making groovy things

Utility vest for boyz

2011-06-08T22:54:00.000+10:00

Promise I'll post something other than knitting next time. Here's a zip-up vest I knitted for my little boy! Complete with pockets! Very snuggly and practical too. I worried about how I'd attach the zip, but ended up just sewing it on using a sewing machine, as others I'd seen on Ravelry had done. Pattern is a Debbie Bliss pattern that Mum found in a women's mag.

Ravelled here.

Mitts for Mother's Day

2011-04-26T18:41:00.000+10:00

I've made fingerless mittens for both my mum and mother-in-law this year - these strike me as practical for cold weather when you need to actually do things with your hands. Given both these ladies are early birds and spend a bit of time at computers and handling books, and because I know they don't have these already, I decided to knit some mitts for this Mother's Day.

This first pair is for my Mum, using the Susie's Reading Mitts Pattern, and Ravelled here, and the second pair is for my Mother in Law, using the Garden Trellis Mitts pattern, and Ravelled here.

Both these projects have been great for learning new skills - basic lace, knitting fiddly bits with double pointed needles, and new stitches (twisted rib by knitting through back loop, old german cast-on). It's amazing the breadth of knitting (and crochet) tutorials that are now at your fingertips on YouTube and on the internet. Seek and

amigurumi panda

2011-04-26T17:59:00.000+10:00

So I've been mucking around with scrap acrylic yarn and a crochet hook a bit lately... I looked in a book I already had and what do you know? there was a pattern there using exactly the same colours I had! black and white. The result: Morris the Sensitive Panda, taken from the book "Meet me at Mike's", collated and edited by Melbourne's Pip Lincoln, which has loads of simple sewing, knitting and crochet projects within.

(Ravelled here)
It's far from perfect - I should have used a smaller hook, but didn't think I should rush out and add another crochet hook to my collection just yet, being new to the art of it. It's wonky too. And the eyes are just glued on - a big no-no when giving it to kids as they can chew them off and swallow them. However, I think my kids may be old enough to know better.
And the kids seem to love it - Morris has been in hot demand. The nearly 2 year old has been carrying it around all afternoon going "Pandy Pandy!" and trying to feed it "Yummy" crackers. And showing it fish in the fish pond. And the nearly 5 year old made it toy sushi and tea.
This is my first attempt at an amigurumi figure. Very enjoyable and quick! May do more, such as a Totoro, soon - great way to make toys that would otherwise be hard to come by!

chugging to the finish(ed) line...

2011-03-21T07:29:00.000+11:00

I'm making a zippered vest for my son, and it has pockets!. I've actually done a lot more than is in this photo. It's a fun project and it's teaching me lots of new skills - shaping arm holes, picking up and knitting, grafting, and generally just making up a garment from pieces - I've mostly knit in one piece in the round so far.

...and this tunic dress for my daughter:

Can't wait to get her in this! I just need to (learn to) crochet some button loops to finish the opening at the front. Part procrastination, part the fact that I need a smaller hook.

Finally, have started knitting my mother some study mitts, for mother's day:

I have done one, and need to do another. Again, this has been a bit of a learning process - learned the 3 needle bind-off, picot edge, and I shortened this when I accidentally made it too long in the wrist.

Ravelled here.

Blanketed with love

2011-02-06T09:25:00.008+11:00

Well my Wrap with Love blanket is done! I sewed up the last of it two weeks ago and mailed it off. That's it being held up and also draped on my couch to illustrate how nicely it would have blended in to the decor. But it was immensely satisfying to send it off, more so because I think it looked great and I would have been very happy to keep it! Big thanks to Miss Hazel, her neighbours, my Mum, and EcoChic who all knitted / chrocheted squares for the project, and Miss SnapDragon who came over one night and kept me company during the 'stitching up' process*. One of the nice things about Wrap with Love is that they hook in with a really wide range of charities to get them out into the world, and so it could end up anywhere that people need comfort and warmth.

Once it was done I was ever so in love with it, and with the idea of making blankets. I pulled out an old project I'd started when I was 19 or so (eeek, that was a while ago now!), my very first ever knitting project, which was to make a bed-sized blanket out of squares.

A few years back (4!) I pinned them all to a double bed sheet with the help of my mum, and started sewing them into strands. But now I feel inspired to make a few more 'throw rug' size blankets out of them, and maybe even fish through the existing squares to make a few in different colour themes. I was going for jewel tones at the time - purple, dark teal blue, dusky pink; and it's also ended up with dark blue, brown, bright pink, other blues in the mix (other people have pitched in and made squares out of whatever they had). After the WWL blanket I feel more relaxed about colour themes and know that contrast and a bit of joyful mismatch can still look great.

I'm also thinking of how a bit of purposeful contrast dotted through might lift it - the colours seem dark to me these days (living now in the tropical edges of the country here in Sydney rather than my home town of Adelaide where I began this project; which has gloomy bitter winters). So I'm wondering if for example, I might make a purple/ pink one and lift it with some brighter pinks, or arrange a dark blue and brown one but add some turquoise for brightness.

The throw rug appeals because I'll get to slit the colours and play on a few different combinations, but also because it seems less extreme to have a blanket that can be a throw across a bed/ lap rug/ couch rug rather than a whole bed's worth. I was thinking I might keep one and give one to my mum.

Here are pictures of my blanket in progress for me. Note Michael is very excitedly holding the square he knitted over dinner to contribute. He hadn't knitted since he was about 8 but it came back pretty easily.

* As an aside: I notice more and more that I'm not a great 'finisher' - I love starting and dreaming up projects, and getting inputs from a team, but once it comes to the 'stitch it up and send it up' part it can linger for a very long time (especially if that bit is for me to do alone)! Trying to figure out what I can do to help myself get through these bits of projects so that things actually get finished as I know it's a good skill to learn, and satisfying when projects finish and get out of the craft box! Having supportive people joining in seems to help immensely.

stitched up soon

2011-01-23T09:58:00.003+11:00

Sunday morning - a good time to get on the new pushbike that I bought myself as a long overdue kind of Christmas present, and cycle over to Newtown here to pick up some coloured cotton yarn to stitch up the fourth zine. Oh and to grab a coffee, as my housemate has gone camping with the coffee plunger and the little on the stove ones leaks like crazy and makes an exceptionally foul and bitter brew.

I will use green I think, as this zine was a lot to do with growth and change, plus I want every edition to have its own colour so you can tell them apart easily. I guess when I run out of colours it will be a reminder that it's time to move on to a new project!

Old projects a go go

2011-01-22T11:07:00.006+11:00

Meririsa we must be on the same craft-cycle (surely it's like hormones where you can get in sync by hanging out?) I too am grappling with mending and the old lurking unfinished project list.

In the last week I mended a top that was just that little bit split under the arm and had been for months, made definite intentions to mend a very tricky frayed old dress, and most satisfyingly stitched the last bits of the knitted charity blanket I started seasons ago, and sewing in most of the ends. All I need to do now is sew on the tag the charity provides, and send it in to the depot. I must say it's looking rather fabulous on the couch and I am a little tempted to keep it (but wont!) just because it looks so patchy mismatched and cute.

Oh and I just printed volume 3 of my zine, and volume 4, but have only assembled #3 at this stage (it's definitely craft and it's kind of a sewing project because I use hammer, nails and coloured cotton to bind them). In fact just made a new blog to support the zine (hey, somewhat like shoes, a girl can never have too many - right? right??). It's looking plain now but will get embellished in time when I put links and pics in.

Darn it!

2011-01-20T14:36:00.001+11:00

This post will be old-hat for some experienced clothes menders, but I am just learning, as I haven't really needed to do this before.
My mother in law recently fixed up some things for us - the knees of some denim jeans that my little boy had worn through but otherwise fit him fine, plus a t-shirt of mine that I disastrously caught on something and tore the day after I bought it! Darn it!

Finished product - iron-on patch stuck on top of darning. I later hand sewed around the edges to secure the patch, which started coming off not long after it was stuck on.

A closer view of my MIL's handiwork. She kind of wove the cotton in and out in one direction, then perpendicular to it.

These jeans will fit him for a while yet, so that's hopefully a fair bit more wear he will get out of them. This has inspired me to fix up a few other things too, and now that my son is doing things like skidding on his knees on astroturf and real turf, I'm sure the skill will come in handy.

Hubby bought some new shorts and virtually the next day, a rivet that was attached to a front pocket for decoration came off and left a hole around 8mm in diameter! You just can't get quality clothes these days... Shorts instantly looked old!

To darn this small, circular hole, I just stitched around the edges like spokes on a wheel, moving around in a circle. Then I sewed one of the spare buttons over the top on the outside to hide it:

You'd never know there was a hole there!

Elastic waisted skirt

2011-01-20T14:18:00.001+11:00

Teddy is modelling it, as real wearer is having her nap.

Ali may recognise the fabric - she gave it to me a few years ago... I realised it was just enough to make my daugher a short skirt (finished, it's about 18mm long, ok for a 12-18 month old). Very snazzy fabric, and not pink too!

Was really simple and quick - cut out a width of fabric 2x her waist, and the desired length plus hem allowances. Sewed the sides together to make a tube. Pressed and sewed the bottom hem, then pressed and sewed a wider waist band, keeping an opening for elastic. Threaded elastic through, and presto! Done.

Options are endless - you could alternate panels of fabric to use up scraps.

something soft to rest on

2011-01-16T15:41:00.006+11:00

Well at Christmas time I decided to make my fella something nice for our soon to be new house. I went to Bird textiles and bought some of their Sydney-designed, hand printed fabric. Bought remnants to sew together patchwork style to make a cushion cover, using nice olive and natural colours that I thought would go with the couch and also the views from the loungeroom which features big gum trees.

What did I learn from this sewing experience, after so long not sewing? (Much like Merririsa below)

- Well, making something with patchwork strips is heaps slower than just using normal slabs of fabric. Hmm, note to self.
- Fabric is remarkable forgiving about non straight seams - everything seemed (no pun intended) to line up ok in the end despite doing it all by eye and not having everything perfectly symmetrical on the grain etc.
- It worked! Finished product looks great I reckon. (Thanks to the fabric)
- Buttons are yet to be attached, oops. Got a bit frightened off the whole button hole cutting step. Must do that this weekend.

