Lexington County (WLTX) -- Images of clasped hands, a Boston Terrier and a smiling family, all decorate Mary Frances Charlton's eco-friendly pageant-wear.
"My mom would sew them on the dress and layer them and I would have to try on the dress, I had to try on the dress a lot of times so it could fit," Mary Frances says.
She'll have to try on her paper creation at least one more time. On Friday night, she'll wear her magazine masterpiece to the Miss Aquila Pageant at Airport High School where this year's theme is going green.
"We recycle every week here at Airport. Bottles and paper and cans and it just it kind of spreads the word about recycling and everyone's really interested in the theme wear," Pageant co-director Mary Beth Owen says.
Theme-wear dresses must be 60 to 70 percent recyclable. Mary Frances and her mother folded and pinned for about 20 hours to make this dress, but mom gives the project two green thumbs up.
"It doesn't dwell on the price of the outfit because her outfit in total cost maybe $20 or $25 dollars, but it's the time that you put into it the closeness you share with your daughters doing this, that's the real treasure," Christine Charlton says.
And Mary Frances has learned that instead of throwing old magazines away, she can use them for other activities.
"You can use them or recycle them or wear them!" she exclaims.
1/8/2009 8:07:48 PM
