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So it's April. If you're in the Northern Hemisphere, either you're just starting to change to a lighter sweatshirt, or you're at last eschewing layers entirely in favor of shorts and lightweight shirts. Either way, everyone north of the Equator is shifting their wardrobe to fit the warm weather of late spring, and chances are you're looking at your wardrobe and going, "Golly, this stuff is no longer stylish! Maybe I should buy some new clothes." So you grab your wallet or your purse and you -- Stop. Just... just stop. Go back to your closet and take another look. What do you see? Fabric. Good fabric. Maybe with some stains here and there, but that can be fixed. The less new hunks of fabric you buy, the less energy is spent on producing new clothing, the less exhaust is released into China's air from factories, the less perfectly good, wearable, usable fabric ends up in landfills ... yeah. You get the idea. "But wait," you might be saying, "that's all well and good - I'm all for keeping stuff out of landfills and all (why else would I be on this site, reading this post, in this section?) but I'll look stupid wearing my old clothes! Some of this stuff doesn't even fit right anymore." Never fear, my environmentally friendly friend. That can be fixed! Have you ever heard of reconstructing clothing? No? It's easy! Easier on the environment, anyway. Any dude or lady can hold a needle and thread - well, I can't, but I'm good with a sewing machine. Someone you know probably has one in a box somewhere, or maybe your school has one you can use. It doesn't have to be fancy or computerized. It doesn't need a lot of stitches. Reconstruction often involves the minimal amount of sewing anyway - you're building off of already existing garments. The great thing about reconstruction is that you can just fix problems with your clothes, or completely reinvent them. You can just resize a shirt, for example, or you can use the part that's not stained as a ruffle on something, or you can turn it into a skirt. It's no less stylish and you can give people weird looks when they say they went shopping. Here's some websites to get you started: http://ohmystars.net/craft/index-surgery.php -- awesome site with easy tutorials for reconstructing shirts. http://community.livejournal.com/t_shirt_surgery -- an LJ community for t-shirt reconstruction. Lots of great tutorials and a good place for inspiration and getting advice. http://community.livejournal.com/t_shirt_surgery -- not just for t-shirts anymore. http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?board=8.0 -- look! A forum! Related causes and ideas: http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd http://www.buynothingday.org/ -- Buy Nothing Day. http://craftingagreenworld.com/ -- awesome blog for crafty environmentalists. http://blog.seanbonner.com/2009/04/02/changing-the-world-stop-buying-crap/ -- stop buying excrement, unless it's to fertilize your garden In short, don't buy any new clothes from now until September (exceptions can be made for things like swimsuits that are difficult to make or reconstruct, and anything that you might actually NEED to physically survive, e.g. life vests). Come on. I'm doing it, and if you do it too I'll seem a lot less crazy. Or will I?
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