I've had the idea about doing this project for a long time now. It started out as me just wanting to make my own screen printed items, but aftera year of volunteering at Philly AIDS Thrift Store (
www.phillyaidsthrift.com) and seeing how many items that were in perfect condition were discarded by their owners, my idea took a bit of a turn. Luckily, these items were donated to a place where they would be resold and reused and if their condition wasn't perfect, they'd be sold to rag makers and all for a good cause. How many items were just being thrown away?? In addition, I've been a graphic designer in the apparel business for a long time now and I've seen how much waste goes on there. Things don't get printed perfectly every time, so there are a lot of misprinted t-shirts that end up straight in the trash. All of these things turned my idea into finding blank t-shirts at thrift stores with a non-profit mission such as PATS or a local Dallas store that benefits a womens' shelter and printing fun designs on them. This way, I'd have fun making the stuff and be green in the process.
Then I thought about those misprinted shirts or the shirts that weren't in good enough shape to be resold and came up with ways to use them. Making reusable bags is my first idea, but I had a lot of scrap left over, so I had to think of something else too. I have some friends who are having a baby and I couldn't get back to Philly to go to the baby shower, so I figured I'd make them something and send it. I could use the scrap left over from the bags and make bibs (or, as I like to call them, baby napkins). Then I could print on the bibs and it'd be up-cycled, handmade and awesome. I only have a bit of scrap left over because I use as much of the shirts as I can. I'll post again on the bibs and how I made them, but the picture at the top shows the small amount of scrap left over from one shirt. I get two bibs, a bag and really just the collar is left, with really small scraps trimmed from the other pieces.
These are just the first ideas I've had for up-cycling. I'm sure there will be many more as this project goes on. I'd love to hear thoughts and ideas though!