Thanks to Miss Snapdragon for her help and technical advice.

Dusting off the sewing machine...

2011-01-10T13:10:00.000+11:00

I haven't sewn in eons, yet necessity has forced me to get the old Bernina out and sew up a fitted sheet attached to top sheet thingy for when my son as a rest/nap at his new child care centre, along with a draw-string bag to match. This sort of thing was all included at the old centre, but here you either are given a pattern and sew your own, or fork out $45 for someone to make one for you. There don't appear to be any 2nd-hand ones on offer, and I really didn't want some fabric I had at home to go to waste, so decided I'd have a go at sewing one

Of course, I ended up stuffing up things at the cutting out stage, and freaked out a little, because I thought I'd have to go and buy some fabric after all. However, my dearest better half reminded me that we had lots of old sheets (some of which belonged to a previous bed), and I realised that this was not only an economic solution, but brilliant, as it would save me having to sew 2 hems if I cut the size of sheet I needed from one corner!

So the end product? Not worth taking a photo of, with slightly ugly colour combinations and his name written neatly on the bag in fabric texter, but it's functional and should do the trick. I made a small draw-string bag as a warm up to sewing the sheet set to make sure I could still sew in a straight line (and I could!), and think I might do a few more. One can never have enough when you have kids - for all those little sets of blocks and things that don't have boxes. And I just might make some little elastic waist skirts for my daughter next, now that she is walking well (crawling with a skirt is hardly practical!). Or maybe something a little more adventurous.... I have some baby girl sundress patterns somewhere...

It feels good to be making something, AND using fabric that would otherwise be just sitting in the cupboard.

Nimble fingers

2010-12-09T21:37:00.000+11:00

I have to say I've been finding it easiest lately to knit. It's easy to pick up something and knit for a few minutes, then put it down when the inevitable interruption comes up... "Muuuuum! She's taking my cars!".... "Waaaaaaaaaa!" "Darling - what did you do to your sister?" "NOTHING!!". You get the picture.

So as I mentioned in my hot water bottle post, I joined Ravelry, and it has been nothing short of a revelation! Loads and loads of ladies (and men) around the world, knitting away, and sharing their work, patterns, their experiences interpreting the patterns, their experiences with certain yarns. There are patterns you can get for free, and there are single patterns that you can buy instead of buying a whole pattern book! An amazing model of IP (intellectual property) sharing, with just about every possibility available! It's a giant stitch and bitch group, available straight from your computer. Given I don't get to see many of the people I know who knit very often, this has accelerated my learning about knitting quite a lot, and I'm trying all sorts of new things.

Is my enthusiasm showing through enough?

One thing I'm short of though is "friends" on Ravelry. So if you're a member (it's free to join), look me up (under the user name "Meririsa") and befriend me!! I'm keen to have more people to share with.

So what have I been knitting? my first garments, for little baby girls! First this one for my little girl in cotton yarn:

...only it's HUGE on her. A lot of lessons learned about different yarn types (cotton vs wool, and different thicknesses) and needles, and getting your test patch right. But anyway, it'll fit in a year or two. I've knitted another one in wool for a dear little girl I know who is about to turn one - I just need to sew in the threads, block, and sew on daisy buttons.

Next up is a little sundress with a knitted cotton bodice and gathered fabric dress. I hope to take it to my mother in law's and finish it with her while on summer holidays! Then there's a few other projects lined up - vests and tunics for the kids for winter, fingerless mittens for presents for folk in colder climates.... I'll never be idle again!

Oh you - you're such a card!

2010-12-05T18:30:00.002+11:00

So Friday night I ran a card making workshop in the office, at the kitchen table. Around 8 of us (give or take a few visitors) settled in with beer and snacks to craft ourselves some Christmas (or Summer or end of year or other) cards. We used 220 and 250gsm card, in either brown recycled, red, white or buff recycled, along with DL sized enveloped in a lovely soft recycled brown colour.

People got cracking with reusing their year's calendars, drawing, and collaging images. We all did a 'words' focused card to break the ice and get started, and then collaged trees, then using stripes. N got busy with the fabulous stamps that A brought in, stamping up a sustainable storm with images of row houses, bikes and trees - a profusion of cards, a veritable cottage industry of cards. Others used a mix of techniques, and everyone's were wonderfully, distinctly different. It's interesting to see how given the same materials everyone was drawn to different colours, shapes and techniques, and we created such a diverse range of images.

We eventually worked up an appetite, so stopped for takeaway Indian, and then wound up over cups of tea. It was heartening to see people so attached to their creative process, so in the groove that they took bits home to keep making. T even planned to make some more while watching the cricket the next day.

well done craftsters!

and more card pictures...

2010-12-05T18:25:00.003+11:00

and lucky last card pictures...

2010-12-05T18:10:00.001+11:00

happy holiday houses

2010-11-25T08:32:00.005+11:00

I stayed a night in a lovely quirky holiday house in Brisbane a few weeks ago while up visiting family. Hayley is a friend of my mothers has a series of them that she has done up each in a different theme - she calls them Quirky Cottages and unlike a lot of places they are very kid and pet friendly - as in there are actually ducks and chooks wandering around the gardens, and there are lots of fun details that kids would love. They are not your stock standard high gloss character-less bed and breakfast with mismatched floral bed spreads. Her aesthetic which is very whimsical, a little DIY and lots of fun. She mosaics and ecah one seems to have at least some mosaic - at Lochiel where we stayed there is a whole wall underwater scene with in blues and mirror. She uses a lot of found objects and creative reuse to furnish them.
For example, the photos here are from a multicoloured boat themed house, where even the deck has been made to be pointy like the bow of a ship. These are the kids beds she has, in old row boats. I love also the colourful toys stuck to the wall as decoration. Some ideas there for kids room decorations for the parents out there, inspired me to think outside the box a bit more with decorating living spaces.

How do you wash your woollens?

2010-10-19T20:45:00.000+11:00

Just wondering, how do others wash their woollens?

I handwash using a little shampoo and tepid water, rinse a couple of times, let it drip in the laundry for a little while to get most of the water out, then air horizontally on my clothes airer.

I have a woollens setting on my front loader washing machine, but have been too scared to try it... does anyone else use their washing machine to wash woollens, and have there been any accidental feltings?

and another one...

2010-10-14T14:39:00.000+11:00

And then I thought while I'm on a roll, I should do a hot water bottle for my daughter, so they'll both have a spunky hot water bottle cover for next winter! Went with red, so thought I might try making up a pattern. I know. So did a 6 stitch x 8 row checker with 2k, 6k, 6p, 6k, 6p, 2k on the knit side, and 28p on the purl side, then switched around the knits and purls in the middle 24 stitches. I think this pattern is even OK when you start to shape the shoulder bits. Here's what I've done so far:

Knitted hot water bottle cover

2010-10-14T14:32:00.000+11:00

Not being a very experienced knitter, I've stuck to babies hats knitted on the round, the odd toy and scarves for teddies. I'd rather stick to practical, small knitting projects, and then one day, who knows, I may be able to knit myself the ultimate snuggly cardigan?

One thing that we have needed for a while is a cover for my son's hot water bottle. Because here in Sydney-town, it's not really cold enough for central heating or electric blankets, and a hot water bottle and a blanket usually suffices. But we don't love the feeling of rubber bottles in our bed. We used to use a pillow case, but that wasn't really satisfactory. Then I used the cut off leg of an old pair of my leggings that were about to die, with knots tied at either end of the tube to stop the bottle moving around inside. That always felt a little desperate to me, although my son was fine with it. I thought maybe I could just knit myself one, but I don't really have the skills to make up even such a simple pattern.

Finally, I got a Ravelry account and hunted around for a pattern. I thought Plain and Simple Hot Water Bottle Cover by Amy Pickard sounded achievable. I had to improvise, as I didn't think I had a hope in hell of finding the same yarn. I also searched around my needle stash, most of which are hand-me-downs from my friend Min, and I only had a 6.5 mm set of needles, not 6.0. But anyway, I ended up using Fuel 20 ply wool from Morris, and thought I'd suck it and see. Turns out it was perfect for the pattern.

I was a really quick knit. I would have finished it in 2 days if I didn't run out of wool and have to go back for more. This was also a good pattern to learn a new skill - yo to do button holes!

Here's the finished product, with hot water bottle inside, all finished except I need to raid my button stash and sew on 3 buttons:

spring fling with crafty fun

2010-09-24T17:30:00.001+10:00

Thought this might appeal to some:

Crafternoon with Object Gallery

When: 25 & 26 September
Time: 11am – 3pm

Where: Hyde Park North

Bring your craft project out of the closet and come along to a Crafternoon hosted by Object: Australian Centre for Craft and Design, in Hyde Park. Be inspired by some of our most exciting artists, including Denise Litchfield, members of Knitty, Gritty & Loopy, Craft Cartel and Reef Knot, as you work with your own materials. Limited materials will also be available to experiment with.

Dress-ups and birthday cakes

2010-09-07T15:28:00.000+10:00

Well in this household, June-September is party season, as a lot of kids we know have birthdays during this period.
There were 2 parties recently that required costumes - firstly, as space party, where my son dressed up as an astronaught, and my daughter an alien! Astronaught costume is a grey tracksuit, plus packaging painted white with detail and attached to a back pack to make an oxygen tank thingy, with a helmet made from paper mache moulded from a balloon. Full credit to my husband for making this costume with my son helping. Alien costume was a green dotty tutu plus shrek ears (both purchased).

Birthday cakes - again, made by my husband. One year I will muscle in and do the birthday cakes, but he has done all of my son's birthday cakes so far!! This year, he experimented with roll-out (fondant) icing, which looked really neat. I like how smoothe you can get this icing to look. The 4-year-old got a rocket, and the 1-year-old the moon:

Finally, last week, there was an Arty Party, and our son went as an art critic! Everything was sourced from our own wardrobes - black cap, skivvy, & black pants - the only thing we did was "colour in" black a pair of unused orange kid's sunglasses, and remove the lenses.

