i'm quite a proponent for circulation. i try to get most of my clothes/fabric second-hand, and keep the cycle flowing. except for a very select few items that have such dense and heavy sentimental value (and costuming), i pass items along pretty readily. lots of times if an item has too much history attached, i have to let it go; it gets heavy. so ~ our household had accumulated a huge (huger than i realized, even after only being here a year & a half.. ) collection of interesting clothing/fabrics that i knew were useful/cool/pretty/nice, but just wasn't doing anything with them = block in the flow.
i set up a Free Box outside our house. i put the bunch of clothes in it that we weren't using (and a few random other odds and ends, including a Barbie carrying case which i was going to get around to redeeming/redecorating, and didn't. .and an incomplete Nativity set i was going to artfully "set free".. but didn't get around to..) . usually i would've taken this stuff to salvation army or goodwill, but i've been reading _Food_Not_Lawns [how to turn your yard into a garden, and your neighborhood into a community], by H.C. Flores, and she says: get rid of the middleman; deliver the goods to the people who will use them. i posted a handcut sign on the front (FREE) so there would be no doubts.
i have been delighted and fascinated as folks have come by and browsed over the weekend. ! i feel like i set out a (good for you) candy box, or an easter egg/scavenger hunt or something. our pint-sized neighbor, Aria (with a similar passion for costuming), immediately found the plastic backpack-style rainbow butterfly wings and flitted around their yard. :) this morning a chica with a fine style savvy drove by while i was on the front porch eating a bite. she rubber-necked, then pulled over at the next available spot. i left her to her gleaning, saying, "take it all!". i spied out at her a few times, to vicariously enjoy her discoveries ~ she was enjoying herself. a while later, i glanced to see her slink away smilingly with a whole armful of fashion.
what fun!
what else can we put in the Free Box?!
