Adaptation

I've been very distracted lately with design projects. I'm not sure why this happens to me. Maybe it's a genetic disorder. Or some kind of syndrome. And although normally it complicates my ability to focus on important things like...say...work, sometimes it comes in handy for illustrating a point.

And the point, naturally, has to do with originality since this is the final week (sniff sniff) of our series on Being an Original. During this final week I want to focus on one of my favorite themes: creatively adapting our existing resources to fit a need.

A need for new art, as in my case.

Take the above canvas, for instance. It was formerly a lovely Tuscan scene, painted by someone with more skill than myself. Lovely indeed, but entirely inappropriate for the design of my home. Like my inevitable future feelings for my skinny jeans, I wondered "what was I thinking?" when I glanced at the painting recently. And so I decided to adapt the canvas.

Some paint, some faux bois contact paper, and Voila! A pretty stag head on gray-blue. And even though my husband says it's creepy, I love it.

With my "stag success" (try using that phrase in a sentence today...), I moved onto another lackluster canvas. This pretty frame was once a floral scene perfect for adorning the walls of a hotel room. In other words, it was ridiculously generic.

So last spring I decided to give it an upgrade by painting over the floral motif and creating a fabric collage on the surface with remnants and spray adhesive.

Bad idea.

And then I saw this photo, courtesy of the Pioneer Woman, and suddenly I knew what Really should have been in the frame all along.

Which is steers butting heads. My husband and I are both pretty stubborn, so I figured it was a fitting image for our home. I'm the one on the right--can't you tell?

By this point I was really on a roll, so I decided to decoupage a lovely photo from a magazine onto this piece of wood.

It looked like first grade art.

Plan B, therefore, was to take off the image using some water and a knife and repaint. But lo and behold, under the pretty picture was an imprint of the opposite page, stamped right onto the wood. And I love it.

Even accidents can be more original than expected!

The point is that often what we need to create original spaces and clothing and gifts already exists in our home. We just need to practice our skills of adaptation. It all starts with the question: what do you have?

But more on that tomorrow! Cheers!

RetroFit

Just because I recently graduated from the Institute of Fine Living doesn't mean that I'm finished converting old relics into new fall favorites.

For instance, do you remember this sweater? I blogged about it here.

As you can see, it has gone through a transformation.

Because this is what it looked like before. Perfectly plain, which is all fine and well. But boring. Very, very boring.

Boring, that is, until the stripes happened.

And the buttons.

And a snip-snip down the center (I'm quickly on my way to turning every sweater I have into a cardigan...).

This is perhaps one of my favorite fall projects thus far. And it cost me $3.00 (for the buttons). If you recall, this is a $96 savings from the J.Crew sweater that inspired this design. With the added bonus of being a) good for the environment (reUse!) and b) a fun and creative challenge.

Furthermore, this latest success in converting what I already own into trendy new fashions has me eager to keep searching my resources for buried treasures just waiting to be discovered. Because this process is more than just an attempt to stay in style. It is part of a lifestyle of mindfulness and innovation.

Naturally I have more to say on this latter point, but I'll save that for another post. Right now I'm going to go enjoy my new sweater.

Previous Related Posts:
A Dollar Saved
Mine, Only Better
Redux

Day 15: Redux

It's official. I have caught the "what-stylish-thing-can-I-make-out-of-my-existing-wardrobe" bug.

Personally I blame Mrs. Marple.

It was her class yesterday that got me contemplating the many ways I could transform my old clothing into new things.

Like this plain ivory tank top that I've been wearing for years. Sure, I like it alright, but I think I would like it even more with layers upon layers of polka dot ruffles. Wouldn't you?

Polka dots from this skirt, for instance, that I've had stuffed in a drawer for about 5 years. Once upon a time I loved this skirt. But that time has long since passed.

The truth is that converting old things into new things is virtuous for a number of reasons. The first is obvious: it cuts down on unnecessary consumerism by making good use of things we've already purchased.

Naturally this is good for our wallets and the environment.

