DIY Design - Recycling and Restyling Resources

While sewing a garment from scratch can be extremely rewarding, there are faster ways to be creative with needle and thread, especially by using vintage garments. Playing with a hemline, adding some trim or embellishments, like beading or embroidery, can easily give new life to an old has-been. You can easily restyle an item, giving it an of-the-moment look, and still get the thrill of saying, "I made it myself." Plus, recycling well-loved pieces is good for the planet, too!

For an all-around great resource on restyling, check out the vintage "Mary Johnson's Guide to Altering and Restyling Ready-Made Clothes." CraftStylish Restyle is a great resource too; it's an entire magazine full of ideas on what you can do to transform your wardrobe. The online second-hand clothing market has exploded, especially at Etsy.com, the online destination for all things handmade, which makes the site a great resource for vintage garments which you can alter to your liking!

Here are a few of my favorite vintage boutiques in the Etsy marketplace:

For old-fashioned good taste combined with a clear sensibility of the trends, Catwalk Creative Vintage is one of the best stops you can make.

Try changing up the buttons on one of their retro '70s blouses for a simple restyle. The carefully culled selection has a quick turnaround so if you see something you like, buy it!

The pickings are more eclectic at Joules but just as delectable. Choose from the likes of vintage cherry napkins, which can make for perfect new throw pillow covers to '60s day dresses just begging for ribbon trim.

For screen siren elegance head to Catbooks1940s to scoop up swing coats and evening gowns. A little bit of beading goes a long way.

Mock Turtle Vintage has an eye for sweet details like 1940s prints and pleasingly placed pleats, while FauxBrit13 has an adorable selection of kitschy handkerchiefs you can applique on garments and pillows alike, as well as scarves that you can repurpose as clever belts.

For volume and choice, without sacrificing quality, check out Beulaveda and Viva Vintage Clothing.

That's just a taste of what the Web has to offer for vintage shopping. It's delightful to wander around and discover your own favorite places; it's a lot easier on your wallet than new clothing. And by spending an hour or so you can give the piece your own unique twist.

Next week, find out about all the cool indie sewing patterns that are available online or if you can't wait that long, learn how to sew your own way with the Web's fastest and coolest sewing projects.

Amber Eden is the former editor-in-chief of Threads magazine and founding editor of SewStylish magazine and CraftStylish.com. She has studied draping and haute couture techniques at The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and according to her, will probably be a student there for life.

Design for Adaptation: Living in a Climate-Changing World

Climate scientists have been speaking out for decades about the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid a significantly warmer and less livable future. Now that climate change is finally part of the public discussion, the future is already here—and it’s only getting warmer. Designing energy-efficient buildings is an important step toward preventing more drastic warming. We need to redouble these efforts—the 2030 Challenge goal of carbon-neutral buildings by 2030 will be a difficult yet critical standard to meet. But by stopping there, are we turning a blind eye to the changes that scientists say are coming even if greenhouse gas emissions were turned off tomorrow? More and more experts acknowledge that while we must continue to do all we can to slow greenhouse gas emissions, we must also begin designing buildings that will work in a changing climate. This article examines the science of global climate change and looks at how we can adapt the built environment to a world that will, by most accounts, be very different by the end of this century from the one we know today.

The living space in this new home built by Global Green in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans is elevated four feet (1.2 m) to keep it above expected flood level. Numerous other “passive survivability” features are included.

Debate may continue in some circles about whether humans are causing climate change, or even whether it is happening at all, but the scientific consensus is overwhelmingly clear. A report issued in June 2009 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGRP)—which coordinates climate change research of 13 federal agencies and operated as the U.S. Climate Change Science Program from 2002 through 2008 under the George W. Bush presidency—estimates that global average temperatures have risen approximately 1.5ºF (0.8ºC) since before the Industrial Revolution and could rise another 2ºF–11ºF (1.1ºC–6.1ºC) by the end of this century, based on modeling of a variety of greenhouse gas emissions levels, mitigation efforts, and economic scenarios. “The reality of climate change is unequivocal—we see it in many aspects of the Earth’s climate system,” said Jonathan Overpeck, Ph.D., co-director of the Institute of the Environment at the University of Arizona and a co-author of the USGCRP report.

When Technology Turns Green...

Technology refers to the application of knowledge for practical purposes. While technology's emerging color changed from black to gray to white to gray...oh the cycle is just obvious, technology becoming green has just surfaced into human consciousness. Technology turning green encompasses a continuously evolving group of methods and materials, from techniques for generating energy to non-toxic cleaning products.

