the green gal

The Challenge – the new not-new dress

As you know, I've been just a little bit busy getting my handmade business, the green gables, off the ground, so it's been a while since I have written about my no-new-clothes-for-a-year challenge.

Well, I've not had much to say about it! All my time, energy and cash has gone into the green gables so I've not even stepped into a clothing shop in weeks. By not visiting clothes stores I don't think about, or miss, new clothes or fashion. Even during my charity shop browsing I've been far more interested in the housewares section than the clothing rails.

However, courtesy of my dear friend Kirsty, I have a new not-new summer dress.

The clever girl spotted this while wandering around her local charity shop and bought it for me. She knows I'm partial to a pretty summer dress, I love wearing green, and most excitingly it still had its shop tag so had never even been worn. A spot of pinning by my sister and a few minutes on the sewing machine and it fits me perfectly. The chain link butterfly belt is another charity shop find.

My charity shop and secondhand shopping has become so habitual to me I don't think I actually think about it any more. A comment from a friend recently proved to be quite telling. At my little birthday garden party last week, one friend remarked, while giving me her gift, that she was "sorry it's not from a charity shop". I don't know if I've ever heard someone apologise for buying new rather than secondhand! Obviously anything someone has been kind enough to give me is always very gratefully received, however old or new it is.

Still, it does make you wonder, when did 'new' come to mean 'better' for some people? Of course, not everything I spend my money on is new but really, I love a charity shop gem, don't you?

I have a new nook

 

This weekend has been an exciting one for me as I moved into my new studio at the end of the garden! When we bought this house two years ago we knew we wanted to transform the brick built shed into a studio and my frustration at working on half a desk in the spare room was the motivation to get it done. The shed was solidly built but needed everything doing to it – new roof and ceiling, new window, brick up doors, replace other window with double doors, new electrics, plumbing to fit a toilet and washbasin, build a wall to make a cloakroom, insulate and plaster walls, insulate and lay new floor, and furniture! 

I love seeing and reading about other people's workspaces, nooks and studios so I thought I'd give you a tour of my new space. I only moved in last night so there's a lot more for me to do to make it feel like home.

 

The chair, table and bookshelves all came from Ikea. My faithful brother sewing machine was a birthday present from my husband a few years ago and serves me well. Leaning against the wall you can just see Gabs of the green gables created for me by Kirsty, as soon as I get her a frame she'll be in pride of place on the wall. Under the table is a picnic basket a friend found for me in a charity shop and of course there's a length of bunting hung up!

The suitcases were used by my aunty to tour Europe decades ago. I think my mum then went to college with them. The mannequin, wearing a mini pinny, was an eBay bargain bought from a school PTA. I think the kids may have named it as the underside of the stand reads Ben! The little bag in front is my sewing bag, yet another charity shop find, and the basket full of yarn and needles is a secondhand gem I found on eBay. You can see one of two ancient wood and wire birdcages here, they came from a charity shop too, not sure if birds were ever kept in them (I hope not). Are you getting the idea I like secondhand yet?

My fabric is a mix of charity shop shirts, remnant bin finds, vintage fabrics and new cotton fabrics bought locally. Scraps get chucked in the basket to be used at a late date. My storage is a strange mixture of baskets given by a friend, plastic Chinese takeaway boxes and crystal brandy glasses. If you can see my embroidery threads, they're in a Singapore Sling glass I bought from Raffles Hotel in Singapore! You can just see the gorgeous old Singer sewing machine peeking through the bunting, still haven't found the time to get it working…

The sofabed was given to us by a friend a few years ago, and with the studio having its own toilet (you can just see the cloakroom door on the right) and running water, the room can also be used as an occasional guest bedroom. The coffee table is actually an ingenious invention that can be raised to different heights, the top spun round and flipped open to make a dining table. My parents gave it to us as a wedding present when we lived in a little flat in London where furniture needed to multi-task. The cloth on the coffee table was beautifully embroidered by my aunty about 60 years ago. Oh and that's my dog, Georgie, on her blanket. She knows better than to come anywhere near my work or fabrics.

My Anne of Green Gables quote poster adds a much needed splash of turquoise and dose of inspiration.

The transformation of the little building at the end of our garden has been so successful and it makes me super happy. It's gone from being a place to dump stuff to a useful space that has added a whole extra room to our home. In case you're interested, those are my veg beds on the left hand side, the green stalks you can see are onions and you can just see some salad leaves in the corner. Several packets of wildflower seeds have been sown in the bed on the right so hopefully that won't stay a boring patch of dirt for long. 

I hope you enjoyed the tour around my new nook (and veg patch). What do you love about the space you create in?

Month of May

Well, it's been quite a month and it's not even over yet. My month has been so packed already I felt the need to stop and look back at it so far. So, this month I…

• have been laid low with a stinking cold which became a hacking cough which turned into a chest infection

• had family and friends to stay, before, during and after my lurgy – lucky them

• took part in Copy and Paste's first birthday blog party, a rip-roaring time it was too, if you didn't pop in at the time you can still read all the posts

• held a little competition to win something I made, and people actually entered! The lovely lady who won the string of bunting seems v pleased with it and sent me a piccie of it hung in its new home

• managed to correctly predict the coalition government outcome before it was officially announced so we could create and print the weekly newspaper for children – First News (that's the day job)

• finished my Challenge Inspiration Thursday posts with my favourite colour combo, but that doesn't mean the end of turquoise for me!

