Synopsis:
A collection of DIY patterns for sewing projects using found objects.
Review:
The projects in Recycling is Chic were born out of Alchemy Arts, an arts group that began in Edinburgh and now exists worldwide.
The book is filled with tons of fun and funky projects, most of which aren’t made with a pattern. There’s everything from jewelry made out of toys (like Monopoly game pieces) to a huipil (Mayan shirt) made from an old t-shirt and fabric scraps to skirts made from curtains to a bracelet made from cut-up inner tubes.
I think that if you are the kind of person who can come up with this kind of thing on your own, you’ll get a lot of inspiration from these pages. For me, I am more the kind of crafter who likes to follow a pattern. I’m a worker more than a creator, if that makes sense. So I’m not sure if I’d actually make any of these things because I’m pretty sure they’d never look as cute as they do here. I just don’t really have the eye. But I am inspired to cut up and embellish some fleece mittens!
Many thanks to Marion Boyars for the review copy.
It sounds like a great book. A problem with recycling is it feels like a dirty and tedious chore, but if you make it fun and make it an outlet of expression, more people would do it. I’ll try to buy the book. There might some good ideas I can use.