But it is also good for other, less conventional reasons. Like exercising our problem solving skills, for instance.

The practice of seeing old things with fresh new eyes is a universally flattering skill, and can be applied to areas outside of fashion. Like work, for instance.

Challenging our creativity is also far more rewarding than simply gratifying someone else's inspired items. Sure I can buy the latest and greatest from Michael Kors or Mark Jacobs (well, I can't because they're too expensive, but you get my point...), but creating something with my own hands from the vision in my mind is Much More rewarding. Frankly, it boosts the ego.

Furthermore, it gives us a reprieve from the consumer auto-pilot that we often find ourselves on. You know the one--like when we (okay, me) walk into Target for toilet paper and walk out with 100 dollars worth of unplanned merchandise (this has happened to me more than once...).

So often we (okay, me) use our purchasing power to make us feel better after a stressful day or fight with our husband/boyfriend/friend. And then the shopping buzz wears off faster than our tension headache.

What we (okay, me again) often don't realize is that creative expression, and the process of making something from hand (aka actually interacting with the production of the "stuff" in our lives) provides us with a fulfilling outlet that trumps a shopping-high any day.

Plus we still end up with fancy loot.

Gee--this Mrs. Marple is certainly wearing off on me! Here I am going on and on about the virtuous of old-stuff-turned-new when you already know all of this.

So I'll stop talking. After all, I have a plain ivory tank top to convert into a fabulous ruffled number that my husband will undoubtedly glance right over without noticing the design genius.

But he might appreciate the financial savings...

Previous Related Posts:
Day 14: Alterations
Fall Project Preview (making a graphic t-shirt)
Nesting: Nurturing my Maternal Side (making a baby-quilt)

Day 14: Alterations

Today in Mrs. Marple's class we learned about transforming the old and boring into the new and fun.

Otherwise known as taking my bland cable sweater that I purchased five years ago from Wal-Mart and converting it into a chic new cardigan.

When Mrs. Marple started the lecture by asking us to think of something that we already own that had perhaps lost its luster, I immediately considered this sweater.

And my recent obsession with ruffles.

She then encouraged us to start envisioning that item as something else. I saw a cardigan with three-quarter sleeves. So, casting fear aside, I took my fabric shears and cut this sweater right down the middle.

Then I rather unceremoniously chopped the sleeves off at the elbows.

And then it was time to embellish. I rummaged through my fabric stash and located this soft gray checkered remnant that I salvaged from Habitat for Humanity's thrift store.

I knew it would be a perfect fit for the ruffles.

After some brainstorming, I decided that the best thing to do was fold under the raw edges on each strip, making sure to sew a zig-zag stitch along the sides to prevent fraying.

Then, after finishing four strips, I tucked and pinned each ruffle into place, which doesn't take as long as you might think. Plus I was simultaneously watching previous episodes of Glee while pinning (have you seen that show!? It's probably my new favorite. And yes--I once was a choir geek.)

I wasn't too worried about perfection here, because really--is someone going to measure my ruffles to make sure they're all the same width? I think not! And if they tried, I'd probably have to harm them, because that's just plain weird.

Consider yourself warned.

Once the ruffles were pinned and stitched onto the cardigan, I sewed the sleeve cuffs back onto the sleeves (cleverly making sure that they could fold up--this took some problem solving and lots of second guessing...) and then I sewed hooks-and-eyes along the middle to close the sweater.

Finally, I finished it all off with a slender belt.

And now that I've finished prancing around the house in my old-now-new cardigan, and bragging gratuitously to my husband about how I didn't spend any money on my newest fashion find, I should pause and thank Mrs. Marple for having such a good idea.

Frankly I can't wait to hunt through my closet to see what other cast-offs I can find!

See you tomorrow!

Previous Days at the Institute:
Day 10: the balancing act (as told through vintage advertisements)
Day 9: pink, pink & pink
Day 6: premade hostess

Thinking Outside the Box

The Teva sandal made its debut right around the time I entered junior high. Of course everyone who was cool had a pair. And naturally my parents weren’t the type to buy a sandal just for the sake of my popularity. So I was out of luck. Of course there were some available knock-offs at the stores, mainly in solid black. Which was okay, I guess, but they lacked the tell-tale colorful stitching of the originals.

