My Bloody Valentine

Craftworld is probably going to dismiss me dishonourably for writing this - but I really do NOT care for Valentine's Day at all. The craft-blogging universe is full of hearts this and pink that. A difficult time of year for me. So I would like to point out that the following project is NOT a Valentine's project. But hey - if you want a heart display for your Valentine's decor, then be my guest. It fits the description...

 

This is something I had been meaning to make for a long time. You see, I tidied up my wardrobe last autumn and threw out lots of wire hangers. Except I held on to them, to make wreaths with them. (I made a nice bauble wreath before Christmas, alas, I was not active on Craft-Werk at the time, so that'll only see the light of blogworld next December...) And then my friend-in-blogdom Jutta of Organized-living-solutions posted this darling little heart wreath of hers a couple of weeks ago. Combined with the recent crocheting craze that I have been going through, I had the perfect project cut out for me.

And this is how made my ruffled heart wreath:

You need a wire hanger and some fabric. I happened to find a looooong off-cut from some silvery curtain material in my stash. I think I cut that off when I covered a lampshade with that, yonks ago... Anyway, you want a two-meter long and about 10 cm wide piece of fabric for this.

Fold in half lengthwise and just sew together, creating a long tube.

Now comes the fun part: Turn the tube inside out.

Next bend your wire hanger into shape. This is best done while the wire has not been untangled at the top. Simply pull down the straight bit in the middle, smooth out the bumps at the side and then push down the hanger top to create the dip of the heart. You might find it easier to do that lying the hanger flat on a table top.

Undo the two wires from each other to open up the heart.

Thread the fabric tube onto the wire.

Presto, here is your undecorated but already ruffly heart-shaped wreath:

I decided to add a bit of colour. My crochet flowers had to be incorporated somewhere. After sewing brooch needles on the back of the flowers, I then simply attached them to the fabric.

Word of advice: the lighter your decor in weight, the easier to arrange on the heart. My crochet flowers kept pointing downwards with the gravity. I eventually fixed that by keeping them in place with some cheap pearl earrings - they actually make the flowers look even better than without them.

The great thing is, the wreath itself is pretty neutral - so I can redecorate this any time of year - with some sparkly stuff for Christmas, some punchy flowers in spring time and some fluttering butterflies in summer. Maybe paper deco works best here as heavy items will drag the ruffle fabric down... the crochet flowers are about as much as it will take.

 

I am hanging the wreath on the drawing room door - as I haven't got a useable front door, this is the first door in my own living space that my visitors see. I welcome them with an open heart ;-)

Best,




PS: Linking to Blog Link Party @ Somewhat Simple Transformation Thursday @ Shabby Creek Cottage

Oriental Bling

So this is how I spent my Sunday afternoon:

No, not lounging on the sofa in front of a cozy fire. I was a busy bee and sewed the cushions that are just visible there on the couch. This had been made necessary by the fact that my previous cushion project had become not only threadbare but cat-flea infested. Arrrrgh. So out with the old and in with the new.

On my post-Christmas shopping spree last year I snapped up six Ikea cushions at € 0.50 each. They are 35 x 35 cm in size, and since I had six of them, they called for a coordinated effort. Ahem.

A look in my much ignored fabric stash brought out a large piece of fabric that a friend had brought back from China for me. I cut the fabric to size, ironed it and then set to it with my sewing machine. Incidentally I found the reverse of the fabric nicer and more fitting with the rather orangy red of my sofa, so I made four of them and two of the actual fabric front. The cushion case is removable, so it can be thrown in the wash if the cats get too familiar with them, again.





With my recent Ikea bargain - the golden tray table - it looks as if I have a bit of an Oriental thing going on in my drawing room now:

I think this calls for a pillow fight, actually...

Best,

Linking to: Transformation Thursday @ Shabby Chic Cottage

Spring into Skirts

Why hello, tonight I am writing from my iPhone rather than my computer, just because I am so flippin' pleased that I can't leave my latest creative creation. I have been skirting again...

My love affair with skirts began, which was rather late for me,
Between the end of the Chatterley ban,
And 1963.