Green Technology is the application of the environmental sciences to conserve the natural environment and resources, and by curbing the negative impacts of human involvement. Sustainable development is the core of environmental technologies. When applying sustainable development as a solution for environmental issues

, the solutions need to be socially equitable, economically viable, and environmentally sound.

Some environmental technologies that retain sustainable development are; recycling, water purification, sewage treatment, remediation, flue gas treatment, solid waste management, renewable energy, and others.

The present expectation is that this field will bring innovation and changes in daily life of similar magnitude to the "information technology" explosion over the last two decades. In these early stages, it is impossible to predict what "green technology" may eventually encompass.

The goals that inform developments in this rapidly growing field include:

• Sustainability - meeting the needs of society in ways that can continue indefinitely into the future without damaging or depleting natural resources. In short, meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs;

• "Cradle to cradle" design - ending the "cradle to grave" cycle of manufactured products, by creating products that can be fully reclaimed or re-used;
  
  
  • Source reduction - reducing waste and pollution by changing patterns of production and consumption;
  • Innovation - developing alternatives to technologies - whether fossil fuel or chemical intensive agriculture - that have been demonstrated to damage health and the environment; and
  • Viability - creating a center of economic activity around technologies and products that benefit the environment, speeding their implementation and creating new careers that truly protect the planet.

How Green Design Transforms Homes and Businesses

Green design generally focuses on developing practical pollution prevention technologies and lowering costs, by recycling scarce resources, using fewer raw materials and creating better products and processes that both cost less and pose fewer threats to workers, consumers and the environment. Green design objects are created to endure - structurally and artistically - to last for generations, without harming either the environment or the people that make or use them. In furniture design, this work is done using domestically grown solid wood, logged following sustainable forestry guidelines and whenever possible, the manufacturing waste products are recycled or repurposed.
In interior design, Green Design is a home design strategy that could transform homes and businesses through appropriate utilization of green and eco-conscious interior decorating solutions, while incorporating modern and vintage colors and fabrics, and using new and reused furniture. Usually, furniture, along with many other interior pieces and decorative objects are too often thrown away, destroyed, and never reused or recycled. Using these recycled and refurbished items is one of Green Design’s favorite economic, and earth-friendly ways to refurnish, and redecorate homes or businesses. Green Design passionately introduces green design philosophies into every affected home while enabling homeowners to define their personal style. Green design is a cost-effective decorative means for a safer and healthier living environment. The target is to educate homeowners, men and women, and bring in uncomplicated ways that each individual household can effect to make a difference not only by improving their quality of life but also in the environment they live in. Green Design's unique requirements offer a fresh and innovative approach to interior design. So whether you have ideas about color and design already, or are at a loss to even know where to start, the three principles for the attainment of Fine Green Design shall guide you, namely:

1. Refresh: If you want to "spruce up" a particular room or maybe would just like to do a "walk through" of your entire home for specific suggestions and ideas, then a refresh will suffice. And whether you need to decide on a new color for the walls, how to better arrange your furniture, how to place pieces of art in just the "right spot", what to do with windows or lighting, or just need some new interpretation of your own idea, do the refresh and define your particular style and get inspired to begin your project.
2. Reinvent: If you want to make the most of your existing furnishings, and maybe incorporate a few new things, but need to pull the look all together. Or, maybe you just want translating or disclosing your ideas into a room that is polished and accommodates your lifestyle, then reinventing will do. For concrete practical styling using your existing furniture and introducing new pieces and accessories, a reinvention that is designed to fit within your needs and your budget is just what you need. Your space will be transformed by repositioning and repurposing what you have, and blending in new pieces to create a coordinated look, all designed to reflect your individual style.
3. Redecorate: If you are waiting for that complete makeover of your room, then redecorating might just be timely and appropriate. Whether you are starting with a new home, or injecting new life into an old space, it is best suited for you if you are looking to buy all new furnishings and accessories. If you have been thinking about an entirely new look, this is the way to go. By redecorating, you are going beyond reinventing and starting from scratch on your room. It is similar to the reinventing, but goes a step further by including more detail in the finished plan.

This is the interior styling for an eco-friendly world.

Green Brands :
Mizuno, Calvin Klein, Nike, Moschino, Adidas, Puma, Converse, Dickies, Skecher, DKNY, Emerica, Kayland, Miss Sixty, Umi Kids, Tommy, Wee Box, Onex, Olukai, FlyFlot, Fratelli, Gravati, Daniel Green, Jumping Jack, Yellow Box, Nine West, Tatami, Coclico, , Via Spiga, Naturalizer, Ecco Golf