Virescent

I did pretty well on my Construction Management exam today, and rewarded myself afterwards with thrifting. (If I’d done poorly, I would have consoled myself with thrifting. So’s we’re clear.) It’s getting hotter out, and I need skirts and short sleeve blouses. Thus:

Cotton wrap skirt with colorful print (detail shown), $4. I’ll need to pin it closed- it’s basically just a big bit of cloth with a waist tie. But it’s wonderful, and has pictures of five kinds of animal and two different people on it. Shapeless, huge purple skirt, $5. It’s a very light, swishy fabric, so I’ll take it in and make a proper waist band instead of the elastic mess. Pink Linen skirt, $7. Extravagance! Grey blouse, $4. Soft and light, plus a functional sleeve pocket. For…what? I might get the urge to add something to the bottom hem, but it will work nicely as-is. White cotton blouse with blue and purple threads, $4. Has some small stains, which will hopefully wash out. Navy and white plaid button-down for my darling guy, $4. Oddly dirty, so half of it is darker because I was soaking it. Needs a good washing. Former owner had a dog and some fine white powder? A blue-green guayabera with white embroidery for my ookle dumpling, $5. Guayaberas are so snazzy. Even when they’re made in Korea, and a have a little frayed seam. The latter, I can fix, and the former, I can ignore.

About half of the stuff I find at the Salvation Army is something that needs to be resized, or sewed on to make it truly cool. I’ve been getting ideas and inspiration from the newest link, Wardrobe Refashion- a group blog of people who challenge themselves to buy nothing new, and remake old and used stuff into awesome other stuff. Goodness, my project plans just keep piling up.

Also, I need to suggest to the Salvation Army-Little River people that they not staple price tags tot he clothes, especially in collars and other places where holes are noticeable.

Update: an album.

Then I went to the thrift store. I had a legitimate purchase today- I needed homes for the seeds I bought yesterday. Mission Accomplished. First though, the other stuff.

Picture Frame, $2, 8.5×11ish- it’s a gold and cream deco-like design painted on the underside of the glass.  I actually got this last week but neglected to put it up. Blue Star Shirt, $1. Colorful stripy camp shirt, $4. Blue tuxedo-style blouse, $4. Skirt with great fabric and horrific shape, $4.  Honey-colored sweater, $5, with a nice thick collar and cuffs, off-center zipper, moss-stitch front texture…ooh I like it.

I feel, after a few of these posts, that I should justify the amount I shop at thrift sales, and the amount I buy when I’m there.  Acquiring too much stuff being all unsustainable and whatnot.  I grew up hating shopping for clothes, so I never owned enough that I liked, or enough useful items, to make it through a week without feeling gross or awkward in my clothing.  That is very unsustainable.  So I’ve donated most of it, and now I’m having a great time getting things I actually like.  Thrifting has replaced about 90% of the “real shopping” needed to replace wearables.

This might all taper off when I have enough for warm weather.  Or when my tiny closet explodes.  But for now, I’m not feeling guilty about having “too much” stuff to wear.  And all that other stuff that’s not wearable, but just cool?  It’s at least all useful.  Though if I buy more fabric scraps, my sewing pile will explode.

Anyway, the alleged reason for the visit:

My new planters, obtained for under $20 together.  None of them have drainage holes, so how do I deal with that?  Someone mentioned gravel in the bottom to aid soil drainage?

Yesterday I went to the remnants of the “Tossed and Found” Junior League Sale in Crystal City with a house mate. The game was, we could buy a garbage bag for $35, and then whatever fit in it was ours. Plus everything that didn’t fit was 75% off (making possible our new wine rack), it being the last of the sale, and we got a free TV with the garbage bag.  It had a tag on it that said it worked, so that’s cool, I guess.

This is what I came away with. A couple blouses, a shirt for the Gentleman Friend- the grey one, the purple and yellow are for me. Some bow ties (just in case). A set of green napkins and a red cloth handkerchief. I’ll either use those to cut down on throw-away paper, or sew them into something. And a big ugly blue sweater, with decent-looking yarn and continuous seams. That’s going to get unraveled, and knit into something more awesome.

Last, but certainly not least, I found a pile of books. Apparently, someone named Tom, according to a couple inscriptions, had a big thing for Russian and Eastern Europe. I share this pas(obses)sion. I snagged a copy of the novel form of Ashes and Diamonds with screen shots from Wajda’s movie on the cover! Karamzin’s letters from Europe! Pardon me while I salivate. (Do you share this love? Would you like to? We should talk!) Plus, I found a nice copy of Lessig’s Free Culture, Backlash by Faludi (to catch up on my 90s feminism), and a beat-up copy of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by TE Lawrence. And just last week I wondered if I had anything to read. (The answer was yes, I made a pile after the last used book sale I plundered. But still.) Anyway, let me know if you want to borrow anything. Or if you have access to a copy of “A Generation”, because netflix hasn’t got it, and I’ve seen Kanal and Ashes, and I’d like to complete the trio.

