It's scarf weather

... and very conveniently, I have just finished hand-stitching 26 yo-yos onto a piece of felted woolen jumper.

I decided the fate of my floral yo-yo collection on Sunday night after realising that my recent haircut has left a bit of a gap twixt collarbone and ears, a growingly noticeable gap given the recent chilly Melbourne winds.

Of course, I do have many lovely scarves already. But this scrap of felted jumper was looking so lonely, and was definitely asking for a bit of floral-pimping.

So today, I leave the house with a cosy neck.

Pincushion dilemmas

My name is Gina, and I have Creative Attention Deficit Dissorder. 

After signing up to Kate's pincushion swap and getting my creative brief, I made up my mind to do some English paper piecing with tiny precious scraps.

And, according to plan, my Cookie Hexagons are coming along very nicely:

But then, last night, after a few hours of creative playing with gingham and coffee sacks (for an upcoming giveaway) I cobbled THIS together from my scraps:

Now, I love this pincushion. I love the textured hessian, I love the colours, I love the chunky feel (it's quilted as well as stuffed), and I love the text.

I also love that it's finished.

Do I:

a) Accept that I am prone to changing my design ideas mid-stream, rejoice that I've finished something, send it to my pincushion recipient, and stick the Cookie Hex on a skirt?
b) Persist with my original hexagon pincushion idea so that I feel like I have some ability to follow through, and keep this one for myself?!
c) Pretend that it was all part of the plan to make another pincushion for my upcoming 'blogversary' giveaway,  send it off to one of you guys, and get on with my Cookie Hex?

Over to you...

A bag of sunshine

The glorious weather of the last week had me thinking about Spring rather than Autumn... I felt like getting all Northern-Hemispherical, frolicking in fields of daisies with a gathering basket on my arm, skipping around in swishy romantic clothing, and sitting down to a picnic high-tea. None of which I did, obviously, except for fleetingly, in my head, during a particularly dire episode of Postman Pat.

So instead, I riffled through my fabric cupboard and spied some very Spring-y vintage pillowcases and sheeting, which I proceeded to butcher thusly:

Of course, I started butchering well prior to knowing what I wanted to make with it. I just knew that I wanted to do some patchwork, because, well, it's becoming an obsession, and surely it is the favoured indoors pursuit of breezy, romantic Spring girls?

OK, it's true, I have been gazing far too frequently at THIS picture:

(front cover of Daily Patchwork Goods, a Japanese crafting book I obtained from here)

Now I realised after cutting out and sewing back together a bunch of 4-inch squares that I should have been working in hexagons, because what I really really wanted to make myself was that very basket, the one on the cover, the frolicking-in-fields, dressed-in-flouncy-frock, flower-gathering-basket (perhaps not the actual title, but who knows? It's Japanese, and I wouldn't put it past them!)

So I went ahead anyway, and here's my interpretation:

The instructions for making the bag were all in Japanese, but were fairly easy to interpret visually. Given that I'm usually rather too impatient with patterns anyway, it is my cup of tea to just 'catch the drift' and see what happens. And it happened, and apart from a mostly-salvaged handle diasaster, I'm pretty chuffed with the outcome.

Serendipitously, when I was looking for something sturdy to line the bag with, I came across a denim skirt in my refashioning/mending pile. It had been cast there by my neighbour a year ago, for the unforgiveable sins of being both a daggy length and impossibly small at the waist. But Lo, when I inverted the skirt, the waistband matched the circumference of the bag base perfectly, and then flared out at the same width as the outer bag. So all I had to do was turn the skirt upside-down, lop it off at the appropriate height, add a base, and voila, I had a bag lining! I even left the side-zipper in and turned the bag back through it to right-side-out once I'd finished sewing it together. Ahhhh... slack short-cutting disguised as refashioning. Perfect.

Now I'm using my lovely bag of sunshine to go a-gathering... picking up the scraps of fabric in my house which seem to be multiplying at an alarming rate. Oh well, I guess it's breeding season right, being Spring and all?

Bringing back the Fashion Smock!

After the girl talk that's been going on around here recently I was feeling the need for less chat more craft, before you all ran away.

So last night I pulled out some garments and started hacking away. After completely ruining a beautifully-felted charcoal jumper (why can I only make these things look good for other people?), I decided to do some damage to a linen-blend singlet top I thrifted the other day:

Beautifully modelled by Mrs Doubtfire there.

I really don't know why I picked this one up. It's not exactly my style of top - more what I can see myself wearing in 20 years! Totally boxy and unflattering at this stage. But the feel of the material was pleasing, and looked like it had potential.

