Recycle Recklessly and Sew with Abandon!
If there was an award for responsible and eco-friendly production, I'd win it for sure. I use the scraps of my scraps of my scraps. The only things that make it to the garbage are, as Alela Diane says, "pieces of string to small to use". Someday I hope to employ disadvantaged youth in my shop; teaching marketable skills, paying real wages, and having a damned good time.
Recently I've been obsessed with turning whole-piece upcycled fabric samples into tote bags of all sizes! I handmake the handles, lining, pockets, embroidered labels and bag out of recycled material. Join me in my quest to find new uses for our materials of consumption and thoroughly enjoy it along the way!
Check out my Gofundme campaign to help send me to a sewing machine repair certification! https://www.gofundme.com/MachineRepairJoe
I've always been an artist. When I was younger, I danced semi-professionally for seven years. I grew up in Chicago and graduated from the Chicago Arts Academy (high school) in the dance department. At the Academy, I was also able to express myself through art studio electives. I've experimented with painting, drawing, tie dye, tiling, mixed media, collage, postcards, oil pastels and more. But, I've abandoned it all for my sewing machine. My three sewing machines. And I just can't stop. It started a year ago when I had the idea to make reusable shopping bags for family Christmas presents. Since then I've taught myself through hours of trial and error. With the help and inspiration of my mother (interior designer and public high school English teacher) and two of our family friends who happen to be a professional designer/maker, and a professional theater costume designer and makeup artist, I have come a long way. I am very thankful to all three of them. I have moved a lot in the past few years and I am grateful to be in a place where I can really stretch out my studio space and sink into it. The chickens cluck and the goats bleet outside...the fire's rumbling and rolling now as it gets colder here in the Midwest--my lovely assistant Lucy the dog rolls around on the floor as I let my imagination get the better of us all.
The name originally came from the Land Fall, a sail boat that had been in my mom's family for many years. She bought this farm in Wisconsin twelve years ago, and ever since the life ring from the Land Fall has been hanging in the front hall way. "Landfall!" is something sailor's yell when they see their first glimpse of land after being out at sea for months. For the sake of metaphor, I think we're all a little lost at sea these days. By focusing on using recycled materials, I see Land Fall Creations as a small helping hand in the Green Revolution. We can all do our part to reach the collective "land fall", a time and place where many more people were aware of the consequences of their actions and were proactive about making positive change. We live in an extremely complicated world today, but I can see the Land Fall in the distance.
Thanks for stopping by!