Also there was one more thing but it is part of a larger plan for a secret awesome costume, so I’ll post it later.

Handmade update:  Finished the white dress alteration.  Have knit 6 more inches of the scarf since the last post.  About five feet to go…

Here’s what I got (Salvation Army, Little River Turnpike- at #6 on the map):

Pink dress, 7$. I like the print, and the cut (maybe when I know how to do things of the sewing nature, I can copy it!), and the pink is definitely not what I normally wear. It has a couple small stains that are hard to see, so hopefully washing will get those out. If not, I hear vinegar is like magic.

Purple Skirt, 3$. Saw the fabric first and loved it- then remembered that warm days are ahead. Hurrah for breezes.

Here’s what I found at the thrift store this weekend, in my search for a dress to wear to a black-tie event. All these are from the Unique in Silver Spring, MD, which has a very large selection of clothing and house stuff. I’d like to note that all this was just laying around on a busy Saturday afternoon, several days after their last shipment of new things. The green bag was $2.50, the tank top was $4, and the sweater was $5. The coral dress was the best find at $7- and no, it won’t work for the event I had in mind. Though, after some dry cleaning (see previous post) and a few alterations- including in my diet and exercise regime- it could do for another event later in the year. And yes, from now on I’ll be posting the awesome things I find at second hand stores, for your inspiration.

At the Salvation Army, yes. I found this sweater there this afternoon while I was dropping off a load of unnecessary apartment stuff, and had to share. So classy and soft, and if the price and quality won’t convince you to browse your local second hand shop, nothing will. Finding something at a thrift store is way more exciting than finding something at a normal retailer- the element of surprise, the thrill of the chase, etc. Less chance of getting a winner, true- I saw plenty of ugly sweaters made with gorgeous yarn, so maybe next time I’ll try out this advice on recycling sweaters I found through another blog (which I’ll link soon, they’re nifty).

After that ecofriendly success, I balanced my day by getting caught in a rainstorm on my walk home from work, while carrying my bag of groceries. Fortunately it was the perfect warm evening and light rain, and I only stepped in the big puddle and soaked my socks a few hundred yards from my door. But it was a good reminder that practical hippies should carry umbrellas.

Except for the multicolored mold colony growing on my abandoned compost- they’re making great progress. It appears they’re about to progress from the agricultural age to the industrial age, though, so I should get all deus ex cleaning soon (wonder if they’ve invented literary traditions yet?).

So, when I said last week or so that all I needed to do was find some “live” dirt, I a) realized that here in DC, I have no dirt that I’m technically allowed to dig in, and b) started putting my life into boxes, limiting my time and energy to dress up like a ninja and dig a few handfuls out near the parking lot. Though actually, if I really wanted to be subtle about that, I should probably dress as a gardener.

I’m going to go ahead and declare this Compost Failure February. The stuff is gross enough that I just need to dump it, clean out the bin, and move it this weekend, then start over again.

Meanwhile, I haven’t had much time to put up some stuff, but here are a few quick links so I can get my blog on before I go set more things in more boxes.

1)The governor of Maryland is sponsoring a bill that would limit the state’s carbon emissions to 90% of something by 2050. That sounds nice, in the vaguest sense of nice. I heart lowering carbon emissions and all, but a bill that just says they should be lowered? All that is, is a bunch of dead trees and hot air. More concrete plans, please, MD legislature? I do wish to be impressed.

2)You know how those fashion industry types are all concerned about the planet and stuff, in between when they’re telling us to buy new clothing every 2-3 months? A show at the London Fashion week highlighted designers making ethically produced clothes- based on the principles of fair trade, sustainable fabrics and dyes, “timelessness”, and recycling fabrics. Estethica had hits and misses, (misses! har!), but most of their clothes were much more tastefully nice than the vast majority of fashion week freakiness. At their website you can look through the different designers and collections (I’ll highlight the ‘colouring changing knickers‘- my my. not exactly my ‘favourites’, but they have a certain cachet). It’s not exactly as sustainable as the Salvation Army, or making it yourself (with stuff from the Salvation Army!), but it’s better than fashion types usually do.

(get my blog on? argh. long day.)

My jeans ripped a few days ago, precipitating an uncomfortable discovery: I only have one pair of useful pants, and it’s that one. An inexcusable situation, perhaps, but I submit that, as a female, finding one pair of pants was plenty hard enough. Males might not get why this is a problem, so I’ll explain.

Male pants have two measurements in known increments- inches around, and inches down. When you buy pants, you find your two numbers, and you’re done.