After prancing around wearing the thing in front of the mirror for a little while, I started thinking 'apron'. Those who've been hanging around here a while may have noticed that I do love a bit of apron action. Not so much your 1950s housewife aprons - I'm more and more drawn to the loose, flowy Japanese-style smock garments, like this one here, or the one Amy Karol made here.

So anyway, long story short, there was a seam up the middle of the back and I cut that open, then bound the raw edges (and made ties with) some grosgrain ribbon in my stash.

Then it was all done but looking a bit bland-tastic, so I did this:

A bit o trusty free machine embroidery. I've got a serious taste for that since participating in the Quilt Project. I'm telling you, you MUST try it out. This took me about 20 minutes from thinking up the idea to drawing the idea on with a chako to finishing it. It's done with regular thread on an old basic sewing machine with a regular foot.

All smocked up and ready to go this morning. I wore it in public and didn't get asked to do the washing once.

Loz and Dinny to the rescue...

Well howdy, pardners.

When my old mama received this bit o' yeller trim from Loz and Dinny, she knew straight away what she was gunna use it for.

You see, I'd been kickin' around in these baggy girly jeans with pink embroidery on the bottom. Mama found'em at the op shop for one buck and made me wear'em, and I was lookin' just a bit too purdy. So after takin' the legs in to add a bit of cowboy flare, she whacked on the trim:

I don't think mama'll be winnin' herself any prizes, but I sure am happy that I've stopped lookin' like a big girl's blouse, ya know what I'm sayin'?

Oh la la????

As per yesterday's creative space, I've spent a bit of time today tweaking my shirt-skirt refashion.

So that's the back view, with the shirt buttons down the back. (Sorry, the photos are terrible! DIY mirror shots of my butt are not my strong suit). I'm pretty happy - I'll add a hook and eye or a tie, but I think that's it.

As for the front... well I've had some issues. It looks like a high-waisted skirt, but given that my bosoms have taken up residence where my 'true waist' should be, I won't be wearing it as one! It sits pretty happily at mid-waist. However, I do get THIS unattractive little problem:

Now all of youse proper seamstresses can probably tell me WHY this occurs. Is it the thin cotton fabric? Is it too tight around the hips - doesn't feel it - or not tight/shaped enough around the waist?

Anyhoo - it doesn't matter. Because I'm taking the quick-fix option:

Yep, Woolworths and Paris, together at last. It's all a bit French Maid, don't you think?

I've had this doiley in my stash for a while waiting for the perfect project. A little 'frilly apron' to smooth over the lumps and bumps. You may notice that the daggy shirt tag (Woolworths XL) is still sitting there on the yoke... I'm thinking about leaving it there as a little tribute to its roots. It makes me laugh.

I guess the final question is, to tuck or not to tuck?

More hack refashioning

Why yes, I AM trying to lure you into reading this post with a gorgeous but irrelevant close-up of my beautiful new Curlypops Brooch!

Since the warm reception of my recent felted jumper refashioning experiment (still blushing from all the nice comments... shucks!) I've been really enjoying the synergy of the virtual craft room. Nikki and Tania have flattered me, and gazumped me, with triumphant refashions of their own, and I've been inspired anew with possibilities.

After failing to find any decent woollen tops ripe for felting in my local thrift stores last week, I decided to branch out and try refashioning a thrifted men's cotton knit top, pictured below:

I love the peppery look, and the warm, draped feel. Very much the kind of jumper you'd borrow from your man-friend to snuggle in when feeling vulnerable. Not, however, the height of fashion to which I have grown accustomed (ha!):

Anyway, I decided to go for the old 'hack the arms off and add some reverse darts' refashioning trick again, but this time in a different way. So I:

1. Hacked the arms off

2. Turned inside out for that deconstructed look

3. Went for some horizontal reverse darts, in one long spiral around the bottom a few times, to bring the length up. Interesting effect. This caused the stretchy material to flare out a a little more.

4. Did another horizontal line at what I hoped would be my true waste, but ended up being across my bust... oops, not so attractive.

5. Gave a bit of shaping with some vertical darts to emphasise waste and detract from the nipple-crease I'd created!

The upshot:

Sorry about the chest thrust, don't quite know how to do the clothing pose yet! Oh, ok, I'm just so very proud of the nipple-crease...

I'm not 100% sure that I'm finished this one yet. It feels lovely to wear - it still has that baggy cuddly feeling but now has some shape. However, given my *ahem* buxom state, perhaps I should lower and widen the neckline to reduce boxiness? That would, however, require slightly less of a hack sewing job, and thus it will probably never happen...

