Ecouterre » DIY Eco-Fashion

Restore Dull, Tired Locks With LUSH’s DIY Avocado Hair Mask

Vanessa Lamont, LUSH Cosmetics — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:00:56 +0000

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Join Kollabora, Awamaki on a “Collaborative Crafting” Workshop in Peru

Amanda Coen — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 22:00:13 +0000

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Michigan Web Designer Turns Canadian Quarter into a Wedding Ring

Alyssa Alimurung — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 16:00:56 +0000

Making a ring from pocket change may be an old-hat concept by now, but for a web designer with no metalworking experience to take on the task of outfitting his fiancée? Now that takes amore. Michigan resident Richard Crawford decided that a store-bought wedding band would be too impersonal, so he decided to make one himself using a 1945 Canadian silver quarter from eBay. (His bride-to-be, elementary school teacher Sarah Bontinen, is Canadian.) Obviously he had to make do with whatever tools he had, but Crawford was also able to fashion a “very specialized jeweler’s tool” using a spoon and hammer.

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Knit the Laptop “Compubody” Sock for Privacy in Public Places

Lori Zimmer — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:00:36 +0000

As liberating as abandoning ye olde office cubicle sounds, working out of a café, library, or other public or coworking space can leave even the most focused person distracted and open to prying eyes. Electronics guru Becky Stern has an unusual solution: a knitted garment that fits around your head and your laptop like an oversized sock or cocoon. Sure, you’ll undoubtedly draw quizzical stares, but what price privacy and peace—even at the risk of looking like Mr. Snuffleupagus?

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14 Eco-Chic Gifts You Can Make Yourself (DIY Tutorials)

Jasmin Malik Chua — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 13:00:50 +0000

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Upcycle Broken Christmas Lights into Sparkly Holiday Accessories

Tiffany Threadgould — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 13:00:55 +0000

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For DIYers on the Move, a Compact Sewing Machine That Folds Flat

Jasmin Malik Chua — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 22:00:59 +0000

There’s a reason why sewing machines are gathering dust in attics and basements across the country. They’re big, bulky, and awkward to lug around. In lieu of the unwieldy behemoths we’re accustomed to, London-based designer Richard Burrow proposes a compact sewing machine that folds flat for ease of mobility and storage. Designed to encourage people to mend rather than toss damaged clothing, the foldable contraption fits easily on a bookshelf or in a bag for toting on the go. Don’t inundate Burrow with offers to buy the device just yet, however—he still has to work out a few kinks before he can bring it to market.

+ Foldable Sewing Machine

+ Richard Burrow

Pedal-Powered “Un-knitting” Machine Unravels Sweaters to Recycle Yarn

Jasmin Malik Chua — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 21:00:56 +0000

Make do and unmend? Meet the “un-knitting” machine, a pedal-powered apparatus designed to recycle unwanted knitwear. The curious contraption is the brainchild of Imogen Hedges, a London-based product-and-furniture designer who discovered that charity shops sometimes spend hours unraveling sweaters by hand. “They can make more money out of selling the wool than they can from the sweaters,” says the Kingston University graduate, one of a select group of student designers exhibiting at the The National Centre for Craft & Design this month.

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Turn a Pair of Printed Scarves Into a Breezy Caftan Dress (DIY Tutorial)

Shini Park and Kit Lee — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:00:24 +0000

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7 More Last-Minute Halloween Costumes Haunting Your Closet

Jasmin Malik Chua — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 12:00:30 +0000

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Martha Stewart Admits She Paints Her Christian Louboutin Soles Black

Yuka Yoneda — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:00:00 +0000

Here’s a bit of news that made us spit out our afternoon coffee: Reigning craft queen Martha Stewart recently admitted that she customizes her Christian Louboutin shoes by painting their signature red soles black. “I don’t like them red, even though they’re [Louboutin's] trademark,” she told InStyle at the American Made Awards on Tuesday. “But he doesn’t mind. He said it’s okay if I do that—I asked him!” What do you think, shoe fans? Is her DIY touch brilliant or blasphemous?