/rant/ For ladies’ pants, there is a number on your pants, but none of those numbers signify anything. Not only do sizes vary among brands- an 8 in one pair may be larger than a 10 in another brand- but also the allowance for different anatomical bits is different in each kind of jeans, both among brand and style of jean. One brand may be cut for thighless ladies, while another expects a little badonkadonk (take that, spell check). There is usually no identifier of length, beyond “regular” and “tall”, whatever that means. An armful of jeans covering the upper and lower limits of your hypothetical size- say, grab everything you see from size 8 to size 12- is only 30% likely to yield an acceptably fitting pair of pants. Beyond sizing, females also have to contend with the proliferation of “stretch” jeans, which are allegedly more “comfortable” but usually just tend to be “oh my that’s very tight”. Add the number of styles to chose from- flares, hiphuggers, low-rise, mid-rise, navel-chafing, “skinny”, straight leg, “boyfriend”, tapered, boot cut, etc. Finally, add a likelihood of ridiculous tearings, bleachings, coloring, sequins, or flaming butterfly patches. So even if you do find a pair of fitting jeans, they’ll look ridiculous anyway. /end rant/

To summarize: shopping for lady pants is nasty, brutish, and really, really, really long. Smart ladies find one style, brand, and size that works, and never have to do it again. I got my current excellent pants at a thrift store. I can’t buy them from the original label- not only are they probably made with sweatshop labor from unsustainably grown and dyed material, but they’re not even being made anymore. Honestly, given how much I like them and how hard that is to find, I’d probably buy them again anyway even given ethical considerations, but the second part is the clincher, and forces me to live my goals.

Point being: I need a pair of pants post haste, and seeing how I’m working on the sustainable thing, I should get a pair of earth-friendly ones.

There are a few brands making jeans from sustainable materials in an ethical way. The more mainstream Levi’s sells a line of organic cotton jeans, but no word on if they’re made in sweatshops or not. A quick search for organic cotton jeans turned up a bunch of specialty stores selling them, including REI and some “green” websites.

I’ve ordered a pair from rawganique, and I have high hopes for them. They’re made from organic cotton and for fair wages. Check out their website, these people are serious hippies. They operate on just solar and wind power! Now to tie in that unnecessary-seeming rant: order jeans online! I must be crazy! How many times will I have to return them before I find the right fit? I hope not more than 16! But get this: they post the measurements (towards the bottom of the page) their womens’ sizes are based on. Plus, in most sizes there is a choice of two leg lengths, in real inch-type units. Grab a tape measure and get peace of mind. I expect them any day now, which is good, since these patches won’t last much longer. I will report back on their quality, and wear them about- after all, they’ll be my only pair of useful pants.

To liven things up a bit, I’ve changed my header photo to a section of a beautiful vase, painted for me by my gentleman friend’s lovely mother, and inspired by the theme of this blog.

Also, I got a drying rack- it’s not exactly a month long “greening” thing I could post lots about, but it sure saves me quarters, and frees up all my doorknobs. Uses less energy, too- gotta fit in that ecobit. I know a bunch of people had these in college, so it might be a simple thing to dig yours out of your folks’ basement. They’re not so great for sheets and towels, which probably need a dryer in the winter at least so they don’t get moldy in the long time it’ll take them to dry- but go nuts on the socks and such.

I’d put up a picture of my drying rack, too, but it’s got my things on it.

I don’t dryclean clothes often, but after an entire winter’s worth of run-ins with mud and soup, my coat needed a bath. A few alternatives to the perc-full traditional dry cleaners now exist, and the two most discussed are the Greenearth franchise and “wet cleaners”.

Wet cleaning is a real thing, and if you want to know more about it, read the wikipedia article. I couldn’t find any locations in the area that do this kind of cleaning because there aren’t many places that do. It involves possibly deconstructing clothing, washing it carefully in biodegradable solvents, then maybe reconstructing it. Most “dry clean only” clothing actually can be cleaned in water and soaps, very very carefully. With computers. Still, hard to find a place that does it, and I don’t know any geishas (read the article), so I looked into the Greenearth people.

Greenearth cleaning uses a silicon based solvent that, in very very high concentrations, causes cancer in lab rats. The same chemical is also found in many personal care products, like shampoo, and has been very widely used for about 30 years, and no studies have definitively linked it with people cancer. NPR reported on the cancer findings, but several other reports dismissed the link with assertations and even some science. Whatever the health effects it’s generally agreed that the chemical is less harmfull than perc- making it easier to get approval to use it on location and cheaper to clean up for franchise owners- plus by all reports the Greenearth process is gentler on clothing and doesn’t have a telltale smell. More importantly, stores that do this actually exist in the greater DC area. It appears their franchises are springing up everywhere- they have a pickup service in Kingstowne, Springfield, a branch on North Quaker in Alexandria, presence in Arlington on Washington Blvd, and locations in Bowie MD and Silver Spring MD. The storefront on North Quaker is large and very professional- looking, with uniformed staff and lots of signs posted about safety processes and environmental credits. Prices range from fine to really good- less that 20$ for my long cashmere-blend coat. Shirts are $2.70, according to a sign. No other prices were posted. While they did swathe my clothing in plastic upon return, they didn’t give me all-new hangers, so that was a nice little conservationist “perk.” Har.

My clothes smell nice and look good- all the unscientific tests say that Greenearth treats your clothes much better than normal drycleaners- and the prices seemed ok to me. If you’re balking at paying more for shirts, consider that the shirts will probably last longer with the Greenearth people.