Light Green Summer Wedding (No... Not Mine!)

For months now, I've been meaning to write a post about a wedding I attended this summer that was a light greenie's dream. So why now? Well, I figure that summer is the time to attend weddings, but winter is the time when people plan weddings. Plus, I'm sure a few engagements happened last Valentine's week, and lots of brides are thinking about their visions for this important ceremony. Weddings are a big deal, but they don't have to destroy the planet or your bank account.

Half a lifetime ago (almost literally) I had the good fortune to be adopted as a family member into my best friend's family. There's nothing better than having a spare family around. I'm that maudlin person who thinks about the children who have no families, and can't believe her luck to be granted an extra one!


So when the little sister got married this summer, I was psyched. Not only was it a great celebration, but there was a (green) simplicity and a sense of fun that made it a glorious day all around. My blog friend, Sara of 2000dollarwedding,   is all about weddings that stress community, commitment, and connection, and I feel  like this was a day that focused on all of those things.

So what made this wedding a green-friendly experience that linked friends and family? And how might you create the same kind of experience?

The Setting

The wedding was held on a working farm that belonged to friends of the couple. Many of the flowers and veggies came from the farm. While the bridal party was being photographed, the kiddos were communing with the cows and turkeys. The ceremony itself was held in a clearing in the woods. The tables were laid out on the lawn. It was all beautiful because nature is beautiful. Lots of expensive and ungreen additions weren't necessary.


OK, you might be thinking. That's great, but I don't know anyone with a farm.

Some of the most fun, most connected weddings I've been to have been in backyards. Dancing in the garage often beats a ballroom.


Take-away: When planning a wedding (or other events, for those of us who are not bridally-inclined) think about non-traditional spaces that you might have access to - backyards, garages, farms, businesses, etc.

The Guest List
I know that many folks don't want the kiddos at their special day - kids cry and are noisy, they spill stuff, they have needs and schedules and require a truckload stuff like toys and diapers and bottles and blankies. Nevertheless, personally, I love it when life's passages include little ones. It just seems appropriate. I mean - moments like the ones below are absolutely precious and emphasize the connection between generations.

The picture at left is one of my favorites from the day. This is me and my friend John during the ceremony - we were on kid duty and just hung out in the back chatting. I didn't mind hanging out with my little buddy during the vows. It kept the chill, casual vibe going.


Take-away: When entertaining (especially for important and memorable life events) include the guests that YOU want close to you, rather than feeling obligated to include everyone you've ever met or to exclude people (like youngsters) just because your mom doesn't want crying babies around. Yes, this can cause some drama, but there's enough written about how to navigate the sensitive subject of the guest list that you should be able to prepare yourself. And, you can just blame Mama Earth as necessary ("Mom, I'm sorry, I can't invite your yoga classmates. It will make our carbon footprint way too large!")




Decorations

Mostly, the outdoors were the decorations. There were some simple wildflower bouquets here and there, and the centerpieces were natural wood rounds and mason jars. 


Take-away: Nature is the best decoration. And the cheapest.

Apparel:
This is the bride, my friend Caitlin. Isn't she gorgeous? 


Everyone in the "bridal party" found their own dresses at regular stores (gasp!). I know that many ladies have a Cinderella fantasy that's been sold to us by a whole industry that wants us to spend a lot of money and use a lot of resources so they can profit. I mean, tulle is often made from petroleum products. I don't think anyone who wants a fancy gown should be judged, but there are lots of options these days for eco-friendly gals to wear non-traditional duds or to recycle or repurpose a dress someone else wore. If you want your own new gown, you might think of ways to offset the environmental toll. Planting a tree with your sweetie would be one special way.


Take-away: Cinderella's just a story.  A girl or guy should be able to wear whatever they want!


What have been the best green touches at weddings or parties you've attended?

February Lady Sweater

I just finished a major knitting project - it's a gift to my sister. The pattern is the "February Lady Sweater" which you can get for free!  It looks complicated, but actually it was fairly simple, since it's knit as all one piece.



Here's a detail of the lacework:



Good thing I finished in time, so my sister can wear her "February Lady" sweater in February.