• was told I needed new glasses so went for a new style

 

• met 11-week-old George – the little poppet – new baby of my friend Libby and her husband Richard

• spent 2.5 hours on a tractor learning all about farming courtesy of Richard (above) who's a dairy farmer. Here's an observation: when I go to into work I find the usual office furniture and co-workers. When Richard walked into his workplace – the silage barn to be precise – one day last week he found a mallard had made a nest and laid several eggs. You tell me, who has the most interesting start to their day?

Source

• saw several cows receive a manicure. Not that it ever occurred to me before but it makes sense that cows' hooves grow continuously as humans' nails do, and so need trimming. And there's an entire career to be made as a hoof trimmer

• tried on loads of my mum's clothes from the 60s and 70s. Came away with a cosy knitted shawl plus two fantastic shirt dresses circa 1970 (post three of my siblings being born but pre-me) – hurray for a hoarding mum!

• also tried on a bunch of clothes my brother-in-law's girlfriend is giving to charity (sorry, charity, I intercepted) and took away a never-worn top, a wraparound cardigan and a pair of linen trousers – thanks for the cast-offs!

And a trip to the Isle of Wight is yet to come!

So, how's your month been going?

The Challenge

So, I've decided it's high time I set myself a new challenge. A proper one that will take a decent amount of effort and last a while. 

When I was nine years old I gave up sweets for Lent without telling anyone. I wanted to see if I could go without for six weeks and by keeping it secret I didn't have the added help of my mum keeping a beady eye on me. After the allotted period I emerged on Easter Sunday brandishing a carrier bag half full of confectionery, having stored it under my bed. My family were suitably impressed and my mother insisted I took the bag into school to show and tell, and probably so that I'd have to share the stash and so not OD on sugar.

Three plus years ago I turned veggie. The main reasons being health and environmental benefits and animal welfare concerns, but a little part of me also wanted to see if I had the willpower to do it. After all, crispy duck pancakes and bacon sandwiches were two of my favourite meaty meals. But nearly four years on I'm as committed as I always have been and have every intention of staying meat-free forever.

So, I have will power and previous record directing it at abstaining from various foodstuffs. My latest challenge doesn't involve food but clothing instead.

For one year I will not buy a single new item of clothing. Starting today (although I could have got going a while ago as I haven't been stocking up on new threads) I won't buy a single new item of clothing. Instead I will make do and mend items I already own, buy secondhand or (I'm the most nervous about this one) make my own.

Some might say I could go further and eschew the purchase of all clothing for a year but I'm not about winning rosettes for extreme behaviour. To totally rule out taking ownership of a new or not-new item of clothing isn't particularly practical or realistic. After all, even cave folk made themselves a new loin cloth/toga/whatever you call their garb from leftover animal skin from time to time.

Plus, by boycotting all clothes I may turn off readers and be dismissed as too idealistic. I'd like to take this opportunity to show others, as well as myself, that buying £3 outfits from Primark, just because you can, or changing your wardrobe every season isn't needed to look and feel good about yourself. When it comes down to it, most of our purchases are suggested and decided by someone sitting in an office a long way away and their highly-skilled marketing company. And then there's the labour used to make the cheap clothes so many love. However much we might not want to believe it, no high street store is guilt-free of using cheap labour – people who work incredibly long hours in harsh conditions and don't even take home a decent enough wage to live on at the end of the day. We can't keep buying and binning clothes and not think there's a catch.

Over the next year I'm going to find out just how well I can be dressed without the use of virgin clothing. Hopefully it will benefit my wallet and the local charity shops I support, it will mean I don't contribute to the misery of many garment workers, plus improve my sewing skills and leave a few items out of landfill. 

Now, where did I put that pattern for handmade knickers…

What have you been doing with your time?

Well, in between working, digging myself out of the snow, crocheting on a train, watching Glee and My Dream Farm, and making my nephew's apron, I've made a few things and found some marvellous bargains:

I embroidered a birthday card for a dear friend…

…found this gorgeous clock hanging in a charity shop, and they sold it to me for a couple of quid…

 

…then I found this gorgeous bowl in my favourite colour in yet another charity shop and it was even more of a bargain. Can't quite decide whether to use it to store things or to plant some spring bulbs in it…

 
…made some more bunting from old shirts and lovely fabric my mum gave me…

 …found a funny website about making your life greener – Do The Green Thing, plus the easiest recipe in the world to make banana ice cream at Love Food Hate Waste, and tried this tasty recipe for Sausages and Mustard (veggie sausages of course) by Nigel Slater straight after watching him cook it on TV…

…used an old map to make a few envelopes and cover a peg (why a peg? no reason, just fancied using my new pot of decopatch glue and thought I'd pretty up a peg)…

…after spotting a few tulip bulbs shoots emerging from the soil in the garden I've been poring over seed catalogues trying to decide what to plant. Trouble is, even though last year I managed to squeeze two raised beds, two towers of tyres for potato growing, a window box for tomatoes, a hanging basket for strawberries and various pots for garlic and herbs into our little garden, I still want to grow more, and rescue a couple of chickens (hah!)…

… and that was how my first month of 2010 ended, wonder what's in store for us all in the next 11 months…!

