Little Miss Green the fashion designer
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Donate Don't Waste say the YMCA
As you know, I love a good browse around a charity shop. Not only is it a great way to keep things out of landfill (around 1 million tonnes of textiles are currently landfilled every year) but you never know when you’re going to get a bargain, such as a designer coat by Beatrice Von Tresckow 😉
Back in the summer, however, I was rather taken by the display outside our local YMCA charity shop.
They had a metal dustbin with a poster on it saying “Donate don’t waste” and the most amazing manequins. From a distance the manequins looked as if they were dressed in clothes inspired by the romantic gypsy look, but on closer inspection these ‘clothes’ were literally scraps of material that had been woven or sewn together.
Everything was bright and colourful and the display was stunning.
Ok, so you might not wear these clothes as they were, but talk about inspiration for anyone who is handy with a sewing needle and thread.
It definitely inspired Little Miss Green. For about 6 months she has been asking for a strapless top and whenever she draws groups of people they are wearing these tops. She’s nine!
I’ve told her that I don’t really feel a strapless top for a nine year old girl is an appropriate item of clothing…
Not one to be deterred (or one for listening to her Mother very much), we got home from the charity shop and she called me into the garden wearing this:
A skirt, fashioned as a strapless top…
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Tags: textiles
I love it! Nice work Little Miss Green! Practical for traveling too – 2 items in 1.
I do apologise here for being off topic, but I just had to tell you off of a must see programme that was aired on the BBC last night. But I suspect most people on here would have watched it.
‘The Foods that Make Billions,’ is a programme all of us all of us who are engaged in overcoming waste and mass consumerism, will relate to.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00w8cll/The_Foods_that_Make_Billions_Liquid_Gold/
Here is the programme blurb:
This major new series tells the untold story of how big business feeds us by transforming simple commodities into everyday necessities and highly profitable brands.
The first episode tells the extraordinary story of how the bottled water industry has grown from nothing to become one of the biggest success stories in the modern food and beverage industry in just 40 years.
With unprecedented access to the world’s largest food and beverage companies, including Nestle and Danone, this is the inside story of how the bottled water business has become emblematic of an age of plenty in the West. With billions at stake, the market is fiercely fought over by the world’s multinationals who promise us health, convenience and youth. It is natural and pure and sourced at minimal cost, its real value lies in the marketing and branding.
Told by the Money Programme team, this film takes us to Hawaii, Japan, North America, France, Switzerland and Scotland to chart what lies behind the incredible success of this industry and explore what it tells us about ourselves.
The other two programmes will be about cereals and yogurt.
John x
on this eve of thanksgiving here in the heartland across the big pond, i wanted to share the european event of november—link away and do translate if need be. or write to moi, and i shall oblige–happily.
many thanks to the Greens, ns
http://www.reduisonsnosdechets.fr/
@ john ashwell–it was a great disappointment to note that the bbc’s long arm did not reach over the deep water horizon here…when i clicked–it said ” not available in your area” it would have been dessert for me.
any other suggestions or script? of this particular subject fave?
@nadine
You could do a google search for ‘The Foods that Make Billions,’ Here is one piece found on the film:
http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/nature-environment/the-environment/just-say-no-bottled-water
Or go to the site: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/ They put many similar documentaries on there. This one should appear in a few weeks time.
I have an anti plastic blog too, where I’ve written about bottled water: http://plasticisntnice.blogspot.com/
Thank you too Mrs Green for allowing my plug to appear.
x
well done little Miss G, brillant, xx
@Jen CleanBin: 2 items in 1! Loved your post yesterday about the 1 in, 1 out rule. We stick to that here too 😉
@John Ashwell: Thanks John; you always seem to find such interesting things on the internet! I’ve been watching the ‘Turn back Time’ series and I get totally enraptured watching how life was ‘ before plastic’. In the Victorian one I watched with LMG yesterday they wrapped butter, meat and even marmalade in greaseproof paper. Biscuits were sold loose in oak barrels and eggs were carefully placed in paper bags. It was wonderful 🙂
@nadine sellers: The site looks wonderful; alas I don’t understand the words, but I can more or less get the gist from the graphics. Is it an event people are encouraged to participate in or solely information based?
You are right, nine is too young for strapless tops! LOL…it is cute how she fashioned her own. As a teen and young wife and mother, I would put on a half slip and wear it around the house while I was getting ready, so she has it right. My g-daughter is nine, and I think I heard something about strapless on the phone with her mother, my daughter. I send her fancy tube tops to play dress up, so she has a supply of sparkly strapless tops for dress up play.
I watched The Hawaians, based on James Michener’s work, Hawaii. Plus, I have almost finished Little House on the Prairie, the tv series, and some Henry James based movies. I noticed that the use of burlap bags, barrels, and wooden boxes are the norm for storage and transport by boat, wagon, and in stores as containers from which to sell.. Now, plastic, cardboard, and other disposable containers are the norm. Eggs are carried carefully each day in the same basket into town to sell. There is no need on LHOTP for cardboard or foam egg cartoons. These are all in the Victorian Era or thereabouts. How did they make the paper for butter greaseproof? With wax?
@Practical Parsimony: I love watching the old style programmes where you can see all the packaging and transporting materials. It makes you realise that we CAN live plastic free, although it’s hard to imagine. I don’t know what they used for greasproofing paper, but I would imagine it to be some wax, beeswax would be lovely and impart a wonderful smell…