Flip-Flop Fabulous

Once upon a time, if America had a national shoe, it would have been the Chuck Taylor. But these days, flip-flops are everywhere. You even see jeweled, high-heeled versions on ladies who lunch.

Okabashi Flip-Flops have a very cool design feature, however: they are made of recycled material. When they wear out, you can send them back, and they'll recycle them into new flip-flops.

They come in a variety of styles and colors, and they run about $15. As Kermit the Frog sang: Happy feet!

Bamboo U - Bass Square Paddle Brush

Have you ever wished that you had a personal hair dresser with burly forearms to give you scalp massages?

Hmm... no? Maybe that's just me.

Well, even if you haven't, you can now simulate that fabulous scalp masseuse with a hair brush! It's the Bass Large Square Paddle Brush, and it can be purchased for about $10. Not only does this brush work wonders on your hair, but it helps the environment because it is made from 100% bamboo.

Bamboo is a super-cool member of the grass family (no, not that kind of grass). It has many benefits beyond providing the setting for kung fu fight scenes.

Even in ancient China, they understood the benefits of bamboo... for kung fu fighting!

Bamboo is a renewable resource that can be grown in conditions that would thwart many other plants. It can also be used to create products that are often made from petroleum products (like hair brushes).

This week, I'm going to be featuring some fun bamboo items, but take my word for it when I say that this hair brush is one of the best.

DIY Dia de los Muertos Skirt

Let me just be frank.

(But I thought your name was Catfish, not Frank ... wocka wocka).

But seriously, I've never been a big fan of Halloween, or costumes. I don't love candy, and when you're an adult, Halloween is one of those drunk holidays that has a big "Stay off the Roads" sticker on it. However, I was recently inspired by one Miss Katy Perry to get a little festive this year without resorting to a disposable polyester one-size-fits-all monstrosity. (I mean, what could be less green that an outfit made of petroleum products that you wear once, save for awhile, and then chuck in the garbage?)

And here's what inspired me:

(Photo courtesy of sugarscape.com)

While I'm not a fan of boob bows, I really liked Katy's full skirt with the wacky print. I've always enjoyed clothing that has a bit of novelty to it -- T-shirts with strange screen print images, vintage dresses, etc. I decided that my wardrobe had been seriously lacking in whimsy lately.

I decided to make a skirt a bit like Katy's, with a crazy print. I settled on a Dia de lost Muertos print (Dia de los Muertos is the Mexican Day of the Dead, celebrated November 2) that is Halloweenish, but which would also look kinda punk rock if worn in a dive bar, or would turn a few heads when worn to the grocery store.

First I had to adapt a pattern:

Wily likes to lurk around while I'm sewing, waiting for a piece of pattern paper to fall within reach so he can destroy it.

Katy's skirt is a circle skirt (like a poodle skirt), which is ... a big circle. I have a copy of the book, Chic and Simple Sewing, by Christine Haynes, which had a circle skirt pattern (there are lots of online tutorials for making circle skirts if you want to make your own pattern). Unfortunately, the largest size was quite tiny, so I used it as a base to create my own. Also, since the print on my fabric was "directional" (i.e. it can only face one direction) and circle skirts are cut on a diagonal, I added some panels of solid purple. Leave it to me to make things more difficult, even though I'm a beginning sewer.

The actual sewing didn't take long, although I got off to several false starts with a misthreaded sewing machine.

I finally got the sewing machine threaded and I'm ready to sew.

Here's the finished skirt. .

And here I am, ready for Halloween.

I'll definitely wear this comfy skirt again, meaning it won't get dumped like many one-use-only Halloween items. Of course, there are lots of ungreen things about sewing (in particular, the production of cotton is hard on the environment and organic fabric is extremely expensive) but when we create our own clothing, we're much less likely to dispose of it quickly. We also take at least a few steps out of the manufacturing chain. And, of course, it's fun.

A Bunch of Randomness

Deep breath.

Ok. I feel like life has sort of gotten back on an even-ish keel. So here are a bunch of random thoughts that have come out of my blog hiatus, some green, some not-as-green.