What fun!!

Activism and Rock n' Roll Craft

2010-08-14T21:12:00.007+10:00

Today I had a craft afternoon with my Dad. It's the Walk Against Warming tomorrow, so I did low-cost home-made stencils on some old pillow cases that were torn on one side and in the rag bag. the Stencils are drawn by hand and the spray paint was called "fiddly bits" from Bunnings ($3.50). They didn't even challenge me for my ID - here in South Australia you can only buy spray paints if you are over 18.

Dad did some work on a Boss SD-1 Distortion pedal for his electric guitar. He was replacing transistors, subsituting a switch and re-wiring part ofthe cicuit. This modified the sound to "give it more depth and stop the bleed through of sounds when the pedal is in the off position".

Here's some pics. Stencil cutting:
Soldering:
Ready to spray

Sew what?

2010-06-23T22:40:00.004+10:00

Well bags and skirts for one thing. Fiona Warmbath has workshops coming up in the second half of the year and I can vouch that she is a patient and skilled teacher. Check her website and click through to 'workshops'.

Inner Westie Winter Warming Workshops

2010-06-23T09:47:00.003+10:00

I think I've mentioned this women and the groovy classes/ 'playshop' sessions she runs, in my neighbourhood. Thought some of you might be interested.

Creative Flame
What do you love doing? What ignites your spirit?
How might you be light-arted?!
Spend a couple of mornings in a cosy, safe space
playing with art materials and journalling.
Create pictures to help sustain you
through the heart of winter and beyond.
Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July
10am to 1pm in Glebe
$160 inc materials
earlybird $145
for full payment by close of business tomorrow - Wednesday 23rd June

Wordflowerette
a one-off session to help kindle or rekindle your writing -
supporting your creativity to flow and flower
For beginners or experienced Art and Soulies
Wednesday 21st July
10am to 1pm in Glebe
$70

and.....bookings are open for Art and Soul Term 3:
Vitamin P
P is for Play, Pleasure, Peace, Presence, Paint, Pastels, Paper and more!
Can you allow yourself to simply Be?
and then express your Being using art materials?
Discover and rediscover the joy of creative flow.
Saturday 14th August
10am to 1pm in Glebe
$80

Wordflower
a couple of places available
in this wonderful women's ongoing writing and other creativity group.
You need to have experience and familiarity with your own creative process
and strong capacity to both give and receive positive feedback.
Wednesday mornings 18th August to 22nd September
10am to 12.30pm in Glebe
$335 or earlybird $315 (full payment by 21st July)

Art and Soul of Writing
at NSW Writers' Centre
Friday mornings 20th August to 17th September
a terrific way to begin exploring writing
or to revitalise and nourish your creative soul
see www.nswwriterscentre.org

Contact
Sally Swain
9552.6164 bus hrs weekdays
sally@artandsoul.cc
www.artandsoul.cc

Faster than a speeding bullet!

2010-06-02T11:59:00.000+10:00

My mother-in-law kindly made this Superman suit for a superhero party my son was invited to! Really quite easy - and the same pattern was used for my partner when he was a little boy!

1) Cape and Gauntlets (wrist thingys) - made from red felt, which I assume was washed first, as it was a bit thicker than normal. Red ribbon sewn around the neck of the cape, covering over the edge (if that makes sense) then sewn into a long ribbon to tie around the neck. Gauntlets = two bits of felt sandwiching a bit of interfacing, sewn around the edge (about 5mm) in straight stitch. Secured with velcro.

2) Blue skivvy purchased. Superman logo = red felt stuck on yellow felt, stuck on the skivvy with interfacing, and hand sewn around the edges in straight stitch.

3) red trackie pants - cut off to trunks and hem sewn...

4) ...worn over blue trackie pants (already had) and blue gum boots (red would have been better, but we had blue). He could have worn red socks had the party been inside.

So was this cheaper than buying a ready-made superman costume - around $35-$45? Probably just. But this is way cuter! And I think I can easily modify this to a Supergirl costume for my daughter in a few years, just by converting the trunks to a skirt! (Even though as a character, supergirl tanked, so I am told...)

Make Your Own Gift Bags

2010-04-24T19:20:00.016+10:00

On a recent trip to Melbourne I learnt how to make these cute paper gift bags. You can use old books, wrapping paper or magazines. Here are some that I made using a Richard Scarrey children's book I bought cheap from the opp shop.

Here is the how to:
* collect up these materials:

* Grab a solid box that you can use to make the shape - i.e. an old metal biscuit tin or wooden box. This will designate the shape of the bag. I'm using a wooden box big enough to hold a wine bottle.

* Cut the paper so it wraps around the box and glue (pva applied with a paint brush works well) the edges together.

* Then fold the ends together like your wrapping a present and glue.
* Pull the box out and insert a base from cardboard. I used cardboard from a cereal box.

* Fold down the top and use a hole punch to place two holes on either side of the bag.
*Thread through the braid or ribbon as handles and add a tag if you like.

Here's my finished version of a wine gift bag made from a brochure out of the mail.

necklace

2010-04-06T07:11:00.011+10:00

Mum gave me a set of stone beads (turquoise maybe?) along with cute fish clasp, ready to thread/ be made to the right length etc. So, as a very satisfying long weekend project I strung them on nylon thread with small greenish glass spacer beads, and seven spacer beads each side before the clasp to make it a little longer. Finished product is rather zippy new necklace. Yah.

Arabian Nights

2010-01-30T15:24:00.004+11:00

I got this fabric when I was finding fabric for the bag (see below). It reminds me of Moroccan tiles (not that I've been to Morocco, but I imagine it features lots of tiles like this). I decided to make a little summer nightie out of it, maybe something I could lounge around in on Saturday mornings feeling cool and cottony and leisurely languid. Sipping coffee, writing my novel, padding around in bare feet, that kind of thing.

Used satin ribbon for the straps (I almost just wrote 'handles' - that bag workshop made an impact!). Didn't have a pattern, just cut around my favourite nightie, straight into the fabric, with the fabric on the bias. Used Amberguity's overlocker for extra safe seams, and the rolled hem foot to do the hem. It ended up a little shorter than I might have liked, but other than that very happy with it. Accidentally twisted one strap in the sewing, which would be easily rectified, but for now I am just going with it (lazy aren't I?). Oh, also added a very twee little matching bow on the front to finish it off.

New Bag

2010-01-30T15:04:00.012+11:00

Went to a fun sewing workshop last weekend, in the mountains. My friend Mountainspice organised it (that is, invited me, booked us in) because we both love fabric and have grand plans for sewing but neither of us really learnt to sew or actually sew anything. She saw this advertised in the local free 'workshops a plenty' newspaper that they get up in the mountains.

We were a tad late because she picked me up from the train station and we made our way together. The workshop was held in a community centre, and the other (8 or so) women were already there and busy with their cutting and pinning when we got there. The teacher Fiona Warmbath is a dressmaker who runs regular workshops through the week, in fact most of the people there were regular attendees of her week day dressmaking classes.

We got to choose which bag to make, from 3 different designs. I went for a more 'handbag' style bag for myself, Mountainspice went for a shoulder tote style as a bookbag for her library-loving 3 year old.

I bought fabric the day before from the Fabric Store in Surry Hills, Sydney, with Miss Snapdragon's help choosing something extra groovy. I also raided my fabric suitcase (excavated from under the bed) to find cheery light coloured lining for MS's tote. Also waded through my button jar to find something large, decorative and lolly looking to finish it off.

Bag is lined with contrasting patterned fabric that you can only really see when diving in deep to find keys or other hiding things in the bag. Inside pocket got scrapped in an effort to get the bag finished in the confines of the workshop. I did end up staying after the official end time to get it done (a few people did) and I was truly exhausted after sewing for 6 hours after not having even said hello to my machine for well over a year but was super chuffed to have finished it at all, and the bag is now officially my very favourite handbag in the world. Like a kid with a macaroni necklace that's more loved than pearls, I love it extra much despite the wonky stitching and missing pocket or maybe even because of that.

scanelicious

2010-01-25T11:52:00.003+11:00

New year's project - scanning drawings and learning to play with them digitally. Have a new scanner set up and am enjoying learning to use photoshop to soften edges, delete dots and dust and eventually plan to do a short course in illustrator so I can manipulate 'vector graphics' better. I figure having them scanned in is a good start. Exciting the idea of taking the drawing (collage, whatever) as a seed and them having a whole range of new tools for making colour and texture and light. I am getting with the 21st century! (slowly)

xmas stockings

2009-12-21T20:04:00.003+11:00

Finally, we are spending a christmas at our own home, and our 3 1/2 year old is old enough to get excited about christmas. I planned to make something more intricate and beautiful than this, but in the end, there is limited time between putting the kids to bed and feeling too tired to sew... and when the 3.5 year old is awake, he is always at my elbow asking me what I'm doing and trying to press or turn knobs!
And so what we have is functional. Maybe I can embellish it in future years. A benefit of making your own is you can control the size...
Firstly I cut out a template in baking paper, and pinned it to a doubled over bit of red felt, and cut it out.
Secondly, I glued a strip of white felt over the top using craft glue, and pinned a loop of ribbon at the top of the boot.
Thirdly, I sewed around the edge, and trimmed the uneven edges.
Finally, I stuck on the christmas tree.
Voila!

What I'd do differently: I bought the felt a while ago. You could easily recycle red or green pillow cases or whatever to make these. You could do patterns with applique, which would be more sturdy than glueing on felt.

hey good looking what's cooking?

2009-12-19T15:59:00.002+11:00

Well in this instance, gingerbread cookies and pfeffernuze. Spent a few hours late Sunday making mixtures, wrapped them and popped them in the fridge, then baked early Monday. Thanks to the (half)naked chef for last minute dash to the shops for ingredients I'd forgotten, use of funky kitchen equipment and not complaining even once about coming home to biscuit factory after a day spent at work serving food.

