Fleeced

It's one thing to lounge around at home in the special new outfit that mama made. It's quite another thing to be forced to wear said outfit in public.

Wislki reluctantly models girly-striped fleece pant and tunic-style top. 'Pattern' drawn freehand onto fabric, cut and sewn, unpicked and resewn, all within half an hour.

Ahhh, fleece. The most forgiving of all fabrics!

My creative space...

Today it's all happening on my lap. Or not happening. Mostly, I'm trying to knit a wee scarf for Betrand the Robot Bear, one of the creations that arose out of last week's creative space.

Currently I'm taking a break because, as you can see, the knitting needles were extracted from the stitches by my lovely creative helper the Fifth Wiggle, who requisitioned them in order to do a bit of Wiggly concert reenacting.

Visit the other (hopefully less thwarted) creative spaces via Kirsty!

Death by Wiggles.

I interrupt this craft blog to bring you a Wiggly Announcement.

Anthony, Sam, Murray and Jeff would like to welcome to their team Wilski, the Fifth Wiggle.

His specialty is Fake Guitar, which he has variously played on saucepans, egg cartons, cricket bats, juice boxes and diggers. He is also adept at Fake Keyboard, which he plays on a similar array of household items. If required he can also rock out on drums (boy do I regret bringing THOSE home from the op shop), do a bit of Wiggly Dancing, or provide some bass guitar grooves (if his mother lets him near her precious Leroy the Bass).

When not faking out to the Wiggles, Wilski enjoys singing Wiggles songs, going Wiggles logo-spotting in the neighbourhood, and forcing his parents to reenact Wiggles scenarios with Plasticine. Honestly.

Today Wilski will be joining the Wiggles, Live in Concert, at the Dallas Brooks Centre in Melbourne.

Kill me now.

Goodbye tablecloth... hello skirt!

My first true Wardrobe Refashion:

When I took The Pledge* a few weeks ago I thought it would take me quite some time before actually making an item of clothing (apart from scarves or aprons) I'd wear in public. Largely because I'm a 'sewbie', and don't know how to do tricky things that clothesmaking requires. Nor does my machine - no zipper foot, no buttonhole foot, basically cranked by hand...

But thanks to the combination of a fabulous thrifted vintage tablecloth (yay for eekos) and this patternless Lesley skirt how-to from BurdaStyle, I'm thrilled to be getting around in something wearable made by ME. Miraculous.

*The Pledge
I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 6 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that my thriftiness brings!

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!

My creative space...

Today's space contains:

One freshly felted old jumper

One new batch of eco-fi felt (made from 100% post-consumer plastic)

Some old pillowcases

One book full of inspiration

One head full of ideas

More spaces via kootoyoo - I'm off to have a look right now!

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)