So what did I do? I bought a pair, and using some embroidery thread, I hand-stitched my own pattern onto my generic sandals. True, they weren’t exactly the real thing, and I doubt I was fooling anyone. But I wore them to school every day in the spring with a certain pride that is very difficult to find in junior high.

A Habit is Born
Why do I share this story? Because thinking outside of the box is a Recessionista habit I’ve come to love. A habit that I started practicing back in junior high just to fit in with the cool kids.

Thinking outside of the box (aka creative resourcefulness) is the ability to look at something old or generic in a new and fresh way. And it can be applied in almost infinite situations. Like turning a handful of leftover ingredients lingering in the fridge into a new entree that is surprisingly good. Or covering old cereal boxes in decorative paper to use for storage. Or re-imagining a pile of scrap wood as canvases for art.

Practice Makes Perfect
Probably the best opportunities for out-of-the-box brilliance come from repurposing what you already have, but seeing old things in a new light can be difficult at times. It is easier to glimpse the potential in something when it is packaged and labeled. Practice can go a long way to unveil hidden potential, though. For instance:

* taking an inventory of what you already own may reveal some pleasant surprises. I wrote about this recently during my spring cleaning bout. It is very easy for me to forget about the stuff I already own, but uncovering it from the backs of my closets or under the bed can give me a jolt of inspiration.

* getting into the habit of asking “what else can I use this for?” can go a long way. Can the decorative cup holding your toothbrush be used as a small vase? Would your old sweater make a nice pillow? Can you grow strawberries out of that rusted watering can? Even if you would never turn your CD’s into a shiny hanging mobile (please, please don’t!), it still helps get the creative juices flowing to think about it.

Why the Trouble?
Why go to all this trouble? Well, the benefits seem fairly obvious to me. You can continue to adorn your home and wardrobe without spending a ton of money. You are practicing one of the three R's of conservation: re-using. You are practicing innovative thinking, which leads to invention and breakthrough. And--last but certainly not least--you are giving yourself a chance to be friends with the cool kids.

What is your best thinking-outside-of-the-box story? Share by posting your comment below!

Previous Related Posts:
Vintage Green
Swap Meet Style
Creative Salvation
Modern Benefits from a Vintage Chore

Vintage Green

Green is trendy these days. Green businesses, green products, green food. And here on Earth Day it is cool to be earthy. Gone are the images of rope sandals and hippes and granola. Instead, today’s green is celebrated by posh celebrities and business tycoons. Even recycled paper has come a long way! (remember when it all used to be grayish brown?)

Creative Green
But apart from the all the earthy glitz (seems like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?), today I am reflecting on the value of creative resourcefulness, and how glad I am that it is becoming cool again, too. Because a lot of it (rather by accident, actually) is green.

For instance, it is “green” to repurpose your old sweater into some oven mitts for a friend who just got a new apartment. It is also “green” to shop the local thrift stores in search of the latest and greatest diamond-in-the-rough used furniture. Even greener is the oh-so-fun trend of planting your own garden (my sprouts are sprouting!)

In other words, being a Recessionista is being green.

Old Fashioned Virtues
Truth be told, the whole “green movement” is a tad bit too popular for my taste, but I do appreciate that it has highlighted some rather old-fashioned virtues. Virtues like seeing creative new life in old objects, and appreciating handmade items, and practicing contentment with what we already own.

And it is nice to have a day to be mindful of these virtues. And to practice our creative resourcefulness. Fortunately for us, it won’t stop today. Because as Earth Day advocates will surely remind us, being mindful is more than just a date on the calendar. It’s a lifestyle. A vintage lifestyle, in fact. And one I’m happy to be living.

note: family market bag from The Craft Pantry

Previous Related Posts:
Modern Benefits from a Vintage Chore
Thrifty DIY Art
Nesting is Creating
Handmade Holidays: concluding thoughts