Fall leg warmes

This is also something I´ve been working on for a while, trashion legwarmers for fall. I know a lot of you still want to wear those summery skirts even with the weather cooling, so you need new legwarmers to keep warm. Chanel had some awsome bootcovers in their FW2002 collection. These can be made from woolen jacket sleeves. Basically you can make legwarmes from any sleeves, like knit sleeves (for that Westwood look) or denim jacket sleeves (to e worn with your converse´s).

These pics are from my inspiration scrap book.

New zipper collars in the making

This is what it is all about in DIY, the great feeling of creating something original. I was feeling so good about solving the mystely behing making these zipper collars that I had to start making new ones... Hey, different colors and looks to match different outfits :)

I´m currently working on a multicolor collar and a white collar. I´m also documenting it, so you can find a "zipper collar tutorial" on my Flickr page soon.

Zipper collar trashion gala dress

I needed to find a "new" gala dress in two hours. I hate to wear the same dress twice to a party if there is fashion people present. I was so exited about my new zipper collar that I just had to wear it that night, but my KISS-boxy t-shirt was not looking good. I have done trashion styled evening dresses before, but everyone has seen them. Luckily even they can be re-styled :)

My crochet tablecloth dress was exactly the same color as the zipper collar, navy blue. First I hid the shoulder straps inside the dress to make it strapless. The straps did not look very good with the collar. My zipper collar can be worn almost any way around. After the shoulder straps were gone, the collar would be holding my dress top up and that means at least 4 safetypins.

Well the result made me happy. The zipper collar gave my victorian styled dress a more modern look. And the collar can be removed so I can wear it with other clothes as well :D

This is what the dress looks like with out the zipper collar. TABLECLOTH DRESS

DIY Color coordinated accessories

My friend asked me to help her on fixing some old slingbacks and clutch for an upcoming party outfit. She could not find hot pink shoes anywhere.. The easiest way to have color coordinated accessories is to spray paint them.

First I cleaned them. Second all places that should be left un-painted have to be taped with painter´s tape (like inner sole). I recommend using expert spraypaint for accessories because they have to stand more use than clothes (my spraypaint is bought from a car paint shop!!). The shoes were leather and the clutch pvc. Leather dryied in a few hours, but pvc took a lot longer. I think the full glossy paint was a good choice.

Homemade lego jewelry

I bought a huge box of legos from the fleamarket and spent one weekend making jewelry out of them. I have always loved the space series because it has the coolest nicknacks. I´m also found of making faces and small creatures so a lot of my designs have a "face". I was thinking of keeping some myself and giving some away to friends

Tip: heated needle is good for melting little holes into legos. After the piece has cooled off, slice the melted edges away with a sharp knife. You can put a thread through directly if the hole is made big enough or use it for small jewelry screws (hole needs to be a bit smaller than screw).

More pics at my LEGO JEWELRY SET

My Comme des Garçons zipper collar

After writing that I have not been able to make that Comme des Garçons zipper collar, I got mad... I stood in front of the mannequin for two hours until I figured out the correct technique to pin the zippers together. But I did figure it out eventually...

7 hours and 8 pcs of long jacket zippers (hand sewn together) later this is what I made. I think it turned out well and I´m definately making more of these. My new zipper "necklace" looks good with a boxy T-shirt and combat boots, but I can also wear it with a dress and heels!

Click My Customized & Reconstructed Set to see all images.

Comme des Garçons SS2005 collection details

Comme des Garçons has been one of my favorite fashion houses for years. In their SS2005 collection they made absolutely fabulous forms and shapes from sewing zippers together. This is not as easy as it looks. I tried to make this at home but failed on the first two times. I´m still trying since I cannot rest until I have my own Comme des Garçons styled piece. Anyway, here are some snapshots from my inspiration scrapbook to show you these awsome creations.

And just in case this wasn´t enough for you also check out my Inspiration set at Flickr for more pictures from my trashion scrapbook.

Chloe SS2007 Collection details

We all know that one can sew stylish dresses from thrifted 70´s fabrics (like curatins and beadspreads). Chloe had one of the most inspirational collections this summer. They combined 70´s styled printfabrics and embellished them with small metal objects and buttons. Again.. don´t just use ten buttons, sew all you have on the garment to make it look fashion. Concentrate more on the colors than on the amount. Sometimes just more is more...

Check out the entire collection and detail images at FirstView.

Lamps from household chemical bottles

Households use so many bottles of different kinds of cleaning products in a year. South African designer Heat Nash has found a way to make gorgeous lamps from cutting and combining plastic from these chemical jars and bottles. Inspirational work!