PREVIOUSLY ON ECOUTERRE: Women Paint Their Soles Red for the Louboutin Look

[Via Refinery29]

Lasso: A Flat-Pack Wool-Felt Slipper You Assemble Yourself

Jasmin Malik Chua — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:00:07 +0000

Gaspard Tiné-Berès’s “Lasso” house slipper is a shoe you assemble yourself. Made of a single piece of die-cut wool felt, the shoe is shipped flat with a single colored shoelace. Don’t worry if you were born all thumbs—even the least dextrous among us is capable of “stitching” up the seams using the laser-perforated notches as a guide. “The act of self-assembling the slippers increases the sense of ownership and emotional connection with them,” Tiné-Berès, whose work was on display at the Royal College of Art’s Design for the Real World exhibit at the London Design Festival in September. “[It also] allows for personalization through the choice of laces used,” he adds.

+ Lasso $30 at IndieGoGo

+ Gaspard Tiné-Berès

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Alto: An Intuitive Sewing Machine That Encourages “Make Do and Mending”

Jasmin Malik Chua — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 19:00:45 +0000

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Customize a Silk Scarf With Textile Arts Center’s Plant-Based Solar-Dye Kit

Owyn Ruck, Textile Arts Center — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:00:07 +0000

Natural dyeing might feel confusing. From mordants, pH levels, and various fibers—there’s a lot of information to absorb. But it doesn’t have to be intimidating. Enter the Textile Arts Center. This summer, we introduced a new line of do-it-yourself kits that allows just about anyone to customize a silk scarf using walnut hulls, birch, or madder and the power of the sun. These solar-dyeing kits are great for a project at home, or as a gift, and provide the user with the knowledge to reproduce the results over and over.

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Make Over Your Back-to-School Wardrobe With Natural Dyes (DIY Tutorial)

Rebecca Burgess — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 18:00:49 +0000

Welcome to “Local Color,” a new column by author and textile artist Rebecca Burgess.

The dry summer afternoons of Northern California have inspired the spray of the hose, colanders full of freshly harvested blackberries, and post-lunch respites under the shade of fully laden walnut trees. These are the days we spend together as families and friends, savoring the last moments before the school doors open. To honor the threshold between dirt and desks, I came up with a do-it-yourself back-to-school wardrobe project for the children who come to the “farm camps” I help host. It’s an easy, and instantaneously successful T-shirt makeover that will mask all plum and watermelon juice stains that may have accumulated over the last few months.

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VIDEO: Amazing Lego Mechanical Loom Weaves Actual Fabric

Jasmin Malik Chua — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:00:02 +0000

An expert Lego Technic builder, Nicolas Lespour has turned what many consider child’s play into a full-fledged career. Latest among his toys? An automated mechanical loom that weaves fabric from multiple bobbins of colored yarn. Presented on Monday at Fana’Briques 2012, a convention Lego enthusiasts organize annually in Rosheim, France, Lespour’s invention comprises 20,000 individual Lego components, including a fly-shuttle mechanism that delivers the weft into the warp with little human intervention.

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Crafty Bride Hand-Knits Her Wedding Gown for Less Than £200

Jasmin Malik Chua — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 21:00:08 +0000

Photos by Jonathan Pow

For bride-to-be Lydia Tayler, hunting down the perfect wedding dress took no time at all. Putting it together, however, was a different matter. The owner of a yarn store in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, Tayler spent four months knitting the 100,000 stitches that made up the intricate lace sheath. “Knitting is a huge part of my life and I always knew I would want it to form some part of our wedding,” Tayler told the Daily Mail. “The dress is the hardest, and most important, garment I have ever made but I’m so glad I did it.”

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Studio Swine’s Portable Dyer’s Workshop is Brim-Full of Seasonal Plants

Jasmin Malik Chua — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 18:13:04 +0000

Studio Swine’s bamboo-derived “seed socks” aren’t just comfy foot coverings, they’re also a gateway product into the world of do-it-yourself natural dyes. Distributed from a portable dyer’s workshop, which resembles a traveling salesman’s sample trunk, each hand-dipped pair includes a pack of seeds, plus instructions on how to cultivate and create your own plant-based dyes. The valise itself houses seasonal New York botanicals and the necessary tools to turn them into a palette of vibrant colors.

