Earth Day Inspiration

In honor of Earth Day next week, I'm going to work through more of my pile of thrift shop bargains!  Actually, I cheated a couple of weeks ago and went to Goodwill, even though I still have enough pieces to work on to clothe several people.  And I don't know if it's because of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' song Thrift Shop or what, but my Goodwill was the busiest I've ever seen it on non-clearance days!  I still got some great deals, though ....  If you haven't seen the video, it's hilarious and can be seen here - WARNING!!!  The f-word is used a bajillion times!

Whether you want to call it altering, refashioning, restyling, upcycling, or whatever, these sites can inspire you in deciding how to work with your thrift store finds:

Stampington  & Company puts out a quarterly magazine devoted to refashioning, Altered Couture.  I love this publication, however it is a bit spendy.  An alternative is to go to their website and look at past issues.  When you click on one, several double page articles come up - a little small, but that's why computers have an enlarge option!

Marisa Lynch's New Dress A Day blog is fun to follow - Marisa decided a few years ago to make 365 dresses by restyling thrift store dollar dress.  She's still doing several a week and also has a book with helpful hints, also called New Dress A Day.

Jillian Owen's Refashionista blog is really fun!  She takes you through how she alters a thrift store find and then shows you the party or gathering she wore it to.  Her remakes are very fresh and up to date fashions.  And besides showing you the pieces she's worked on, Jillian often has such posts as how to get started, how to shop a thrift store, and where to find your nearest Goodwill clearance center.

And finally, on TrashtoCouture, Laura refashions her finds into amazing, often funky new clothes.  She does a lot of redyeing, too! 

Happy Creating!  Deborah