’t tell anyone…), I gain and lose an amazing amount of shape on various areas of my body. My waist line expands and shrinks in a way that I didn’t even know was possible. While I train to maintain consistency in diet and exerice, there are times when it is difficult (I recently tore my mensicus and haven’t been able to exercise for nearly two months). There are times when I have to work late, or have engagements that prevent me from getting in my exercise and sleep regularly. I eat pretty healthy, so that’s not much of an issue. I also quit smoking, which has led to some modest weight gain. All of these things equal pants that don’t fit well. Ordinarly I would just go shopping for new pants at the Goodwill and Ebay first, then ultimately at the gap to replace them, but being on the diet means that I’m going to have to get creative. For casual clothes this is always less of a challenge because I can take liberties in my creations. For work however, this is a different story. Thankfully, I had the foresight to purchase only wide leg pants, so the hips and thights are fine, it’s really only the waist band that has become an issue over time. In the immediate future I can’t starve myself, and I can’t just start doing aerobics on a bum knee, so I’m going to try to snip out a little rectangle on each side of my waist band and put in a small piece of wide elastic and then cover with a coordinating fabric from some older scrap garments that I have on hand (maybe even old tshirts?). I’ll post a tutorial on my personal blog and let you know how it goes; wish me luck. In the long-term, I forsee a trip to the gap to replace my pants once the diet is over. I think that if I can get a good 3 or 4 years out of a pair of pants and then use them to make something esle later, I feel like I’ve done my part to reduce consumption and balance comfort with consumerism. Moving forward however, I suspect I see more skirts with stretch waist bands in my future closet.
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Tagged with: balance, clothes, Consumerism, diet, Ebay, fit, Goodwill, modification, pants, personal blog, Refashion, shopping, skirts, temptation, The Gap, The Great American Apparel Diet, tutorial
Jan 04
Hello World! I’m just now jumping on the bandwagon after reading coverage of The Great American Apparel Diet on Treehugger recently. Fortunately, I came to the realization that I should really quit buying new clothes in 2007 and began purchasing previously loved clothes from thrift stores and Ebay. I also made quite a few purchases from sellers of refashioned, recycled, upcycled clothing on Etsy and ArtFire. Now, I’m finally taking the plunge and I’m not going to buy myself any new clothes this year. This should be fairly easy because I have piles of used clothes clogging up every nook and cranny of my closet, basement shelves and my poor little sewing corner. I’m also a woman of efficiency, so I’m excited to find one solution for three of my resolutions for 2010:
- Decreasing my carbon footprint (decrease consumption of resources)
- Taking control of my finances (saving money, paying off debt, etc).
- Geting in shape, and staying in good physical health
- Continuing to not smoke
So, as you can see not buying new clothes contributes to the first three (3. counts because not buying new clothes will force me to stay in the same size). So here I go, wish me luck 
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Tagged with: ArtFire, Clothing Swap, etsy, Recycle, Refashion, Resolutions, Reuse, The Great American Apparel Diet, TreeHugger
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