Also check out these garden lights photoraphed by Phil Price at Flickr. GARDEN LIGHT1 and GARDEN LIGHT

Trashion artist called Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette

Elizabeth Lundberg Morisette aka ClementineMom is one of the most fascinating artists I´ve found from Flickr. She makes vessels and weawed wall sculptures from everyday objects. This artist proves my point that great numbers of any item can be turned into art. Check out her work from her wall pieces set and vessels set or her blog.

Vessel from zippers:



Wall piece from plastic toy solders:

Trashion dishes

Do you have some left over dishes and cups and a tube of superglue?? Why don´t you make some trashion styled candleholders and fruit dishes out of them! Here are some inspirational images to get you started by Torchhead and Arnout Visser (1962) photographed by HannyB at Flickr.

ThreadBanger.com

ThreadBanger is a weekly DIY videoshow with punk do-it-yourself attitude. Hosts Rob and Corinne interview DIY people, report from events and give instructions and ideas for rocking DIY projects. They have really shown that DIY is for everyone. You can watch the episodes also from YouTube. The best part is that you can contribute to the show by sending in your own videos and other footage.

In the TreadBanger Forums you can show of your projects, discus with other "threadheads", post your diy tutorials and much more... But be warned! This show is addictive and I was stuck on this site for three hours for the first time I went there! It just is sooo much fun...

Here are some of my favorite episodes:
How to make vintage looking jeans with coffee
Concious Clothing

The definion of trashion

A lot of people have asked me what exactly is trashion. For many it is a term they have not heard before. This is how I define them. Trashion - The combination of the words trash and fashion. It covers all crafts made from recycled materials. Trashionista - One who makes their wardrobe, jewelry and accessories from secondhand and thrifted clothing and other recycled materials.

I stumbled upon this word in the beginning of 2005 on Plan B´s website (a recycle-project by Finland´s Recycling Centre). The word trashion was so genious that I thought it had to be adobted into DIY slang. And so it did. After I and PostScriptum started farming it in Flickr DIY groups and Pauliina founded Etsy Trashion StreetTeam it took a life of it´s own. Over a year ago one could find little over a hundred hits for the word trashion but today you can find over 73900 hits when googled.

Keep spreading the good word of recycling, crafts and trashion!

Great numbers makes art - the teabag dress by Ang

One of the major trashion discoveries I´ve made is understanding the power of great numbers... Allow me to explain. One used teabag is trash. One hundred teabags is art. ... Not art you say? Let me tell you a story. Angela Bright needed a teaparty dress. Most of us would have made an ordinary dress from fabric but she took the title literately and made a dress out of used teabags and coffee paniers. I know it sounded unbeliavable to me too until I saw the pictures in her Made by Ang set. This project is true trashion. So when you take a large number of almost any object you can create art.

Btw Ang´s Teabag dress won best in the Recycling category and Best In Show awards. Congratulations! You so deserved to win.

Supplies for trashion craft projects at Etsy

Etsy is not just a place for handmade goods but also a place to buy and sell your extra craft supplies. Go to Etsy and search for items with the word SUPPLIES. You can find fabric, patterns, beads and other small objects and basically anything one could need for your trashion projects. Recycling is important even when talking about craft materials. Just remember if you intend to sell your materials, a pretty package and clear pictures of your items helps a lot. Just look at what abelemporium has done with her fabric scraps.

VHS tape for knitting crochet

Now that we´ve entered the DVD era, most videos and casettes have become useless. VHS tape is a very strong material (though it wrinckles easy) so it is ideal for bags and other everyday use objetcs. It can be also weawed like any flat thread. The surface reflects light beautifully and it gives the object a spacy feeling. I have jeard that knitting VHS tape s not the easiest material to work with because it is a bit rough but I believe that every difficulty can be overcome with the right attitude. FazendoArte makes bags and jewellry by knitting old VHS tape. She also has her own blog.

Recycled vinyl record pieces

So many thrift and secondhand shops are overflowing with old vinyl records. Some of them filled of terrible music that no one wants to hear again... ever. IMPYBAT27 has found many creative ways to make beautiful jewellry from recycled vinyl record pieces. I wonder how those bracelet vinyl pieces would look on a handbag or a dress (used like sequins)?

Kitchen towels to a childrens clothing

Thrifted linen kitchen towels are great to make dresses and aprons for children. They are light and easy to wash in high temperatures. Sort of made to be worn when kids draw and play. Kinchimama makes beautiful recycled clothing for children and they can be bought from her shop at http://www.kinchi.etsy.com/ She also has her own website