• If you're a regular follower of this blog, you may have been thinking: wow, that Catfish has been working a lot lately rather than blogging. And you would be right. My friend Kelly recently got me hooked on the British series Torchwood, which is about a secret agency that fights aliens. You can probably infer the level of work stress I've been having in that I completely related to Torchwood's many stories about how alien fighting is incompatible with daily life, just like my work (on the front lines of social justice, natch) is incompatible with daily life. (And if you want a good Halloween scare, check out the Torchwood ep called "Countrycide.")
• I like to shop. But consuming without thinking isn't too green. So, as Tim Gunn (yes, the "Make it work" guru -- one time I saw him at the Houston Galleria and he looks a lot older in person than he does on Project Runway) advises, I decided to take stock of my wardrobe before buying anything new. I spent a couple of hours on Saturday morning going through my closet. Luckily, my closet still retained some semblance of organization from the last time I cleaned it. This closet-organizing frenzy produced five bags for Goodwill (mostly because I'm in a new job where professional dress is a bit more professional than my previous job). It turned out that I mostly need to purchase basics: jeans, underwear, socks, and bras. Not romantic, but it's a lot greener to know what I really need and make strategic purchases than to just buy whatever I feel like.

The closet. So clean!

• Talk about recycling ... for work, I was recently in St. Louis. The conference I attended was held in St. Louis Union Station, which at one time was the world's busiest train station. Though train travel is no longer our main type of transportation, the station was not destroyed to make way for a Wal-mart. It was renovated into a hotel, conference center and ... okay, a mall. But it's encouraging to see how classic architecture can be preserved. This doesn't only save American landmarks, but it discourages sprawl from eating up American countryside.

Here's a 1909 image of the Union Station Grand Hall.

And here's the Grand Hall today, in a picture I took.

• I just like this picture. I took it at the Arboretum.

• And here's a song I like. I realize that this makes me a fourteen-year-old drama-club geek. So, I'm only 20 years off.

Sweater Set

If I was dark green I would make my own clothes out of recycled paper bags and cotton that I harvested with my own two hands.

But I'm light green, and so I work diligently to make the occasional apparel item and remind myself of the work that goes into a single garment.

Wow. I'm really happy about my new sweater.

I just finished a big knitting project, the "Wave and Dimple Kimono" from the Winter 2009 issue of Interweave Knits. I would love to say that I used organic yarn, or recycled yarn, or whatever, but honestly, those yarns are prohibitively expensive for big projects. I used Caron Country yarn, a merino blend.

Here it is, the Wave and Dimple Kimono. This was "deceptively hard" (as one of my yoga videos used to say) - i.e. people will think you're good at knitting if you do this pattern, but it's actually really easy.

Even thought it probably wasn't super-green, I loved this yarn. I'm wool-sensitive (that means I get the itchies if anyone says the word "sheep") but this yarn was soft, easy to knit up, and didn't require Zyrtec. That's all I could wish for.

The early stages of the project. Just to prove I actually made the damn sweater. That's my knee.

Upcycled Lounge Pants

Since getting my sewing machine for Christmas, I've been beating around the bush when it comes to tackling actual wearable projects. After managing to make a small stuffed elephant that involved a great deal of precise work (done imprecisely) I decided I was ready.

I'd heard pyjama pants are the easiest clothing item to make and my copy of Sewing Green suggested they could be made with a reclaimed bed sheet.

I used to have some adorable purple chrysanthemum sheets that I haven't been using since the cat, in his kittenhood, clawed a few holes in the fitted sheet. However, I've saved them and thought they would make the perfect lounge pants.

I trimmed them with fabric from a quilter's quarter yard. Most of the sewing went smoothly, although some of the cuffs are not 100% straight and some of the hems are a bit bunchy. However, the pants are super-comfy, soft, and purple - my favorite color.

DIY Sunday - Upcycled Fabric Flowers

Rain ... rain ...

... inspires the domestic diva in me!

So, among other domestic doings, I decided to embellish my cardigan with a fabric flower.