Charity starts at the shops

Charity shops divide people. They’re not quite marmite, as in you love them or hate them, but there are definitely those who do and those who don’t. Shop in them that is.

I doubt anyone can have a major aversion to donating to a charity shop, but buying from one is another matter. The view still exists that it’s a downmarket place to purchase from. Housewares are one thing but to buy clothing from there is a step too far, for some.
I’ll admit that some of the clothes on sale may be a smidgen plain or not terribly fashionable but that’s a matter of taste, there’s nothing wrong with the actual garment.

I’ve been buying kitchen goods from charity shops for years. A few of my favourite purchases include a turquoise glass water jug, vintage teacups and saucers, a vintage platter and crystal champagne flutes. To me, that it's been pre-loved adds to the charm, it doesn’t detract from or devalue it.

Recently I’ve spent more time looking through the clothing rails and do you know what I found? The odd gem! Yes there are plenty of clothes I would never wear, but the same can be said about high street chain stores. Some of the labels I recognise and some I’ve never heard of but that doesn’t matter to me, it’s whether I like the item, whether it fits me and whether I think it looks good on me. Some of my favourite pieces have come from charity shops – a green blazer, a Monsoon skirt, a Gap top and a Zara winter coat to name a few. Those four items would have originally cost around £130, at least. The total price I paid? £18. The clothes are in excellent condition, no-one would know they came from a charity shop if I didn’t tell them.

I have this sneaky habit of waiting to see if someone complements me on something I’m wearing before telling them it was a charity shop bargain. The reaction differs. Some look amazed that something so nice came from a charity shop. Others look surprised and then frown, as if the shine has now gone off the item.

Charity shop clothes shopping is not the same as shopping for a brand new outfit on the high street, no-one would say it is. But there is definitely a buzz to be felt when you find a gorgeous garment, that you know would have cost a significant sum originally, for only a few pounds. And, of course, any purchase benefits the charity! Good feelings in abundance. If you’re watching the pennies, care about the growing throwaway fashion mountain and the exploitation of garment workers, it makes so much sense to charity shop.

The joy of craft

I spent this afternoon making things. Not a very exciting way to spend your time for some people but for me it was bliss.

There's something about facing several bits and pieces, odds and ends, sometimes items that already have a purpose, and a period of time later you're gazing at a finished item that was created by your own fair hands.

In the space of Sunday afternoon I made a cushion from old PJ bottoms and a charity shop shirt (look out for the make-it instructions on daisygreenmagazine.co.uk in a few days' time), two pairs of earrings, a bracelet, two lavender bags and a toiletry bag. They're not all perfect but that's not the point. At the moment it seems every time I sit down at my desk or sewing machine, I make something I've never made before. And, quite often, I make mistakes but I learn from them and hopefully next time, I make it better.

To see other stuff I've made take a look at the Things I've Made photo album (on the left under the piccie of me). Let me know what you think of them and I've love to hear what you've enjoyed creating recently. 

Happy crafting!

World Toilet Day 19 November

Did you know there was such a thing as World Toilet Day? No, it's not about giving toilets the day off or higher pay but appreciation does come into play a little. Here are some staggering toilet-related stats:

• 2.5 billion people in the world don't have access to sanitation such as a toilet and clean water to wash their hands
  
• 1.8 million children a year, so 5,000 a day, die because of diseases caused by poor sanitation and dirty water
• Every year around 60 million children (that's nearly the UK population) are born into homes with no toilet
• The average European uses 200 litres of water every day (that takes into account water used in the production of food and products consumed and used), while the average person in the developing world uses just 10 litres a day
• 97.% of the world's water is saltwater. That means that if the world's water fitted into a bucket, only one teaspoonful would be fit to drink.

(Figures taken from www.wateraid.org)

Makes your bathroom look quite luxurious now, doesn't it?! 

So, having read the depressing statistics, what can you do about it? Well, by watching how much water you use in everyday life you'll be conserving resources as well as saving yourself money (especially if you're on a meter) in energy costs. A few ideas are:

• Fit a hippo (the water-saving device rather than the big beast) in your toilet cistern to reduce the amount of water used for each flush
  
• Turn off the tap when you're brushing your teeth
  
• Shower rather than lie in a bath and try to get your time down to four minutes (it's doable, honest!). There are some fun timers you can get to liven up(!) and time your speedy washing, try savewatersavemoney.co.uk for a selection.
  
• If you're feeling flush (sorry) you could help WaterAid continue their quite remarkable work getting clean water and sanitation to those without by donating at www.wateraid.org

And if you're really serious about saving water you could employ the "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down" way of thinking!