Fabric Flower Hairpins repurposing fabric samples.

I was quite the busy bee when I was back in Sydney, Australia. I was repurposing some fabric samples that I got from Reverse Garbage. 

http://www.reversegarbage.com.au/

I really LOVE Reverse Garbage, basically these guys are not for profit and they take commercial waste (or basically trash from commercial places like supermarkets, department stores, warehouses, offices etc) and they sell them to the public. 


You can get things like plastic tubing, cardboard rolls, scrap metal, buttons, shop display stands and fittings - the list goes on. 

I remember hearing about them from this youth worker when I was 16, she used to make jewelry out of all this waste and my ears perked up. It wasn't until I was 21 that I moved to Marrickville, I live Weymess street which was only down the road from Addison road which is where this  place is located. Geez, I don't wanna give my age away here but that was a while back....

Anyway - I've spent countless hours, days, months, years at Reverse Garbage touching, feeling, grabbing, ripping (oops!), handling, stuffing, shoving and pulling my way through the endless treasures they have in their bins. I remember you could stuff a hessian bag you could buy from them for like $2, with all the popular items they sold. Which consisted of fabric samples, colored foam scraps, leather scraps, acrylic plastic, labels etc 

Some more fabric flowers made from silk organza for a bridal look.

Sooooooooooooooo....I repurposed - I made these really cute and lovely hair pins from a bunch of the fabric samples I bought for like $2 seriously. I grabbed like 2 fistfuls or possibly more and the chick at the counter practically gave it away. A lot of these fabric samples were made in Italy and the quality of them were so good that it took great inner strength to tear myself away from the fabric sample bin. 


Some of these fabrics were so soft and billowy, so feminine that they inspired me to make some beautiful earrings with them using Swarovski crystals, plated silver chains and kidney ear hooks. 

One of my Fabric earrings made from Italian Fabric Samples.

I can't tell you how exciting it is to go to my studio and just sit there all day with these wonderful materials, experimenting, creating, dreaming up new designs and just having a really good time enjoying repurposing something whose destiny was transformed from the dumpster to the designer. 


If you are interested in buying any items or even just want to ask any questions, please either email me or leave a comment along with your email address and I will reply to you as promptly as I can. 


Todays plug:


Check this chick out on youtube, I've gotten some really naff ideas from this bird, check out her ransom letters tutorial - really talented lady and the creations she makes are GORG!!! Happy viewing!


http://www.youtube.com/user/BeyondBracelets?feature=watch


Nitey Nite!