My inspiration was Jayma Mays's character, Emma, on my newest obsession, Glee. As a former high school member of the vocal jazz ensemble, The Teepee Lighters (our mascot was "The Indians" -- maybe someday I'll write about the Native American carpet scandal of '93), I'm Glee's target audience - choir dorks from schools in bad-to-medium neighborhoods. All season I've been admiring Emma's retro-inspired outfits, but since it's No-Buy Month, I couldn't emulate her style without some DIY action.

Photo courtesy Fox TV

Emma wears sweater sets, chunky necklaces, and flower-bedecked cardis, for a 1960's-style, unbeknownst-to-her awesomeness. Hopefully, she'll be able to get the guy!

As usual, I searched the interwebs for directions on how to make my own retro flower cardigan, and when I didn't find exactly what I wanted, I made something up. Here's how:

You will need:
Paper (for the pattern)
2 types of fabric - stiff cotton or felt will work best (I upcycled a retired Western shirt and used some other fabric I had lying around)
Needle
Thread
Scissors
Some kind of button (cover it with fabric if you want)

Step 1: Make a pattern for the petals.
You can decide what type of petals you want - rounded, pointy, heart shaped, etc. But they should be narrower on one end than the other. Make one pattern that's large (about an inch long) and one that's smaller. (Scroll down to look at a picture of some petals below)

Step 2: Cut the petals.
Take Fabric #1 and cut 4 petals using your larger petal pattern as a guide. Then cut 4 of your smaller petals from Fabric #2.

Step 3: Sew the petals.
Thread you needle and loosely sew your petals onto a thread, stitching at the narrower end of each petal. Alternate larger and smaller. You want to sew very loosely (for you sewing types - basting), so all of your petals lie flat on the table, like so:

Step 4: Pull tight.
When all of the petals are on the thread, gently pull your stitches tight. Your petals should all snug together, and then you can smooth them out the way you like. The center will probably look messy:

Step 5: Create the center of your flower.
Sew the button into the center of the flower. I used the snap from my Western shirt, and simply cut a bit of the fabric around it to sew it on. Once you've sewn on the button, you can tie off your thread.

Step 6: Put your flower to work.

I sewed mine onto an old cardigan so I could be cool like Emma Pillsbury, but you can use it for a brooch, a handbag decoration, a barrette, or whatever your heart desires.

Heck! You can create a whole fabric bouquet!

Treasures Transformed from Trash

Today I went to the doctor and received a new splint, which allows me to move my fingers a bit more than the old one did. Now I can type ... sorta. I don't know when I'll get to be completely free, but at least I can blog. I've been anxious to get back to business, because I wanted to share news of my friend Emilie's new Etsy store: Handmade Hila: Refashion At Its Best

Emilie named her store after her gorgeous little girl Hila. All of the items at Handmade Hila are upcycled - which is the practice of transforming used materials into new items -- art, fashion, toys, etc. I wasn't familiar with upcycling until recently, but green crafters are taking to the practice in droves.

Emilie takes clothes, fabric scraps, and other bric-a-brac and turns them into beautiful clothing and housewares. Here's an example:

(Photo courtesy of Handmade Hila)

This is the Jaime Strappy Sundress, a toddler dress which was once a ladies' blouse. The bird embellishment is tres chic.

And I was super-psyched (and honored) to see these:

(Photo courtesy of Handmade Hila)

These are Catlin Coasters -- named after ... guess who!

Not only are the items at Handmade Hila beautiful and reasonably-priced, but Emilie describes them in a wonderful way. Her store is worth visiting not only to get the goods, but to read her refreshing prose stylings. It's great when green, craft, and commerce come together.

Another high school friend who has been on the upcycling bandwagon for awhile now is Heather, whose store is called Evesapples. Heather upcycles vintage fabrics that she finds while being a citizen of the world, and creates fashionable handbags that any stylish lady would want to have over her arm. Check it out:

(Photo courtesy of Evesapples)

It's amazing the creativity of these lasses, but best of all, they're producing goods that are hand-crafted and good for the planet. And while these two are my friends, the interwebs are blooming with green options when you get the urge to spend a little green.