buy nothing month: day twenty seven

Yay, only four days left of our Buy Nothing Month and then we can unleash ourselves on the shops and buy loads of, urm, organic coconut oil and selotape. Wild - huh? 

This week I am working on sourcing amazing clothing and accessories for our Ethical Fashion special edition of The Green Parent magazine and I have got to admit to a haze of avariciousness enveloping my desk. Hunting down inspirational stories of women creating beautiful recycled items and speaking to key people in the ethical fashion industry whilst musing over their gorgeous designs, it has been hard to keep a lid on the "I want" mentality. I have subconsciously created about a zillion wish lists.

One positive aspect of this is that it has inspired me to get crafty and start making some garments of my own ... for the girls' Sylvannian characters rather than proper people sized clothing. But it feels good to sit around the fire in the evening with needle in hand and a bevvy of small woodland folk to clothe.

I have also discovered the Handmade Pledge for the holidays and am delighted by its ethos. Encouraging consumers to make gifts or purchase homemade presents for giving this festive season, Pledge Handmade has collected over thirty thousand signatures to support its cause over the last couple of months. That means over thirty thousand people who are going to steer clear of shopping centres and give one-of-a-kind meaningful gifts this year. They say, "The ascendancy of chain store culture and global manufacturing has left us dressing, furnishing, and decorating alike. We are encouraged to be consumers, not producers, of our own culture. Our ties to the local and human sources of our goods have been lost. Buying handmade helps us reconnect." 

Reconnecting through crafting sounds like something to aspire to!

By the way, the picture is of the Irregular Crochet Necklace by Irregular Expressions at Etsy.