Your feedback is welcome. And if you're getting into this top refashioning thing, don't be shy, show the world... I for one would like to see it!

Quick and dirty sewing... long and rambly posting!

Sometimes I just need to get something done. It's a therapy thing - it's soothing to be productive, even at the expense of good technique, or the 'to-do list'. That was me last night. (Oh, Masterchef, how I miss thee!)

Sure, I could have cut out the pieces for my pippijoe overskirt, or blogged about either of my new jumper refashions, or done some more loom knitting, or finished the last of the Swineys, but actually I wanted to make something in bulk, something to help me de-stash, something useful - something quick and dirty.

Et voila. Badly-made bags! I intend to use these as gift-wrap bags, or small produce bags, or just 'whatever' bags, to replace plastic or paper bags.

These are made from pillowcases. I originally wanted to use up some pretty fat quarters in my stash, but was finding myself getting stuck on choosing, and questioning whether I really wanted to waste nice material on such a simple project (do you find yourself getting hung up on that one too?)

Using pillowcases made the whole thing even lazier, which was great. I took four pillowcases, halved and quartered them, then sewed up the sides/bottoms and 'hemmed' the tops (for those that didn't have the original pillowcase hem still there). I started off zig-zagging the seams for longevity, and folding the top hem twice before sewing - but then I just thought 'stuff it' and did the bare minimum. Ooooh, it felt so good.

[Off-track ramblings... It occurs to me that, if only I had an overlocker, something like this would take me half the time, would look neater, and would last longer because of the finished hems. Hmmm, this phrase is going around in my head more and more these days... if only I had an overlocker. Tell me, do YOU overlock?!]

Anyways... there have been a bunch of posts showcasing various reusable bags recently, go check 'em out:

Leonie's 'hula potatoes' bags,

the Yum Bags showcased by Rebecca,

these budgeting envelopes

and the market bag and produce bags at 3Birdies

All really simple, cute, sustainable ideas. I'm feeling the need to do a bit of 'churning out' of sewing projects, largely to reduce my stash.

Any more ideas for some quick and dirty sewing?

Edit: PS Do you have a cute little girl poppet in your life? Then get yourself over to little grubs for a first birthday giveaway, you could win this really sweet dress. Sadly I doubt my boys would appreciate being decked out in this, but it could be YOURS.

Random acts of craft

It's all been about the quirky, the new and the instantly gratifying for me in my snatched moments of craft these past days.

Some scrabble-tiles-turned-brooches, a witty little addition to the fingerless gloves I've made for a friend. (Part of a refashioned felted jumper ensemble, to be revealed when a few finishing touches are done).

A bit of molecular embroidery. Of course. I embroidered an isoniazid for my Beloved (don't ask me, I just do the stitch-work!) but then liked it so much I decided to stitch up a molecule close to my own heart. Can you guess what it is? Any takers?*

And finally this lovely flower, fashioned from old sewing pattern paper, some hair pins and a coat-hanger. It is, of course, from the Book of Mike.

Happy Monday, world.

*Caffeine. Mmmmm, pure caffeine.

ElephanTASTIC!

Wowzers... I just had to show you these beauties.

These two spunky elephants, designed and handmade by my brother's girlfriend Emily, arrived in a box on our doorstep last week. They and were welcomed with curiosity and delight - and although they are intended as gifts for the boys, I secretly think of them as ALL MINE. We have named them Frank (the bigger orange one) and Ernest (his smaller, more instrospective sidekick). Wilski immediately decided that Ernest was his. And who were we to argue? Frank, the larger, more sanguine elephant, is definitely a better fit for his brother, the little Pudding, anyway.

I'm thrilled with Frank and Ernest. Funny thing is, we haven't had the chance to meet Emily as yet, and she had no idea that I like to make stuff. Yet she took the time to design and hand-make gifts for the boys. AND they're made from recycled materials! What a champ. I simply had to show them off to you...

Thanks Emily.

Round in circles.

Ever get the sense that there's a bit of a theme lying behind everything you're doing?

For me, it's all about the circles this week. They're going around and around in my head...

My new fingerless gloves - upcycled jumper sleeves embellished with layered felt circles. Coffee credits go to this girl who operates out of my favourite haunt, Toby's Estate in Brunswick VIC. I'm trying their new Sustainability blend... right up my alley.

More embroidering of yellow felt discs for my last batch of Swineys. (Ugh. I'm sick of them, and I bet you are too!!)