One only just realised hazard of the 'lets bake biscuits for Christmas' caper however, is the 'gee my porridge is taking ages to cook I might just have a few biscuits for breakfast' syndrome. Give me a beard and call me Santa, as I rub my rolly poly Christmas biscuit belly.

But am I deterred? Not in the slightest. This week - Miss Ali's passionfruit butter cookies I think...

Jolly little fellow and sea horses

2009-09-01T20:56:00.005+10:00

Paintings (well oil pastels and collage) I did for Miss Astrid and Mr Ethan. Click on the image to get remarkable larger than life detail.

Note to self - oil pastels also need time to dry - not nice as a gift when sticky!!

Stitch and be-arch

2009-08-27T00:35:00.002+10:00

Pics from the second crafternoon..

-Miss Nic drawing this time
- Mango Mitzu doing stripey scarf with mixed wools, using up ends of balls, knitting lengthways with great tassles at the end
- Snap Dragon knitting a great brown wool top with funky neckline
- I think I did some mending that day - nothing glamorous

One lazy crafternoon...

2009-08-27T00:27:00.004+10:00

The girls came over for crafty fun a couple of Sunday afternoons this winter.

Here are some of the projects:

- Mango Mitzu's knitted gauntlets in hand me down acrylic rainbow yarn
- Miss Nic's refashioned summer dress featuring new adjustable fabric ring to pull sleeves in and create adjustable neckline
- My removing of sleeves and hand sewing of hem around arm holes on nice silk chiffon print dress from Vinnies

many cups of tea and much fun was had by all.

Vicariously knitting

2009-06-07T14:09:00.002+10:00

These pics taken as I walked past a nice warm looking knit-in at a shop somewhere.. um...Lower East side? in Manhattan on recent very fun trip to NY. At the time I think we were power walking our way to wards a gig, but a teensy part of me wished I could join these ladies instead for some groovy intercontinental knitting and perhaps a cup of tea.

Creative winter workshops

2009-06-07T13:47:00.002+10:00

Thought some of you might be interested in these. Sally is amazing, really patient and grounded, sets up a great space for play and remembering what's important to you. She has a background in art therapy but is also trained as a career counselor and is a practicing artist herself. Imagine her workshops would be a great way to refresh and refocus.

Treasure Maps
"Dare to dream. Care to collage. Create a picture of your heart's wishes. No art experience is necessary - just BYO (Bring Your Openness)"
Saturday morning 13th June
10am to 1pm in Glebe
$75 inc materials

Creative Flame
"What do you love doing? What ignites your spirit? How might you be light-arted?!
Spend a couple of mornings in a cosy, safe space playing with art materials and journalling. Create pictures to help sustain you through the heart of winter and beyond."
Saturday 25th and Sunday 26th July
10am to 1pm in Glebe
$150 inc materials.

Contact: Sally Swain
sally [at] artandsoul.cc
www.artandsoul.cc

Kokeshi dolls: friends for life, not just a summer or a spring...

2009-05-15T09:32:00.006+10:00

Sorry for cheesy title.

Spotted a Kokeshi doll kit in a toy shop when I was buying my nephew his birthday present, and thought it looked like a fun project. The dolls came blank, and the kit came with paint, brush, and varnish. I thought it would be a nice present for #1 child to give to #2 child when they're born.

Detail was fiddly to do with the arms stuck on - would have been better to have the wooden bits, paint them separately, then stick them on once painted. But it was a fun exercise, and they look cute!

arty craft

2009-04-29T11:40:00.002+10:00

Two exhibitions featuring textile works that people might be interested in:

Fashion Craft: Fashion Technology
Various artists
UTS Foyer

27 April - 19 May

Coinciding with the Rosemount Australian Fashion Week, Fashion Craft: Fashion Technology showcases two exhibitions that consider the relationship between craft and technology in future fashion and textile design.

Fashion Craft: Drawn Threads exhibits contemporary, collaborative works between UTS fashion and textile designers,students and members of the Embroiderers Guild of NSW.

Fashion Technology: The Rip Curl Project features the work of third-year fashion & textiles students who have created the unlikely re-production of jackets made from the off-cuts of old Rip Curl wetsuits.

Fashion Craft: Fashion Technology will be held in the UTS Tower Building, Level 4 Foyer. Broadway, Ultimo, short walk from central Station. Sydney Australia.

Forgotten Fragments
Sarah-Jane Cook
At The Vanishing Point - Contemporary Art

23 April – 3 May 2009

South Australian artist Sarah-Jane Cook unveils a body of work entitled Forgotten Fragments stemming from a collection of everyday notes and lists collected over a period of thirteen years. From the mundane to the bizarre, Cook has reconstructed and decontextualised the notes, lists, reminders, tallies, jots and messages by presenting them as embroideries on doilies, handkerchiefs and canvases in a gallery setting. Forgotten Fragments investigates the marks left by human interaction, either written or verbal and the transitory words and pictures that are no longer with us.

Drawing on personal experiences as an individual of mixed origins Cook has been drawn to investigating the day to day activities, beliefs and rituals of others around her, predominantly addressing universal notions of ethnicity and its impact on one's own sense of origin and how time and place can influence the life of an individual.

Sarah-Jane Cook graduated with Honours in Visual Art from the University of South Australia, Adelaide in 2005. She is currently undertaking an artist in residence program at Petersham Town Hall under Marrickville Council’s Local & National Artist Residency Program.

At The Vanishing Point – Contemporary Art
565 King Street Newtown NSW 2042

Both are FREE entry, all welcome.

beady little prize - part 1

2009-04-25T12:38:00.008+10:00

These beads are from 2 different multicoloured necklaces, neither of which I liked much in their entirety, but I did have a yearning for some beads in the brown register, to go with my brown boots and a few specific wintery dresses. I pulled them apart and separated out the beads I thought would be nice together.

Finished product was put together while I sat on the couch watching tellie one weeknight last week. Photo of finished product to follow.

skirting the issue

2009-04-25T12:34:00.008+10:00

This skirt is the first wearable thing I ever sewed - five bazillion years ago, with Ambiguity's help. later, I took up the hem because I wasn't sold on the length, printed on some of the leftover fabric, covered these buttons with it, and hey presto - detail. Wore it last week for the first time since the remodelling.

very bunny

2009-04-25T12:30:00.004+10:00

This little softie is the completed version of one I posted earlier while still in progress. She is a funny little bunny, with button eyes and cotton thread stitching, with recycled bed linen straight from the 1960's.

your correspondance correspondant

2009-03-26T20:35:00.006+11:00

These pics are of some writing paper I decorated for miss Alison, now that she has moved away from the Emerald City and may need to take to her writing desk and pen darling notes for people about gardens and the weather and who she saw at the local markets. Or whatever.

I started with some geometric, art deco inspired jewel coloured pages...

And then got progressively less stylish and more silly as I decided everyone needs writing paper decorated with unconventional images of classic pairs:
- cow and glass of milk
- foot and shoe
- great hairstyles of history
- sun and moon, and my fave
- beer and packet of chips

All done with pen and water colour.

Riotus fun with ribbon straw

2009-03-26T18:59:00.004+11:00

A girl at work's grandmother was cleaning out her shelves, and my friend thought that I might like this one. It's a series of patterns for nifty clutch bags and purses to make out of 'ribbon straw' (which I also know as raffia). Aint they neat? If anyone feels inspired and thinks they can use this pattern to create accessory gold, just answer this question this simple style question in comments to be in the running.

Q. Ribbon straw handbags are:
a) super cool
b) naff and scratchy to boot
c) a great opportunity for reworking old styles using funky new materials and smokin' colour combos
d) way too small for all the crap I lug around daily on my shoulder
e) baffling
f) other (please specify)

Winner to be notified within the week, and I will send said lucky reader pattern in the post. Aaah - is this the first 'making groovy things' giveaway?

I wont take it personally if no-one enters and will assume that a non-answer pertains to an answer of 'b' or 'd'.

woof woof

2009-03-26T18:51:00.003+11:00

This little felt puppet is not something I made, but thought I'd share anyway. Felted by hand in Nepal, but designed in Australia, aiming for fairish trade. One of a few enterprises doing that with Nepalese feltmakers I think. It was a present for Master Fitzk on his first birthday a couple of weeks back. Website in photo below.

Quiltelicious

2009-03-07T16:48:00.002+11:00

Just for completeness I thought I'd post pictures of the quilt that mum made out of the fabric squares I painted some while back. Nicely paded and snuggly looking I thought, and the touch of colour she added to make the pics match the backing fabric and sheets also cool. Clever quilt making mum!

Zero zero zero zero zero zero one*

2009-03-02T16:57:00.006+11:00

This creation isn't mine, it was made by my lovely Mum for my baby brother (who is modeling it). A very cool use of a cardboard box, some old air conditioning hosing. He loves it and happily put it on to show me when I was visiting at Christmas time, bless his little binary heart.

*(That was the robot song chorus from Flight of the Concords in case you missed it)

Big Softie

2009-02-13T21:59:00.010+11:00

Now that I've finished and posted this little monster in the top right(literally posted - in the actual mail), I can post this picture of it 'in progress' on here. This one was for PJ in Adelaide.

These was the first soft toyish creatures I'd ever made. In fact it required dusting off my lovely aqua sewing machine and actually sewing - something I hadn't done unassisted for years. The fabric is soft, vintage bed linen. I did eyes and mouth in satin stitch in multicoloured silk thread (not pictured - at this stage I was still thinking buttons, but decided not to for safety). The arms are knitted from superfine Italian merino. And it's stuffed with that fluffy Dacron stuff. No bits that can fall off (hopefully) and thoroughly chew proof (ditto - hopefully!). I think she's kind of cute and looks a bit like a friendly bubble flower monster.

Pics for 'zac

2009-01-26T23:26:00.002+11:00

Made these for friend's baby. They are ink and oil pastel on recycled rag water colour paper from India.

