Small Scale Recycling

 

Remember my Barbie & Skipper dolls? Last spring I gave away most of my childhood "collection" of them (six out of eight) to a charity shop; but decided to keep these two + a selection of clothes made by my mum back in the 1960s. And instead of just going back into their box, they've continued to be on display on one of my bookshelves, and I've kept changing their outfits now and then, "just for fun". The other day, I was inspired to make them new casual tops out of a pair of old socks. Barbie's did not require any stitches at all, just cutting. On Skipper's I had to add a few stitches by hand for a better fit. 

When "playing" with them, I keep getting impressed by my mum's details on some of their clothes from around 60 years ago... Like Skipper's pair of jeans:

In our local newspaper this morning (which nowadays I subscribe to online), one of the local news was that another second hand shop for charity is about to be opened in the city centre (we have a number of them since before, but none of them right in the middle of the city). I have to confess that so far, I've been giving away a lot more clothes and things to collections for charity, rather than buying second hand myself - especially clothes. But I'll certainly at least pay the new shop a "curiosity" visit when it opens!

How about you? Are there many second hand shops where you live, and do you like shopping clothes second hand?

Magic Transformation

 

Happiness is having one's mouth full of teeth again - after a few weeks of having had to make do without one of them! Yesterday the Tooth Fairy (i.e. my dentist) waved her magic again, and I got my new crown put in place. Turned out a perfect fit, so will hopefully make daily life easier again for a while (until who-knows-what-may-happen-next). 

* * *

Coming out from the dentists' , I still had sort of a contrary feeling of deserving an extra "reward" for going through the process. So before I went back home, I ended up also going to a shoe-shop to buy myself a new pair of warm indoor slippers. Well - it wasn't really an impulse purchase, as I'd had it in mind for for a while. ;-) And probably not one that would have ended up on my blog, if not for a certain detail. I tried on a few different ones, but here is the pair that I ended up buying:

See that little tag? It "sealed the deal" for me...

Recycling magic! :-)

Re-Think

 

Glimpses from 'Fashion Days' at the Textile Fashion Center on Saturday. (Which houses our Textile Museum as well as the Textile College and some other textile-related businesses.) I only looked in briefly... I found the atmosphere a bit noisy, with loud music as backdrop to the fashion show going on just then. I think they were showing summer clothes from some of the local fashion stores.

Upstairs, there was an exhibition of flower arrangements. It's that time of year... Graduations coming up soon; and weddings are also popular in May-June here.

There was also an exhibition about sustainability and ways to "re-think" about fashion and recycling etc of textiles. 

There is a lot of talk about re-cycling and up-cycling, clothes-swapping and buying second hand these days... (And this being a textile-centered city, I guess we perhaps get even more of that kind of discussions.) And yet it seems to me, almost any time I enter one of the regular fashion shops in the city, that they are more overcrowded (with clothes and accessories) than ever - offering a million similar choices, and no real chance to get a good overview. 

By the way - how do you react to music in shops? For me, it usually has the opposite effect than I suppose they intend... Unless I know exactly what I'm after and am really determined to get it, background music often makes me turn around right at the door and walk straight back out again... 

Just now I'm thinking that I don't really need a lot of new things for this summer. That may depend a bit on what kind of summer it will turn out to be, though! (So far, I think it has not made up its mind yet...)

However, I made one purchase last week that I'm happy about - at least so far. Not clothes, but a new handbag (shoulder bag). It wasn't second-hand, but half-price, and just what I wanted. Or coming as close as one can expect to get in reality, anyway...
 
(In my imagination, I'm constantly looking  for the equivalent of Hermione's magic handbag in the last Harry Potter-book... Tiny on the outside, weighing nothing at all, but with room for a library and a tent the size of a fully equipped small house inside...)

I'll donate some less successful purchases from the past to a charity shop instead. (Not sure if that makes the world a better place; but it will save me some space, anyway!)

 

Creative Recycling

At the opening of the Orangery in our Town Park on World Environment Day, there was also an exhibition in a tent outside, of creative “recycling” art made by school children.

Shadow Shot Sunday

Mosaic Monday

Our World Tuesday

Phew

This heartbreaking sight met me at the recycling station earlier this week. Is there a shelter somewhere for homeless teddy bears?? … Anyway, he was gone this morning (destination unknown) …

Today was Spring Clean-Up day where I live, which means they come with a couple of extra trucks, where (during a couple of hours) we can leave things that don’t fit in the usual recycling bins. As I still have a little bit of a walk to the recycling station (about 15 min there and back again), and can’t carry very much at a time, I spent nearly two hours this morning “recircling” myself between there and my basement storage room...

Afterwards I felt almost as tired as Teddy looks… And of course as soon as I got back to the flat after the last turn (and it was too late), I found a bag of discarded small electronics that I had spent part of the morning looking “everywhere” for in vain. (You know, the good old syndrome of putting things where you should easily find them… and then you don’t! I had almost come to the conclusion that I must have got rid of them already although I could not remember when or how!)

I wish they had these days a bit more often…

Linking to Shadow Shot Sunday 2