A wee beanie made from left-over wool, my first completed project on one of my new circular knitting looms... thanks Liesl! Dreaming of the possibilities...

The Aunty Cookie embellishments on my giveaway scarf (which has now become 2 scarflets, another story entirely but a vast improvement in my opinion, especially as I get to keep one!!)

Yep, I'm beginning to feel a wee bit dizzy...

I put the man into Mannequin!

Meet Mrs Doubtfire. She's my new sewing stunt-double. She's here to help me along on the dangerous road to becoming a Refashionista. I'm hoping her presence will help me to actually accomplish a few things in the dress-making department.

Over the last week, I've avoided the sewing machine. I think I'm experiencing a bit of craft-depression. A combination of too many UFOs piling up, too many new ideas and directions catching my eye, a sense that I lack real purpose or direction, frustration at my amateur abilities.

Oh, and the 5-ish hours of broken sleep a night aren't helping.

But I wanted to finish the weekend having accomplished something creative, or at least precursory to creativity.

Enter the DIY dressmaker's dummy. I have a pile of garments that need a bit of tweaking if they're going to be wearable in the near future, and I feel that a mannequin to hang them on will make playing around with reshaping and fitting so much easier. But I don't have the bucks to fork over for one of the adjustable mannequins, plus I'm really trying to be a DIYing, upcycling, clutter-punker!! So I checked out the tutorial on Threadbanger (thanks Kylekin3!) and decided to go for it (with modified materials).

And now for the public shaming: Mannequin progress shots...

Donned an oversized old t-shirt. Asked the Beloved (in breathy voice) to wrap me in packing-tape. He was less interested when he realised it was a craft-related project, but by then he was committed.

Why yes, I do feel highly attractive, thanks for asking. And no, I don't know where my waist went, either, but if you see it, tell it to come home...

Stuffed Mrs Doubtfire (and all her devastatingly exposed lumps and bumps) with fabric scraps and an old pillow, trying to replicate my own figure and resisting the urge to just pinch the waist in a few inches, or flatten out those abs...

We made the mount out of a coat hanger and an old extendable duster handle, and inserted it into the base of a freestanding fan.

Decided to preserve Mrs D's modesty somewhat with a singlet. Oh, and her waist needed cinching in a bit, hence the belt.

I do hope Mrs D will be helpful in my refashioning endeavours, and get me over some of those procrastination hurdles. Meanwhile, she makes a fine coat stand. Personally, I'm just chuffed to have put my money where my mouth is, and made something new and useful out of some of the junk already cluttering up my home.

The tale of eco-fi felt

(image via Pedrosprout)

Given that I've had so many comments about the eco-fi felt, I thought I'd do a separate post about it. But first some eye-candy, check out those cuties in the Pedrosprout shop made from eco-fi felt. They have heaps of cute shoes, lovely!

Anyway...

What is eco-fi felt?

Eco-fi is a polyester fibre made by recycling used plastic bottles. Eco-fi felt therefore differs from regular acrylic felt (which is also synthetic, but not made from recycled materials) and also from wool felt (made from sheep!). Eco-fi felt is manufactured by the Kunin Group in the USA - visit here for some good information about the product and how it is made.

Suppliers:

Eco-fi is only produced in the USA and most supply is from there. There are numerous big groups who supply (e.g. Feltorama) but I bought mine very reasonably from an Etsy seller (see kandcsupplies or GreenDepot) just to try it out and support the small guys.

I haven't seen any in my local stores in Australia (Spotlight and Lincraft). But I just googled it and it looks like Arbee are selling Kunin felt here, although they don't give details about what it is.

Edited to add: Michelle from Pedrosprout has pointed me to an Aussie supplier, The Thread Studio : http://www.thethreadstudio.com/. THANKS!!

Use and quality:

Eco-fi felt is machine washable, non-fraying and according to the manufacturers gets softer after each wash. Basically it is like any other felt and can be used for any textile application. Personally, I have limited experience with felt in general and have only just received my eco-fi, so I can't comment about using it, except to say that it is thick and durable to sew with.

Whether you want to use it or not will come down to your crafting priorities. Wool is generally superior for look and feel and is a natural fibre, but is not necessarily produced in a more sustainable way. Vegans, others concerned about animal exploitation and those with wool allergies are excited about eco-fi felt. See this article at Crafting a Green World for more (heated!) discussion.

Personally, I just like the idea that some of the billions of empty drink bottles out there are being reused for good rather than evil. Upcycling, hurrah!