Goodbye dress - hello tunic top

2009-01-22T09:38:00.003+11:00

So I had this lined, grey, shift dress, just above the knees, that I thought would look 'smart' for work, but found I was just never ever wearing and felt like a nob any time I put it on. Decided that I loved the neckline and liked the fabric but just didn't love the overall effect - too prissy for our fairly casual office. So, with Miss Snapdragon's help (and the help of her overlocker) I transformed it into a tunic top - kind of crotch length, so that it can be worn over pants or a skirt without any fear of butt crack or knicker showing. It's still fitted, but feels less conservative than it did before. I put two little slits at the sides just to make it look more finished, and Miss SD made a rosette out of the bit we cut off the bottom. Also I ended up cutting the lining out because it was a bit funny, and the fabric has a little stretch and the lining didn't, so it's nicer to wear now.
Attached the rosette to a pin so it's removable, so that it doesn't have to go through the wash and also so I can have it plain sometimes too. Making it was fun. Taking it out on the dressmaker's dummy and taking photos was even more fun!

Knitty gritty

2008-12-01T19:33:00.005+11:00

Having family in the northern hemisphere is handy for getting knitting projects finished in time for Christmas!
Above is: a 2x2 rib scarf (still in progress, but 3x the length) for Yugo-chan (5 years), Blue stripey hat for Tomo-chan (2 and a bit), and a pom pom hat for baby-to-be (due Feb).

Coming soon - some recently completed beading projects!

Marsupials and monotremes

2008-11-16T00:32:00.006+11:00

It's winter here! It's dark at 4.30. Its quite nice to sit in on a cold afternoon with a roast in the oven, with a glass of wine nearby, and use kiddie paints to do a present for my friend who's baby is due in December.

I nicked these drawings off the internet - thanks google image search. Kind of traced/ copied the outlines - then filled then in using acrylics. Didn't really know how to make it nice and even where the colours meet, so when the paint was dry I traced over the outlines with a black texta. Its meant to look a bit comic -booky. I'm quite pleased with the bubble effect on the platy!

Recipe cards for kids

2008-11-07T12:51:00.005+11:00

I had two children's birthdays in my family a while back, both cousins, one of whom is also my Godson. Wanted to give them something that would encourage some kind of hands on activity, so bought dinosaur cookie cutters, found a good cookie recipe and painted and drew a little recipe card for him. Also bought a love heart shaped pancake ring (silicone with a funny handle for easy removal)and made a recipe card for pikelets on it for her.

Other people's craft - Public knitting

2008-10-05T11:02:00.003+11:00

Who said knitting was for the private sphere or just for the cooler climates?? This knitting was wrapped around a (palm?) tree in Cairns at the 'Kickarts' art centre. It's also known as the Centre for Contemporary Art, but when I asked a woman on the street ('where you going love, are you lost?' ... I was peering at street numbers) she said 'the what?'.. .'oh, do you mean the one with the jelly beans?' at which point I vaguely remembered that it had some colourful sculpture out front and said 'yes, I think so' and she said 'oh, that's too fancy for us, we don't call it that, we just call it the jellybean place'. Which I thought was funny. So, sharing a picture of the sculpture too (ahem actually jelly babies not jellybeans, but that's probably too fancy to draw the distinction).

Hey, Mr Spaceman - won't you please take me along for a ride?

2008-09-06T09:42:00.003+10:00

This was painted in acrylic on a 6x6 inch canvas by Mr Meririsa. Our son is into space and the moon and stars, so that determined the theme.

Cat made from knitted squares!

2008-09-06T09:32:00.002+10:00

"Andypuss" the ginger cat was a birthday present for Phoebe, who is kindly letting her 6-week-old brother "play" with the cat in this picture.

The pattern for this kitty came from "Knit a square and make a toy". Was easy to knit, not too hard to stuff and sew up. I found embroidering the face the hardest bit, because I'd never done this before, let alone with 8 ply wool onto a wonky, plain stitch knitted substrate.

X-treme craft

2008-08-11T19:49:00.004+10:00

Hi there Australians -I haven't done any craft worth mentioning here while in Amsterdam, but I thought this little dissertation of the intersection between craft / art and industrialisation might be interesting to the kraft community here. Knit on!

Umbilical Hat comin' atcher, Poppy!

2008-08-09T08:29:00.006+10:00

Newborn Hat for Poppy (modelled by a ball because teddy wasn't available)...

This pattern came from a great book called "Stitch'n Bitch - the knitter's handbook" by Debbie Stoller, knitted on the round. I used sock wool and 3mm needles, so I had to alter things a bit from the pattern.

Basically cast on as many stitches as needed to achieve the 16 inch circumference (104 for my knitting, wool and needles, but I had to knit a few rows, then undo it and start again to work that out...). Knit plain until you have a 5 inch tube.

Then I knitted my stitches into 4 groups of 26 stitches (or 8x13 stitches) divided onto double pointed needles. Then start to decrease each group of 13 by knitting together the last 2 stitches of each group - ie first row - knit 11 then knit 2 together, repeat to end of row; 2nd row - knit 10, knit 2 together, repeat... etc.

When you have about 16 or 8 stitches left, it's easier to go to just 2 needles, then knit 2 stitches together until you have 4 stitches left. Knit "umbilical cord" for about 6 inches or until you think you can tie a good knot in it. It's a bit tricky to knit such a small number of stitches on the round on double pointed needles, but it all evens out eventually. Cut off wool at end, and thread through each loop and tie thread off in knot. Sew ends into inside of cord.

You can make one without umbilical cord by just reducing stitches to 4 and tying off.

Very nice to knit, while doing other things, and my friend says knitting in the round is very good for buses, as your needles don't stick out too far!!

Three little teddies

2008-08-03T17:15:00.006+10:00

These cute little guys were actually knitted by my Grandma who used to be a very crafty lady. Not being able to see so well these days she now knits by feel and counting. After Grandma knitted the teddies my aunty sent them to me to sew up. I also put their little faces on. We have lost count of how many teddies Grandma has knitted, but armies of teddies have been knitted in the last few years. My sewing up duties have been taken over my someone geographically closer to save on teddy postage.

Ducking and weaving

2008-07-30T18:27:00.004+10:00

This is something I made at a conference I was at recently. They had a parallel session of basket weaving/textile arts - one woman had recently graduated from Charleas Darwin Uni in fine art and makes very contemporary pieces of jewellry, baskets and human and animal forms out of woven recycled plastics, yarn, sticks, washed up fishing nets etc. The other two women were Indigenous and using traditioning weaving techniques and natural fibres. This little piece I made is made from pandanas (palm) leaf, which was collected, torn using a thumb nail into strips and dyed using natural ochre and boiled in a billy can over coals by other people at the conference the day before I sat down to use them to weave with. The tricky bit was getting started - you have to make a little round bit in the middle (a bit like with crochet I think?)and then you keep making the same kind of stitch but binding on to the row before. You use a wide eyed darning type needle and need to keep the srands of fibre kind of moistened - not actually wet but just not so dry in the crackling heat of the sun that they start to break and fall apart. Filcking them with water or dipping your finger tips into a little saucer of water every so often seems to do the trick. I decided to make mine into a pendant to wear - which is why it has the little loop, to put a cord through. That was mostly because I knew that it would have taken me a whole extra day to get it to a basket size, and I didn't want a placemat. I love it a lot, and it reminds me of sitting on a tarp, under shade, next to women who I would otherwise have never met, being encouraged, seeing deft hands make short work of something that I struggled with, listening to Aboriginal languages being spoken, hearing noise in the distance and kids larking about and the smell of a fire smouldering, and not being in a talky thinky session indoors, and that ever so slight excitement of having stepped outside the bounds of everyday, and that ever so slightly shocking intimacy of sitting next to other people on the ground all trying to learn something, and the quiet talk that happens when your hands are busy.

Cardy hardy

2008-07-30T18:20:00.003+10:00

That title doesn't even make sense. Oh well. I couldn't think of any witty card puns you see. But... I have been inspired to make cards - you know, greeting cards, blank on teh inside, for farewelling and hello-ing. Pictures below are for a little run of about 5 I did. Used nice pigment ink, waterprrof, fade proof black rollerball nibbed ink pen, and then watercolour. Fine cartridge. Cut them out and glued onto textured heavier weight watercolour card.

Knittin’

2008-07-30T18:13:00.002+10:00

So last week I had the chance to go to a friend’s ‘knit in’. What is a knit in I hear you ask? Well bloody good question – I’d never been to one before and wasn’t exactly sure either. It was seven women, several bottles of good red wine, snacks, music, comfortable chairs, and sticks and thread – knitting needles, crochet hooks, wool, acrylic yarn. For close to 4 hours we sat and chatted, got to know each other (the women all knew the host but we didn’t all know each other), nibbled, drank, told stories, and laughed. I heard about pets and career changes and life changing accidents, and neighbours and travel and good boot stores. I heard snippets of conversation about the who’s who of my industry, about other knitting projects, about boyfriends left overseas, about job dreams, about lifting weights in the gym. I saw the resident cat come and hunt a ball of wool and stalk off with it, saw other things my friend has made recently, and had my first crochet lesson (I did some! 3 stitches to two, take off the second, start again... hmm, made sense at the time)… I toe tapped to George Michael and I almost finished a knitted square for the Wrap with Love project (see below – I seem obsessed with it, every second post is about my emerging blanket at the moment!). All of the squares started that night were for the blanket project – so I got to take them away at the end because I will be going near the drop off point this week anyway. Ah, because you see, this Friday at the ABC on Harris Street in the City, there is the annual ‘knit in’ of grand proportions. Starts really early I think, and you get to knit in company, or help sew up the existing squares.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my mum has joined in and posted me a parcel of amazing squares she’s knitted – lovely soft, hairy, stripy, colourful squares (her knitting is so even compared to mine, not a dropped stitch anywhere!), my housemate is knitting one on the diagonal (you know, where you increase every row until you’ve made a triangle and it’s half the size you want your square to be and then decrease every row to go back to the pointy end of the triangle at the bottom) using up the scraps of wool in stripes. I was going for a pink and green theme, and had planned to stitch it up myself and give the blanket finished to the group that organises it, but I am trying different colour combos with the extra squares that other folk have made (pics below). I’m thinking I’ll be able to sew up a blanket and have loose squares left over, which other people can use in theirs for Friday’s knit in.

