My sister and I were born 18 months apart and my family has never been rich so I was always blessed with hand-me-downs. And when it wasn't handed down we got great clothes from consignment shops or yard sales. The clothes were usually really nice pieces too, things that lasted through us and got recycled back to the consignment store or thrown in our own yard sale stack. There were some pieces that were obviously made by someone's mother or grandmother, sweet little sailor suits and smocked dresses with little flowers and birds. Pieces that inspired gray headed women to get a dreamy look when they saw us wear them. Probably making them recall their own children or grandchildren.
I, too, am a dreamer. I always have been and maybe it's because of the clothes. When you buy a new garment, it's been sewn from a bolt of fabric and sent to the stores. When you get a hand-me-down, there is a story behind it and sometimes they even have super powers. I was a little shy when I was younger and my sister was not. When I wore her clothes they were almost like a cape for me. I could pretend that I had her confidence, that I wasn't the skinny kid with glasses who tripped over my own shoes, but the athletic, outgoing one that could catch a fast ball. And with things from the consignment and yard sales the story behind the outfit could be even more fantastic. Maybe the little girl who owned it before me was a lion tamer, or a princess.
Now as I am grown, my stories are a little more mundane, and I have collected a little more confidence in my self, although I am still a little clumsy. I still shop thrift stores, second hand shops, and consignment sales. My daughter has a cousin six months older so she has worn lots of hand-me-downs and our favorite place to shop is our local kids resale shop. And anything she outgrows goes to my large circle of girlfriends and their little girls. Its not just about saving money, although paying $1 for a dress that normally retails for $30 is awesome. We get excited seeing the clothes we loved on our little girls on someone else's. One outfit that we got from her cousin has been worn by at least 3 little girls in our circle and is still being passed around. And we share pictures with each other of each little girl in the outfit. It's a way to stay connected. To feel like, even though we live far away, we can still share things.
We still buy new clothes for our daughters and, lord knows, I can't stop my mother from buying 3 dresses for Easter for her only granddaughter, especially when they are cheap at the local superstore, but most of my daughter's wardrobe is preowned. And I hope that I can pass on my love of secondhand clothes to her. Its like a treasure hunt going to the secondhand store and finding a lovely dress that is in her size or a worn in t-shirt with her favorite character on it. And I have begun to sew a few things for her. Recently I made a Batman cape from a piece of secondhand black material with lady bugs on it and she wore it for 3 days straight only removing it to sleep. And when she outgrows it, that cape will be passed on to fly around someone else's hallway and save little toys from impending disasters.
That was the title of the play we did in the 4th grade, "Gonna have an Earth Day" and I played Small Voice, the one that finds out that one 'small voice' can make a difference. It's been quite a few Earth Days since that play and now, I am going back to being one 'small voice' at this years Earth Day Festival in Nashville, TN's Centennial Park. This saturday, I will be taking my salvaged jewelry and inspiring people to think about reusing everyday objects.
My main focus for my jewelry lately has become using objects that have lost their official usefulness. I will be selling lots of button rings, earrings made from plastic bottles and containers, bracelets made from salvaged electrical wire, and pendants made with expired dog tags. Now, when I throw things away or recycle them I think first, can I reuse this one more time before I stick it in the pile? Because ultimately, for most things anyway, reusing saves more energy than recycling.
I don't stop at the actual jewelry. Instead of putting greeting cards from Christmas and birthdays into the bin, I use the pretty blank parts as cards for my earrings and tags for my necklaces. I have about a dozen old peanut butter jars that I use for beads, wire scraps, and catchalls. Old tins and sturdy boxes are used for shipping. Clothes with holes or stains get cut up for jewelry bags and shopping sacks. My displays are made of an old pair of shutters, scrap lumber, an old art case, and a mismatched sheet for a tablecloth. I have driven my conventional husband crazy with all of my salvaging and hopefully it will payoff.
I hope to sell lots at the festival on saturday, it is my business after all, but I hope that my creations will inspire people to think about what they buy and what they throw away as well. Earth Day is a day for inspiration afterall, its a day when all us 'small voices' get together and make a difference.
If you would like to know more about the Earth Day Festival in Nashville go to www.nashvilleearthday.org