Eh, no, that's actually quoting from my second favourite poem by my favourite poet, the wonderfully laconic Philip Larkin (name of the poem: Annus Miserabilis, check it out!). My love affair began - late, admittedly - about four years ago. At the time I had lost a whole lot of weight and I suddenly discovered that maybe I wouldn't cut such a ridiculous figure in a skirt anymore... The first skirt that I bought was a tame, grey, sporty number. Lots of pockets and zips and details.

Oh dear, an iPhone photo again. Sorry, very grainy...

Sadly, I never wore the skirt that much. It was just before leggings made their big comeback, and I was just not a very "tight" girl... But I wore it occasionally, then less frequently, and for the last two years I think it just sat sadly in my wardrobe.

Until I came across it today. I had it in my hands to add it to the bag of charity clothes which is about to get another boost thanks to spring cleaning. And then a wave of nostalgia hit me and I felt that I should give poor little skirtie another try.

I quickly put my finger on the reason why I haven't been wearing it for so long: it is too long. It looks like a weird mix of old-fashioned mid-calf length and trendy side-pocket-style. But I decided that the trouser heroine aka moi was going to apply her clothes-saving magic to a skirt for a change. Tada! So out came the scissors and scrupulessly I cut of a good hand's width at the bottom.

Here it is, shortened but not yet hemmed. I managed to cut off the bottom rather neatly and slightly rounded. However, because there are side pockets that reach down all the way to the knee, I couldn't cut it too short.

I actually even went to the lengths of removing this little badge from the cut-off bit with the intention of sewing it back onto the skirt somewhere. The little tool here in the picture is actually my favourite sewing implement: the seam unpicker is a great little thing that I couldn't live without!!!

Anyway, I turned the skirt inside out, pinned the hem up and then sewed around the skirt twice to get the kind of typical, rustiv "denim-y" seam at the bottom. It was actually not that difficult.

And here is the finished item - sorry, not modelled by anyone, since yours truly is home alone and does not have anyone to take pictures of her *awwww*.

I am actually mega-pleased with my re-used skirt. It nearly was thrown out - but now it'll get a new lease of life. And I don't have to spend money on clothes (but can spend it on photo equipment, *yay*)

Best,





- Posted on Tour, using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Campers

I have just packed up my tent for the winter. Yes. Outdoor season has officially ended this weekend. At least the season for sleeping outdoors (every other outdoor activity you can pretty much do any time of year in Ireland - this poor deprived country only has one season all year 'round, anyway.) My end of season marker is the great big open air music festival Electric Picnic which is on in the Irish sticks on a country estate in the Irish countryside the first weekend of September every year. It's a weekend of music, music, music, some art and literature, and camping. (Oh, and some MAJOR drinking for most the revellers there. Yours truly would love to, but is a responsible parent, so doesn't.)

You may remember that I mentioned the festival the other day when I showed you my rock chic outfit. It has become one if my favourite garments which I wear even when not at a festival. Hey, that's because life rocks, anyway. Especially now that it has been washed a good few times and the hem is nicely frayed. So I must say, it really rocked. Here is the reminder (right):
There were plenty of faded denim skirts out there. But none in combination with cute polka dotted wellies ;-). At some point a woman approached me and said "Hey, we are wellie twins!" Ha, wellie quintuplets, more like - I saw at least three other girls with the same wellies, but I did not have the heart to tell your woman after I had already shocked her by saying we were wellie cheapskates - considering that they were bought for € 20 at an Irish chainstore.

Anyhow, you have to bear with me today, I am still in full swing - literally - after the musical delights of the festival. I have been dancing the morning away. No kidding, dusting off the old hips in my study and rocking away to Foster the People's "Call it what you want". Click the vid and get an instant boost of energy and good mood!)