Funny starting something yourself and then considering how to include other people’s contributions – am reflecting on my own control-freak tendencies, and (sure completely subjective) aesthetic boundaries. I don’t mind so much exactly what colours end up in it (fibber – I kind of do), but I want it to look nice, and cared for and not too scrappy, so that whoever ends up getting it doesn’t think it was done without thought. I had been thinking it would be nice to make it the way I’d like something to snuggle up with on a cold night – but maybe this is missing the point a bit? Maybe people who are out in the cold because of loosing their homes wont care if it doesn’t look like a ‘throw for the couch’ and instead wont even notice the colour scheme because they will be in temporary accommodation and have bigger things on their mind. This is probably obvious – but it’s easy to forget that perspective when you’re choosing wool and casting on in front of the tellie ion a warm room. Mind you, one of the squares knitted on Saturday night (by the most lovely lady) was kind of scratchy, brown flecks with a thick yellow stripe up one end, and actually a rectangle. I have tried, but don’t think I can include it in my pink and green (/blue/orange/maybe fawn) project. I’m sure though, that along with some other rusty colours, or in a completely rainbow, beautiful eclectic blanket it will look great.

Rapt with love

2008-07-16T17:32:00.003+10:00

Well my wraps with love project hasn't progressed all that far yet. So far I've done 6 squares (takes 28 to make a blanket) but I think my mum has been doing some too and will send them to me to add. Also at a conference last week a woman I know through work was talking about teaming up to do some at our 2 workplaces - an idea I like. So it might end up being more than one blanket!

The pattern is on their website (see previous post) and involves 10 inch by 10 inch squares knitted on 4mm needles, using 8ply wool/yarn. Mine are a bit shonky because I only have 4.5mm needles, so I cast on less stitches and hoped for the best. I figure as long as I finish teh whole blanket it wont matter that my squares are a wee bit stretchier than other folk's. Right?

Going for a green and pink colour theme, which I thought would be nurturing and cheery for someone cold and away from home.

Slippery snakes

2008-07-16T17:19:00.003+10:00

Aren't these lovely? My mum made them to take to my little brother's kindy as a craft project with the kids. She cut and sewed them the day before, and glued on their felt eyes and tongue (she opted out of button eyes because of the potential choke hazard). The fabric is an old yellow cotton sheet for their undersides, and a sequiny print fabric on their backs. Stuffed with the standard pillow stuffing.

She stitched them up inside out all the way around except for a small hole for little hands to fit in, took the stuffing, and the teachers and we sat with the kids and helped them stuff them. Then we hand sewed the gap while the kids went and did other things (played outside, read books). It was a lovely idea, and a nice way to hang out and see my little brother with his kindy friends. Watching the kids have snake races, dance with the snakes, and arrange the snakes in the reading corner was lovely.

Pasta almost counts as craft

2008-07-16T17:13:00.004+10:00

Truly! Made this on the weekend - fresh spinach fettuccini, using my pasta machine, which I love. Just steamed one bunch of coarsely chopped spinach, let it cool in the liquid I cooked it in, mashed some more with a hand masher, and then used the kind of soupy broth as the liquid in the pasta. At first it seems like there will be big green blobs, but as you work the dough, pass it through the rollers etc, it becomes much more evenly coloured, and gets that very exciting extra special silky fresh pasta feel. Also did some plain dough and made pumpkin ravioli, with roast pumpkin, zucchini and finely chopped and sauteed onion and garlic. Yum!

Felt hand bag for Phoebe-baby!

2008-05-31T16:36:00.006+10:00

A little girl I know turns two soon, and I was delighted to find my little felt bag in a drawer during a clean-out!

I made the body of the bag during a felting day at Ms J's house probably 2 1/2 years ago, (made of grey wool and tufts of other colours), then promptly brought it home, didn't know what to do with it (how could I stop my purse and mobile phone falling out? how would I attach a handle? etc etc), put it away and forgot about it.

Then I found it the other day, and instantly thought of Phoebe who is into hand bags, big time. Was going to go look in shops for some cord to sew on, then a flash of inspiration gave me the idea of plaiting some wool and sewing that on.

Perfect for carting about dollies or teddies, don't you think?!

Get knitting for a good cause

2008-05-23T14:22:00.005+10:00

Anybody want to make one of these? It only takes 28 squares. Just the thing for a girl with all the scarves she needs who still wants to knit ! :)

See Wrap with Love for more info.

"2" cake

2008-04-24T17:41:00.007+10:00

Volunteered to make a cake for a combined 2nd b'day party, as my son is allergic to eggs. However, in the end, he got chicken pox a day or two before and we couldn't go but I still had to make a cake (it was too late to make other arrangements). Although I had planned to make something from the Women's Weekly birthday cake book, time constraints meant I had to switch to plan B - a Vegan Chocolate mud cake (muddy but not too chocolatey and not as unhealthy as it sounds), with icing decoration.

I also wish I could say I made the icing and piped it in a piping bag, but now you can conveniently buy tubes of the stuff at the supermarket. For emergencies only - in future I'd rather make my own and save on plastic packaging. But anyway, if ever you need to make a cake a *little* bit more special than usual, this is one thing you can do...

Quilt cover

2008-04-06T17:48:00.004+10:00

OK, so not strictly a Groovy Thing, I know, but I don't get to make things too often, so this is a bit of a big deal for me. And I designed it from scratch.

Bought a child's quilt from Icki-ya, but found it was bigger than what the standard seems to be for cots in Asutralia. Decided to make a couple of covers for it myself. Nothing like the sudden chilling of night time temperatures to spurr you into action! This one is plain to make sure I could do it, but next one will have an applique design on it.

Started with sheet the same size as quilt + 5cm each side to add for quilt puffiness and seam, + an extra 2cm at the bottom end, to allow for doubling over of hem for buttons/velcro/press studs - I went with velcro this time. First, I sewed the hem at the bottom end, making it wide enough for the velcro dots. Then stuck on the velcro dots and sewed them on with crosses (you can see the reverse side on the picture above - I probably should have sewed the velcro on before folding the hem over, but I worried that I wouldn't be able to keep everything in the proper place and would end up with velcro bits that didn't meet). Then I sewed one side hem, put the quilt on top to make sure I wasn't too off with my proportions, pinned the remaining two sides, and sewed them. Voila!

Velcro dots were OK - they stuck in place well while I sewed them on with the machine. But using the machine meant that the adhesive gradually gummed up the needle. Also the added thickness made sewing difficult - it may have played with the machine tension - and my sewing was a bit messy on the underside, which unfortunately is the side you can see on the outside. May go with buttons or press studs next time, as positioning can be adjusted somewhat.

Fabric printing a go go

2008-04-02T21:07:00.002+11:00

Further to the earlier foray into t-shirts, I'm now playing with printing onto reams of fabric. This is a simple black pattern repeat on a course weave dark coral/red cotton. sPattern is pretty simple gumnuts in various sizes. I plan to do some with overlays in different colours but wanted to start with the basics.

Cute as a button

2008-03-30T20:06:00.004+11:00

Covered buttons - my new passion, such fun to make! All covered with fabric that I've hand painted/ hand printed recently. I used 25mm/1" and 30mm/1 3/16" plastic self cover buttons. The fabrics are (pink) silk, and (white) vintage cotton/linen, and the designs are done freehand or with linocuts.

quiltilicious

2008-03-26T23:13:00.005+11:00

This is a 'work in progress' post, and also a collaborative effort. A while ago I paited these animals onto fabric for my little brother- thinking prayer flags, quilt or something similar, but not being much good at sewing I passed them on to mum to do something with. Here they are after mum has added some colour (they were originally B&W with grey wash), and with the fabrics she's picked for front and back, as well as some thread for funky feature stiching of some kind. I'll post when it's finished too.

A New Tardis for my niece

2008-01-15T22:44:00.001+11:00

I bought my niece a cardboard rocket for xmas, which I assembled from a pack. It is made of recycled cardboard. Over the past few weeks I have painted and decorated it with scraps of wrapping paper and pictures from magazines.

I am sure that she will make various additions and alterations over time. Hopefully it survives that long.

knit a computer out of recycled jumpers!

2008-01-15T19:34:00.000+11:00

Or design some other funky way to reduce the impacts of computer technology on people or the planet. It's a competition.

Mr Happy's long lost cousin

2007-11-23T21:55:00.000+11:00

For my Dad's 60th birthday, we just had to take advantage of the fact that there was a family surname joke and a Mr Men vacancy that matched up.... We made a personalised T-shirt!

We sat down and tried to draw a cartoon of my Dad as a Mr Man, and in the end took the best bits of both to create the B&W version of the fella to the left, which does kind of look a bit like my Dad! We outlined it in black texta and scanned it in (hint - use the smoothest paper possible so no paper texture is scanned in too). We tidied things up on the computer's basic paint program, block coloured bits in, then added final detail such as the lines below for the ground. Lettering was added in a style most like that on the actual books. In the version that went to Dad, "Mr.Merry" is holding a glass of red wine. The picture above is a kiddy version for my son.

Bought some T-shirt transfer paper from computer store, and printed the image in reverse, then cut out and ironed onto our t-shirts! We did a test run (revamped an old t-shirt with quick graphic ironed on) but weren't very happy with how it turned after being washed, despite following instructions. Might get a special t-shirt printed professionally, but for the timebeing, many t-shirt makeovers are in store using the left over computer transfer paper!!

a bit overdue

2007-11-15T18:08:00.002+11:00

From ages back, here are another round of monster t-shirts for little ones. Hand cut stencils, printed through a screen. Am overdue to make more - oops. Sorry to any one who is waiting. I suck at being a constant producer, I only like making the protptype. I need a santa's workshop of elves to help with the printing. (Tho that would make me santa I guess, and I'm not fond of that two piece outfit)...

Postcards from the edge

2007-10-22T01:54:00.002+10:00

I LOVE YOUSE ALL.

