THIS JUST IN! One of our 2005 granted projects, SWAP-O-RAMA-RAMA, will be featured at the Maker’s Faire!

Swap-o-rama-rama addresses America’s endless quest for “more” and “new,” as spurred on by the fashion industry’s commodification of individual image through the imposition of spending brackets and prescribed choices. Through a collaborative process Swap-o-rama-rama participants will be invited to essentially re-design and re-brand already existing clothing. The do-it-yourself process will encourage the individuality and creativity that was once innate in clothing design and manufacture before the craft became subsumed by industry and the machine.

The Swap-o-rama-rama craze was spawned by Wendy Tremayne in New York City, where it met with amazing success. Hundreds of participants showed up for the swaps, thousands of pounds of clothing were transformed into wearable works of art (while simultaneously being diverted from the waste stream), and all the leftover vestments were donated to local women’s shelters.

Swap-o-rama-rama is now not only in 11 cities nationwide, but is embarking on a new program to teach the just-off-the-street-families in these shelters how to turn leftover garments into quilted blankets for their new home off the streets. Then just before these families move on, they will have the opportunity to make a blanket for the family taking their place in the shelter — a first chance to give!

For more information on what to expect, what to bring, and how YOU can PARTICIPATE, check out the Swap-o-rama-rama website at: http://www.swaporamarama.org/makerfaire.htm