Swap-O-Rama-Rama October 8, 2006

Swap-O-Rama-Rama: The biggest clothing swap ever!

"There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness." Gandhi

Join in the communal process of reuse and celebrate our collective creativity! Your invited to Swap-O-Rama-Rama, a giant clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores reuse and creativity through the recycling of used clothing.

It's easy to move from consumer to creator! At Swap-O-Rama-Rama you'll find a workshop an hour, each teaching a unique clothing recycling modification skill, and DIY stations where you can learn traditional crafts like embroidery, knitting, beading and appliqué. These include a sewing stations with several sewing machines run by knowledgeable clothing and costume designers; silk screening, and decoration stations for working with beads, buttons, and a variety of accouterments. This year we'll have a team of stylist volunteers from FIT ready to help you find a new recycled look. And scrapexchange will be bringing scrap yard challenge, a techy wearable DIY event where you can add electronics to your new duds. a You'll also find clothing labels that celebrate our collective creativity, they read 100% Modified By Me and 100% Recycled. These are free and offered to you to sew over existing branding and reclaim your creative space from industry.

But of course the core of the swap is the gigantic piles of free clothing sorted into categories: pants, shirts, skirts, sweaters etc. These piles are the collective total of each guest’s contribution of one bag of unwanted clothes. Take home as much clothing as you can carry. Remainders go to a local women's shelter.

The day ends with a big fashion show of 100% recycled wearables, these are the creations of our staff and our guests! If you make something fabulous that you'd like to share you'll be invited to walk the runway too!

The first two hundred and fifty guests in the door will receive a free copy of the first issue of CRAFT magazine, a new DIY rag by the publishers of MAKE magazine. There will also be subscriptions given away as prizes for joining the fashion show. Additional prizes will be supplied by EcoArtware ( http://www.eco-artware.com )

Wondering what to bring? http://gaiatreehouse.com/swapattend.htm

$10 plus any size bag of unwanted clothing
Once inside all of the materials for creativity and all the clothes you can carry are free
All ages welcome!
Join the List: [email protected]
Growing List of Contributing Artists & Workshops for NY Event: http://gaiatreehouse.com/nyoct2006.htm

Official Website: http://swaporamarama.org/nyoct2006.htm