Did I miss something?

Can someone tell me what has happened to Wardrobe Refashion? It used to be a group blog by people who’d taken a pledge to remake old clothes instead of buying new ones. I participated in it for a year - that’s my butt right there.

Now the whole site seems to be dedicated to Google ads and impersonal little magazine columns about trendy “must-have” items to buy - the polar opposite of the spirit in which the project was started - and every post is credited to someone named Luna.

I understand if the blog’s original organizers didn’t have the time or inclination to keep the refashioning project going after its initial year was up. But it would have been nice at least to notify the participants before turning it over to whatever commercial enterprise has co-opted the thing.  A couple dozen people’s work is showcased on that site who are no longer getting any credit. And who knows how many other sites still link to it - how confusing it must be to someone encountering it for the first time.

It’s all very weird. What happened?

This thing on?

Well, someone linked to me the other day. I wasn’t expecting that. And at least one person has apparently been reading this. Guess maybe I should dust this thing off and start posting again once in a while. Maybe.

My first t-shirt recon

Our landlord neglected to pay the garbage-collection bill, so our dumpster wasn't emptied for the entire month of May.

Yeah. Pretty nasty. But since there was no room in the dumpster, someone deposited a whole bunch of clothes beside it - in a plastic bag, mind you, keeping them at least somewhat clean. So thanks to the kindness of that stranger (actually I think I know who it was), I took my first stab at modding a t-shirt.

Among my neighbor's cast-off clothes was a nice red t-shirt that was just a bit too short and snug. Also in the bag I found an olive green long-sleeved T in a similar fabric, and that became a stripe (starting narrower in back, widening from the sides to the front - more length makes room, like a bust dart or short rows. Thank you, knit design book, for explaining how it works!)

The button band and collar are from the tan shirt (found in the laundry room wastebasket) that I used for last week's skirt. they were trickier to apply than I expected - not because I switched the holes to the opposite side (men's shirt into women's) but because of the cutting and shaping and folding I had to do for the wider neckline. I knew I'd only get one chance to get it right. I hadn't intended for it to stick out like that - it ended up more curved than V-neck - but I do really like how the collar points sit way back at the top of the shoulders. The buttons are from an old silk blouse of mine (boy, do I have exciting plans for that blouse), but there were only five, so I searched my stash for a 6th…and now the bottom button has a little duck.

The colors of this shirt remind me of bowling shoes. I wish I had a pair to wear with it.

I Personify Objects, Part 2

Or "Only the Names Have Been Changed."

"Hi, I'm LT50."
"LT50 who?"
"Piaggio."
"I know that name. Hmmm, when I hear 'Piaggio', I think Vespa."
(sigh) "Yeah, that's my sister."
"Oh, I know Vespa! Vespa's really cool. Vespa Vespa Vespa. Huh, I didn't know Vespa had a sister."
"Um, yeah, that would be me. Remember, the scooter that is standing here and talking to you right now."
"… You don't look alike at all."

I love my bigger cheaper less-well-known nerdy underdog scooter.

Goodbye Molly

My parents' dog Molly died today. She was 11 years old and her health was failing, so it wasn't unexpected. I'm glad I got to see her last week. She was a good dog, and she loved my dad. I'll miss her. 

Hello…

Is there anybody out there?

I purposely haven’t publicized this blog much because I’m not interested in being all big and well-known; I’m a little phobic of the pressure. But it would be nice to know someone’s reading. Ingrid? I know I gave you the URL (but I also know how infrequently you check your email). Or are all those hits on my sitemeter only from me?

Anyone who’s reading this, leave a comment. I’m going to have to start spreading the word sooner or later - I’m just trying to decide where.

Use what you have

Apparently April is Use What You Have Month, and there’s a Flickr group for it. I probably won’t join (though I’ll probably hop on the Flickr bandwagon eventually), but I’ll definitely be keeping tabs on what everyone’s doing over there.

I’m trying to make this a use-what-I-have year - but I’ll admit I haven’t always followed it strictly. I’ll post a picture of my latest work-in-progress, featuring resourceful reuse and shameful money-wasting, later today.

Just wrong

A friend asked me to mend some clothes for him a while ago - nothing major, patching up some holes, sewing on buttons. Today I finally got around to taking a look at the stuff and sorting out what needed to be done. So his clothes are now lying around the room, and I catch a whiff of them as I walk by. They’re clean, but they smell…disturbing. Foreign. If they were actually on him I probably wouldn’t give it a second thought. But without the person in it, other people’s laundry just smells wrong.