Post modern

2007-10-20T11:16:00.001+10:00

This was a collaborative art project done in a pub over beer - aint that the best kind - with a persom in mind. When Aunty B upped sticks or downed tools or whatever the phrase is, and moved herself over the seas to live in Europe for a while, we made 'goodbye postcards' at her farewell, and have been sending them, one a week, ever since (like a farewell card in installments). I can only imagine that their fridge is now well and truly bursting with the drunken ramblings of a room full of postcard makers.
Thought others might be interested in the model - could be used for other occasions too - a baby shower (write a tip on the front of each postcard and send a card each week for teh first few months of new mother/fatherhood), new job (post them to the person who's left, things you'll miss about them) or someone sick and off work for a while needing cheering. You can buy packs of blank postcards at art shops, on nice watercolour paper, suitable for painting, drawing and pasting (mmm, pasting) and they already have the square for the stamp etc on the back. Of course you could just take a pack on your next holiday and do them solo, sketches at cafes on the Left Bank, or botanical drawings from restbreaks on your trek sent to desperately envious folks back home too, I think that's what they're designed for.

Monster mash

2007-10-20T10:56:00.001+10:00

I found instructions on the interweb for making an ipod monster cover and sent them on to a friend at work who sent them on to her teenage daughter.. who made one! Cool huh? She gave me the OK to post them here. Thanks and well done crafty gal.

Talking of handmade...

2007-09-04T08:29:00.000+10:00

Poetics of the handmade
This was an exhibition in August this year where Latin American artists “whose practices emphasise the lyrical possibilities of hand-crafted objects. Highlights ondisplay include 'an exquisitely embossed tin and aluminium skateboard by Guatamala’s Dario Escobar and a variety of painstakingly created large scale installations'.
http://www.moca.org/museum/exhibitiondetail.php?id=384
Museum of Contemporary Art, Loa Angeles, USA

Monster mash

2007-08-25T22:49:00.001+10:00

Thanks to Aunty B for this lovely little monster creation all the way from Amsterdam. He was dancing around my desk, so I thought I'd capture it on film. Inspiration maybe for those thinking of making toys.

Green Space Mural

2007-07-09T08:10:00.001+10:00

Last Friday a colleague and I ran a workshop with school children as part of a Green Fair. It was meant to educate the children from several different schools about sustainable buildings, quite a challenge when you only have 20mins per group. We got an artist to help us create a mural. Each student created their own artwork depicting something they could do to make their school or home better for the environment. Some even painted directly onto the canvas, others we took their individual work and pasted it onto the mural and then filled in the gaps in between. We cut out around the pictures to get rid of white space.

As a collaborative art project reinforcing existing knowledge it worked alright. It didn't teach them anything new though unfortunately. And it was impossible to make any links to the role of planning.

But it was nice to get my fingers dirty and do something other than stare at the computer screen.

We felt groovy

2007-07-01T10:38:00.001+10:00

This is a long overdue post of a felt making workshop that Fitzy K and I attended a few weeks back. It was at Virginia Farms at Annangrove, Sydney, a place where they run spinning, weaving, and felt making workshops throughout the year, and also sell unsprun, carded wool retail, with a small shop front or by mail order.

This particular workshop was on 'nuno felting'. Now last year when Fitz and I did our first feltmaking workshop on molded felt (ie seamless 3d constructions like bags and booties) we heard of the mysterious world of nuno felting, but actually misheard it and thought they were saying 'nano felting' which we assumed was because the processes of the fibre were all so small and not visible to the eye. Aaah. No. It's nuno.

Apparently, although this is hearsay and I stand to be corrected, the process of nuno felting is relatively recent - 'invented' as it were, at an Australian feltmaking convention back in the 90's. It involves attatching animal fibres (sheep wool, llama wool, alpacca, silk) to a finely woven fabric like silk chifffon or cotton gauze, and through the usual process of wetting and agitation of the fibres, allowing the fibres to fasten on to the underlying fabric, to 'felt' on, and therefore attach and make one textile.

It is used a lot for scarves and shawls, where patches of the underlying fabric are left exposed, and are sheer, and the felted area puckers and pulls the fabric around it, making some interesting textures. One of the benefits of this technique is that you have good structural strength supplied by the fabric underneath, and so don't have to apply such a thick layer of felt, you can do quite fine, flexible and subtle felting (yes, there is such a thing!).

This particular workshop introduced the technique of applying orbital sanders to agitate the wool fibres, simulating what you do by hand, but being much quicker. You appply the orbital sander directly to your wetted wool, and you (needless to say?) don't have sandpaper on it. Instead you attach a small swatch of rubber of some kind, like the 'rug gripper' rubber that is textured and soft and you can buy on the roll to go under large rugs. You apply the sander to one patch at a time, holding it still and not pressing down. You need to not use a sander which sucks in air to a bag though, as otherwise it will suck in water - not a good look to mix electricals and water. Otherwise it seems quite safe, the 'motor' bit of most orbital sanders is up in the handle region and the bit that touches the wet wool is inert (of course before trying at home, talk to your hardware puveyor, read the instructions, etc). Oh, and regardless, probably good to use a safety switch at the wall, just in case, we did in the workshop, the teacher was very strict about it.

The orbital sander works like magic, it does the prefelting process in a matter of seconds (as opposed to taking 10's of minutes by hand). At the end you still need to finish the felting processs by hand, by immersing in boiling water and cold water and by wringing it out and agitating teh fibres in all directions etc.

In one day of the 2 day workshop I was able to do quite a large piece, a scarf/shawl which is around 2.8 metres long and 50cm wide. I felted a soft mint/moss green onto same coloured fabric, and put busy scrolls and curlices down to contrast with the plain colours, leaving lots of fabric unfelted to show through. Fitz covered alll of her fabric, using multicoloured wool and putting swirls and lines on top, using the underlying cottton fabric for structural support, allowing for a thin, more even coverage.

The most obvious down side of using the sander for the process was probably the noise. I was still a bit seedy from earlier in the weekend and found that when there was mjore than one sander on in the room the mix of noises, along with people talking was a bit headache-inducing. I had to waer earmuffs and go out for breaks fairly regularly just to get some quiet. Also you can feel it in your hands after a while, and my memory of OHS studies reminds me that people who do a lot of jackhammering or drilling can get 'white finger', I suspect that wont happen in just doing a small piece, but if doing a lot of 'sanding' breaks are probably good for your circulation too.

Oh, and I suppose I also felt a bit like it was cheating, using a power tool to make something by hand, when felting is otherwise such a gently, hands on, tactile experience. I guess it just depends on your particular ratio of desire to engage in process vs need for output vs time available vs excitement at making finished things. And i suppose people use electric sewing machines, electric drills and saws etc alll teh time, so lots of things made by hand are helped by machines. Up to you realy, and definitely worth having both techniques up your sleeve if you want to enter the world of feltmaking :)

[Photos: First photo is Fitz's piece dry, before felting. Great colours huh?
Second photo is dry wool layed down on the fabric ready to be wet and felted.
Third photo is close up of my scarf after felting.
Fourth photo is looking down the felted scarf, still wet. When it dries the colours are much more similar.
Fifth photo is a close up of Fitz's scarf after felting.
Sixth and lucky last photo is looking down same scarf, and you can see a join, where she used a second piece of fabric to extend into a longer piece.]

Abstract expressionism for infants

2007-05-19T18:08:00.001+10:00

Entitled "Happy Mother's Day (Hiroshima Mon Amor)".

Artist: E-chan, 5th May, 2007 (aged 11 months)*
Acrylic on 5"x7" canvas; artist was aided in his choice of colours by an assistant.

*I promise we will not be bombarding this site with any more of his creations, but I thought this one was quite good!!

fabric paintings

2007-05-13T18:58:00.001+10:00

.. always sound very twee and crap, but I have had fun in recent past with painting with fabric paint and drawing with fabric pens on bits of old sheet and other frabric scraps. It gives a nice texture. Here are some on up my wall. Fabric paint has lots of solvents in it though, so you might want to do it near a nice open window. The tidy lines are done with fabric pens, which come with all sorts of nibs - including wider, calligraphy brush style, and shjort stumpy felt tip style. I have used diluted fabric paint (read - my brush washing water) to give some messy texture to the background and help with shading. Photocopies of pictures on fabric seem to work well too, because the texture gets amplified and it becomes quite grainy.

cheeky little monsters

2007-05-07T20:41:00.001+10:00

So the first textile creations to come out as inspired by the stencil art course I did a few weeks ago at PineStreet Creative Arts (Sydney) were a series of monsters singlets and tshirts for bubbas. Some I have already given and others are waiting for special birthdays which are up and coming. I am very inspired to finish the range at least, because there is a wavy armed tree man, few more ghosties, and a spotty dinasaur dragon thing that need to come off the page and be printed at least once, and a few more colour themes to be explored. I enjoyed the aqua / purple / mauve type shades, and doing sets of three with different colours in the same theme. Standard fabric paint and hand made stencils from hand drawn images.

Patchwork Coffee Table

2007-03-17T17:26:00.000+11:00

I have been thinking about this for a year when I found some fantastic origami paper at Made in Japan in Melbourne. The paper was already cut into squares making it a lot easier to work with. My other half actually made the table quite a few years ago and when we recently cut the legs off to serve as a coffee table I wanted to jazz up the top so that it didn't need a tablecloth. We stuck the paper on with PVA and then we applied four coats of floor estapol over the top.

Pictures for Cletus

2007-02-15T00:35:00.001+11:00

Shhh don't tell mermaidgrrl but I made her little fella (as yet unborn) some teensy pictures for his wall. They were done on canvas covered board, in acrylics. They are the smal ones, about 15cm by 10cm, and a bit hard to photograph well due to reflections off the shininess of the paint and vthe wacky shadows cast by the kitchen lights. In case it's hard to tell, they are nominally, a giraffe, a ladybird and a crocodile. As follows:

Mrs Frugal's t-shirts

2007-01-30T23:39:00.000+11:00

Mrs Frugal is part of my attempt to become financially savvy. A strict savings regime has left me with little spare money to spend on my wardrobe. A big hole in my wardrobe was just simple groovy t-shirts.
Rummaging through my suitcases of old clothes that I don’t wear in an attempt to find something I might wear again I found a few things that might serve well as motifs on a t-shirt. The t-shirts I attached them to were all around $10.

