Follow Your T-shirt

Have you ever wished you knew exactly where your t-shirt came from? Here's the thing: we live a pretty disposable lifestyle. You go to Gap, buy a t-shirt, wear it until it's worn out or stained and toss it. Or we buy a pair of jeans, wear them till they develop a hole, and toss them. No thought of repurposing or fixing...we just...throw them away. That is, unless we're civic-minded, and then we donate. Still, it's all very disposable, isn't it?

In The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, an economist follows one t-shirt, from the creation of the raw materials to the production of the t-shirt. He talks of the people involved in the creation of his shirt and in doing so, somehow the t-shirt becomes more...real, more important. Less...disposable.

Here's the thing - you can make loads of stuff out of what you already have. When you feel the urge to go shopping for something new, whether it's clothes or home furnishings, start with what you already have. Look around. What needs a facelift? What could be re-purposed?

I recently found this site: http://www.giannyl.com There are several others in a similar vein, but this girl, GiannyL, is a 25 year-old Paraguayan who is awesome with recycling stuff like t-shirts, sheets, and pillowcases into really cute clothes, and she has tons of videos showing how she does it. Now, some of the clothes are a little young-ish for me, but this site gives you a really good idea of what's possible. I once spent an entire weekend watching Gianny make awesome clothes and looking over the projects at Instructables.com, Threadbanger.com, CraftStylish.com, and a few other sites, and I got dizzy at all the possibilities! It's pretty amazing what you can do.

In fact, there are ideas all over the place. If you watch HGTV, you'll find great ideas for re-purposing vintage treasures, flea market finds, and resale shop salvages. I've personally transformed many a coffee table with crafty paint and a creative eye, and even had some of the resulting "art work" commissioned for sale in a couple of shops in Broad Ripple. So, see? Sometimes re-purposing is great for freshening up your home, and sometimes it can even create a little side income.

The whole point is, what seems like trash can be transformed into treasure. In the coming months, I'll be sharing some of my own re-purposing ideas, complete with instructions for you to follow. In this economy, being able to look at stuff that you own and see those things in a new light will serve you very well. So stay tuned and look for cool projects to come!