Confessions of an Eco-Jerk - Upcycling anyone?

Up until the last few years, I've been crap at recycling, let alone upcycling. Mostly that was due to laziness (sometimes it felt like a long walk from the bathroom to the recycle bin, ok?), and also cynicism about whether it really makes any difference.

Well, a lot has changed. In the past few years I've become a diligent recycler, and even a precycler - trying to avoid products with excess packaging, choosing things that have reusable or at least recyclable containers, and so forth. I've got a long way to go, but I've made headway...

Now I'm into 'upcycling', at least in theory. By upcycling I mean taking something that's truly destined for the junk yard or the recycling bin and giving it new life, function and durability. (I don't count refashioning or using reclaimed fabrics as 'upcycling'. As others like Angela have pointed out, that's just good old-fashioned thriftiness, another skill I'm learning).

I'm driving the Beloved mad by insisting that we save our milk bottle lids, toilet rolls, dead appliances (e.g the old computer monitor) and containers of all shapes and sizes.

BUT... I've got nothing to show for it. Well, apart from piles of junk, a few lame kiddy-craft activities (egg carton caterpillar, cereal-box robot, both trashed within minutes of being lovingly crafted), and that pathetic pincushion with a plastic lid base (yep, that's it in the picture above).

So tell me, who is REALLY doing the upcycling thing? Are YOU?

I'd love to see what other people are doing with their junk. I admire people who really are doing the sustainable-crafting thing, and want to support them and get ideas for myself as well. Here are some inspiring examples:

1. The folks at Haul (aka Urban Boomerang) make funky commuter bags out of recycled billboards and old truck tyre inner tubes!

2. Rebound Books are onto a great thing, and as long as no readable books are harmed in the process, I'm loving their book-binding concept.

3. There are some creative Etsy artists making 'soda pop art' jewelry, bottle cap accessories, coffee-sack bags, and other fun stuff.

And now - do you want to 'get your upcycle on' (?!) and join in this new upcycling challenge I saw posted on Crafting A Green World today? You know you do!

(photo via The Junkstop)

On Clutter...

I harbour mixed feelings about clutter.

On the one hand, there is clutter that is probably universally acknowledged as bad. It remains quite a feature of my life. It includes:

• The clutter of laziness. Everyday items that have a home, but don't find them. Simple household chores that don't get done for no real reason. Things that get broken and not fixed because they are not valued properly.
• The clutter of greed. Stuff that we've accumulated even though we don't need, use, or cherish it. Things owned in multiples, because one wasn't 'enough' or because the original got lost in the chaos. The constant need to 'upgrade' to the next model even when the old one is perfectly fine.
• The clutter of selfishness. Waste. Food that gets chucked out because of disorganisation or because we 'felt like something different'. Excess rubbish and packaging because I valued convenience over common good.

However, there is also such a thing as happy clutter. I'm never going to be a minimalist. To me, clutter can be welcoming, reassuring, and beautiful. I love:

• The clutter of creativity. Evidence of things being created in the midst of mundane life - piles of fabric, bits and bobs waiting for inspiration. Old items being reused in new ways. Upcycling, punking, reinventing.
• The clutter of history. Precious things that have significance beyond their functional or aesthetic appeal. Books. Letters. Memorabilia. Gifts. Things that are accumulated not just because they fit the latest colour scheme.
• The clutter of real life. Children and their toys underfoot. A well-used kitchen. Books with dog-ears. Dirt.

In essence, my desire is to curb the bad clutter, and to cherish the happy clutter.

I aim to accumulate less, to take care of our household a little more, and to consume more thoughtfully.

I hope to learn to DEclutter, just enough to make our space workable and welcoming for all, but not so much that it is stiffling for young kids, or creative urges, or evidence of real life.

I want to take better care of what I have, to use it carefully and creatively, and to hold on to it lightly, knowing that we are not what we own.

Right up my alley!

Check this out. An upcycling contest, woohoo. Not only that, but some awesome prizes from a few of my favourite crafty peeps - Sublime Stitching, Mixtape, Amy Butler, and this book that I've been keen to get my hands on for inspiration.

Hmmm, what to make, what to make? Might have to get moving on that toilet roll wedding gown sooner rather than later.

Only slightly annoying is the fact that today, before I read about this comp, I was daydreaming about hosting something similar, some type of upcycling contest based around a particular common object. But I was going to wait for a few months, settle into a blogging rhythm, make a few connections etc then do it. I'm so six-months-ago. Oh well, someone has to bring up the rear. And what a rear...