The aeroplane came from a hawaiian shirt. I cut it out and overlocked the edges before hemming them so that I had a reasonably straight rectangle to work with. I used a couple of rows of zig zag criss crossing each other to attach it while gently stretching the t shirt fabric as I sewed. It was a bit tricky putting non stretchy onto stretchy, but a few rows of zig zag seem to have sorted it out. I think it is important to stretch but not over stretch the stretchy fabric as you sew.

The black and white spiral thing was from another t-shirt that I really liked, but was just too short for me. As it was stretchy fabric no over-locking or hemming needed of the edges. It just went straight on, again with a few rows of zig zag. It was much easier.

The design on the brown singlet came from a old Miller shirt that I loved. I called them picture shirts, but I don't know their real name. After much time choosing the right bit to cut out I ironed on some interfacing in an attempt to stop it fraying. It has still frayed a bit, but seems to have stopped at just the right point of looking trendy. The interfacing made it a bit stiff, but I think it is better than fraying away to nothing.
Sewing non stretchy onto stretchy was a bit easier in this vertical shape as not much of the motif was going across to stretch. The 2 little buttons were Miss J's idea. They came from the Miller shirt and seem to set it off quite nicely.

For all t-shirts it was very important to have someone pin the motif in place while you have the t-shirt on as body parts can skew and shape things differently.

twitchy fingers

2006-11-11T23:54:00.001+11:00

These are not a creation of mine, but have been hand made in Nepal. I found whole tubs of them at Spittalfields Markets in London and had to buy some for my niece. They are finger puppets and there were all sorts of characters...thought they were quite good to encourage interaction and imagination.

Scarf by Miss J

2006-11-02T23:14:00.000+11:00

This birthday scarf was a labour of love by Miss J for Merry Risa. Its hand knitted, with beautiful free style beading on the front, and lined with crimson lace on the back. Behold, the tiny stitches and general neatness of the lining!

eating roasted corn

2006-08-18T05:58:00.000+10:00

lo lo.
here are some I made earlier. T-shirts that is. Before I almost passed out from overexposure to statistics.

here's how to make 3 pound shirts not look 3 pounds:
1. take shirts home to australia to use mum's sewing machine.
2. use said sewing machine to take in the shirts along the sides and sleeves for that snug fitting look. (Tip 1: don't use pen to mark up seams as this will run and stain when the weather gets warm)
3. doodle some design when you are in transit from sydney to london. I also copied some gift wrap for another design.
4. when arrived in london and over getlag get a fabric marker and draw straight onto the t-shirt, you can use a ruler if you like or just draw free-hand.
5. once ink is dry, wear and look fabulous and thank everyone for the compliments.

M

Felt making a go go

2006-08-17T19:35:00.001+10:00

A felt making workshop held at work very excitingly resulted in the following beautiful things... Yah!
See also the work in progress.

Knit in for Timor

2006-06-27T16:43:00.000+10:00

A local Blue Mountains group does ongoing fundraising to support programs in East Timor for women and children. The next event is a knit-in to make jumpers or blanket squares.

Why knit for a tropical country?? Hato Bulico, the region that the Blue Mountais has formed a relationship with, is high in the mountains at around 2,400m. And so like us, they get cold!

What if you can't knit? You can donate wool to Blue Mountains libraries or Council offices. Or you can send it to me and I will take it along to the knit-in. Yarn must be at least 8 ply, and at least 60% wool.

When? Saturday 30th July 11am-3pm
Where? Carrington Hotel Ballroom, Katoomba (the big old glamorous white hotel on the main street right near the train station)

Bring your own needles and wool. Bring some money for a pot of tea or a glass of bubbly. It should be a great afternoon!

Sewing Jag

2006-05-20T17:35:00.001+10:00

Not sure if this counts as crafty but....
I made this skirt for my neighbour to wear to a wedding. It's dupion silk that I found for $10 a metre at the new Spotlight near us. It even has a train! She couldn't find anything that she liked in the shops that suited her personality, so we ended up going for a Victoriana type of style with the outfit.

Underneath the skirt is a petticoat made of poplin with two tiers of recycled tulle from an old tutu to hold the back out.

She bought the blouse from Sp*rtsgirl, which surprised since I thought Sp*rtsgirl was daggy, but apparently is now considered quite groovy by the kids.

I liked the skirt so much I made another one for myself out of embroidered satin. Who knows where the hell I'll wear it, but I'll find something! I'm even hand stitching the hem. My mother would be so proud! The colour is nicer than it looks in the photo and it looks kind of Spanish.

My next plan is to sew my own bras. They're a total rip off and I'd rather pay the money for the book about how to make them myself and have nursing bras made out of hot pink sequined lace with marabou trim than fork out 100s of dollars for beige nanna brassieres. If one is going to have cracked nipples, then they should at least be wrapped up in something glamorous to take the sting out of it.

Wardrobe refashion 06

2006-05-17T17:44:00.000+10:00

Wardrobe refashion is a blog project I came across to recycle/renovate ones wardrobe or handcraft your own clothes. If you are keen you can take the pledge to abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 / 4 / 6 months. If I had a sewing machine I would consider it - my wardrobe definitely needs renovating!

Book plates & quilty squares

2006-05-01T23:09:00.000+10:00

Made some bookplates for a little fella in my life. Stuck them in some birthday books. Here is one, the other one has a spotty alien reading a book - as you do!

Also did a series of animals on squares of fabric for a quilt / wall hanging. Here is one of the test pieces that I kept for myself.

get ready to knit...

2006-02-06T12:07:00.000+11:00

"the hand knitted Elvis wig pattern is here and FREE.
Brainchild of artist and Shed head Simon Thackray, the
knitted Elvis wig was specially designed by Sirdar to
coincide with the world's first North Yorkshire Elvis
Bus Tour."
see the site.

if you don't know how to knit & want to learn see UK Knitting
where you can also find accounts of the health benefits of knitting (& other handi-crafts)

&/or find your local 'stitch'n'bitch' group

There will also be a swap!knit!darn! workshop as a
part of ChangeX'06 in March which will be at Pine st.
gallery this year- this session is a bit of fun for
people with and without handi-craft skill; for more
info reply to me, or keep checking here
- there should be something up soon.

[Text C/O nita]

Making Nappies

2006-02-01T01:38:00.000+11:00

I know this is somewhat premature, but we are definitely going to use cloth nappies for our bub so I've been sewing some in anticipation! A newborn needs at least 2 dozen nappies, so I figure if I start now then I'll have plenty of time to get all the newborn and infant sizes done. I'm going to be making covers and pocket nappies too, but I've started with prefolds. This means that the nappy is sewed in a square with many layers of padding down the centre for extra absorbancy. Remember how when we were young all those nappies were white towelling? Well that's so 70's man - things are way cooler now. I bought several metres of 100% flannel in groovy colours from Spotlight for $2 a metre on sale, and five colours of microfleece (for wraps and pocket nappies and liners) for $60 in total. This should be enough to keep our baby in not only functional but also incredibly cool and groovy nappies for a year. Considering it would normally cost $100's - if not $1000's - for disposables for that time frame, plus the environmental impact this is a bargain people!

This is the inside of the nappy. The centre panel is 6 layers of flannel which is stitched onto a single layer of flannel before putting on the coloured flannel outside layers. My overlocker isn't working, so I sewed the whole lot inside out, turned it and top stitched with some fancy zig zag. When my overlocker is fixed I'll be able to just sandwich the layers and go around the outside which should take about 1/4 of the time. Although it didn't take me long - I made 4 entire nappies within 2 hours tonight and it was my first time.

These are the four finished nappies. So groovy! These are newborn size and are teensy tiny. They have to be washed with detergent about 5 times in hot water before use to make them properly absorbant. I'm going to wait until I finish them all and do them all at once to save water.

This is teddy modelling the finished result. I didn't have any nappy pins so I just used dressmaking pins to hold it on! Once baby has outgrown these I can use them as stuffing in pocket nappies, which are my next project. These are made of polar fleece in two layers, and inbetween the layers you stuff them with absorbant material. They have velcro or snap closures and elasticised legs, so they look like the disposables do in terms of "easy to apply" but great for babies skin and the environment. Here are some links about making cloth nappies and where they can be bought by WAHM's (work at home mums).

Bubba Earth is an Australian site that sells patterns and materials for making nappies.

Bits For Bots is run by a Queensland mum who makes all different kinds of nappies for sale. If you look at the fleece pocket nappies, they're what I'm going to make once I finish the prefolds. But with applique on the bum!

The Diaper Hyena is a great resource for using cloth nappies. Lots of links to free patterns and tutorials and good pictures showing how to use all the different combos of cloth nappies.

Darlings Downunder is another business site with some gorgeous nappies for sale. I think the rainbow colours on the Totbot fitted cloth nappies are divine and would make a great gift to someone using cloth.

Nappycino has great discussion boards for any questions and lots of sewing info on all the different styles.

I know this was kind of long-winded, but I'm very excited about cloth nappies! The general consensus amongst the public is that they're hard work and icky, when they're quite the opposite. The development of fabrics like microfibre and polar fleece means the babies skin stays 100% dry in cloth nappies and they so adaptable and cheap. I think it's sad that not a single woman that I work with uses cloth nappies, so I'll be making sure to take in all my sewing to show it off and inspire trying cloth instead of disposables.

Ugly Dolls

2006-01-25T15:26:00.001+11:00

Now I didn't make this.... but I'm going to and that's what matters! It's become very fashionable in lesbo-land to make ugly dolls for the kiddlywinks. Perhaps a reaction to those trollopy Bratz whores? But instead of using commercially purchased felt which is horrid, gals and guys are going to their local op-shop, buying something made of pure wool and putting it on the hot wash to make quality recycled wool felt and then adding their own bits and pieces. Fabbo! Click on the pic for the website of the dude that's selling them, and go to the shop to see the full range for ideas. I know that we'll be banning crappy battery powered toys made in China for our kid, but will be heartily encouraging anything along these lines.