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“Hair Chalking” Gives Your Mane Temporary Color Sans Harsh Chemicals

Lori Zimmer — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:00:34 +0000

Photo by The Private Room

Feeling a little wild today? Why not work a colorful streak (or two, or three) into your mane without the commitment—not to mention toxicity—of semi-permanent hair dyes? “Hair chalking,” Hollywood’s latest obsession, is as easy as it sounds. No fancy concoctions, expensive stylists, or complicated instructions are necessary: Simply grab a few sticks of soft pastel chalk from your art-supply box and rub the desired color onto your hair. The do-it-yourself “treatment” lasts for a day or two or until your next shampoo, whichever comes first.

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Fake-Out Fashion: Women Paint Their Soles Red to Get the Louboutin Look

Yuka Yoneda — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 17:00:51 +0000

Photo by Shutterstock

Why fork out $900 for a pair of Christian Louboutins when you can whip up your own red-soled kicks with a $3 tester pot of paint? That’s the question many savvy—and cash-strapped—Brits have arrived at, according to a U.K. home-improvement retailer. Not only have sales of Duracoat’s “Flame” and “Show Stopper” increased by 40 percent compared with the year before, claims Homebase, but the uptick is the result of women cribbing the French shoemaker’s signature red soles. Will the mini-movement make its way across the Atlantic? Lowe’s and Home Depot, you have been warned.

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Whip Up Wool and the Gang’s Knitted Bracelets in Less Than Five Minutes

Jasmin Malik Chua — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 22:00:31 +0000

Now that school’s out for summer, relive your misspent youth by turning leftover bits and bobs—remnant yarn, strips from an old T-shirt, odd lengths of ribbon—into grownup friendship bracelets that would score points even with the most jaded of camp counselors. Click below the fold for the instructions, courtesy of Wool and the Gang, a fair-trade do-it-yourself and ready-to-wear apparel brand, and designer Nina Rich.

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5 Ways to Recycle an Old Necktie Into a Last-Minute Father’s Day Gift

Tiffany Threadgould — Sat, 16 Jun 2012 12:00:12 +0000

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Tori Spelling Launches DIY Jewelry Collection at Jo-Ann, Michaels Stores

Beth Shea — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:00:43 +0000

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Make Your Own Natural Cosmetics With Herban Crafts’ DIY Kits

Michelle Lloyd — Sun, 13 May 2012 12:00:50 +0000

If you’ve longed to make your own beauty products but don’t care for the hassle of hunting down pages of ingredients, Herban Crafts will do the legwork for you. The Washington, D.C.-based company plans to launch its inaugural range of DIY kits in June, but it still requires additional seed money to kick production into gear. Currently raising money through IndieGoGo, Herban Crafts is clear about its mission. Besides eschewing chemical-laden dyes, fragrances, and preservatives in favor of organic and fair-trade botanicals, the business will also employ undeserved women in the D.C. area, providing jobs training to help them reenter the work force at a later date.

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U.K. Mechanic Builds “Iron Man” Costume From Cardboard, Fiberglass

Jasmin Malik Chua — Sun, 06 May 2012 12:00:34 +0000

Avengers assemble, indeed. Mark Pearson, a car mechanic in West Yorkshire, spent 14 months constructing an Iron Man costume from 400 sheets of fiberglass-coated cardboard. “I don’t know why I did it, I guess it was just a moment of madness,” he says. In lieu of Tony Stark’s arc reactor, Pearson used an ash tray to “power” his armor. “I’m not sure why I picked Iron Man,” he says. “I’m a big fan and I think I like the fact that he is not really a superhero; he is just a man with a flying suit. But what a suit—it’s the Ferrari of superhero suits.”

[Via the Daily Mail]