Bear with me, I am recording this for posterity. Skip the red part if you couldn't be bothered with this music stuff. We watched 22 shows. I measure their success in a) how much I danced and b) how much I remember of the gig at all. So in order:
  

• Sinead O'Connor (grande dame of Irish rock - bit lame, actually)
• Foster the People (full tent and some serious rocking go on)
• Santigold (nice soulfull voice, but didn't quite hold my attention)
• PJ Harvey (can only remember her odd headpiece and the rain. Gig can't have been outstanding)
• Interpol (rain. Some dancing. I guess I was only just getting into it)
• Bitches with Wolves (prize for the worst stage outfits - all of them. music was actually not bad)
• Codes (ehm, no recollection, sorry guys)
• Undertones (classic punk, really well done even without Feargal Sharkey)
• Jape (hands of fire got me dancing)
• Lykke Li (hm, lame - must be the stage: main stage is outside, not much of a spark)
• Death in Vegas (rrrrrrrrrrrocked!! Serious dancing going on. Even converted the GG)
• Arcade Fire (good show - but that almost distracted from the music, so not the full marks from me)
• Trentemöller (like him better when not live - the singers were not my thing... good dancing, though)
• Chemical Bros (punctuality, guys! great gig, but again the outdoor thing doesn't work for me)
• The Minutes (ehm???)
• Oh Land (just 15 minutes of this Danish band, nice, smooth, but banal sound)
• Gemma Hayes (my surprise gig - really good, some swinging along, have to check her)
• James Vincent McMorrow (packed tent, we stayed outside. as good as expected, some seriously off-key background singer though)
• The Japanese Popstars (yay - fantastic, would love to see these guys playing a smaller venue, dance central!!)
• Big Audio Dynamite (surprisingly good - even without much previous knowledge)
• The Drums (didn't really spark for me - maybe because we stayed outside the tent and I was freezing)
• White Lies (my top gig of the weekend - unexpectedly. Their rendition of Death had the packed out tent dancing and jumping in unison. a seminal gig? certainly for me!)

Will she ever get to the craft bit? Yes, she will now. My point of all this preliminary talk (apart from looooooooooving to see my own writing *hahaha*) is, that there was camping involved in the weekend. And at the beginning of the summer I sewed some handy sheetbags (guys, no joking here, I have heard them all before, really! I AM familiar with Irish slang and foreign accents...). Ok, I know, camping season has just finished - unless you are in the Southern Hemisphere. Any readers in Australia? New Zealand? Well, Fiji, anyone? Ok, maybe you don't need sheetbags there, considering the climate... But here we go, this is it:

I started off with a kingsize duvet cover.

I measured it carefully and then cut it into three parts.

Well, obviously not carefully enough, because I was unfortunately left with one rather narrow strip of material that was too small even for a skinny ten-year-old.

I took one of the strips and laid it out on a flat surface. The fact that it was one of the side bits of the duvet cover meant, I only had to sew down one side of the material to create a sheet bag.

To determine the size of the pillow I used a regular pillow case as a pattern and cut along it across one half of the material strip, leaving an inch extra for hemming in.

I first hemmed what was going to be the opening of the pillow case. Then I sewed the pillow case onto the back of the sheet.

Next I sewed another hem along the blankety bit of the sheetbag.

Lastly, I made the sheetbag by sewing down along the long side, leaving a bit of a slit at the top so that you can fold it down and wriggle yourself into the sheetbag.




These instructions are not very detailed, I know, but it is all rather self-explanatory and logical once you make this. We put them to the test on our summer holiday in the South of France - and they worked beautifully. The pillows were snug in the casing of the sheetbag and the bag itself big enough to hold an average sized adult. Apparently I have no evidence that I ever finished this project - no images do exist. And the sheetbags have already been stored away with the tents. So you'll have to do without it and believe me.

Best,

Rock Chic(k)

Festival season is upon us! I love the summer with all its outdoor events. The highlight of my festival season is always Ireland's "Electric Picnic", a so-called "boutique music festival" that has grown to such size over the years that it is not so "boutique" anymore. This year will be the fourth time in a row that I am attending it - tent and sleeping bags in tow - revelling in music from the likes of Arcade Fire, Pulp, The Chemical Bros, Mogwai, Death in Vegas, Big Audio Dynamite and and and...

I am so much looking forward to it all, that I am already in the middle of preparing for it. Yesterday I sewed myself my "Ready to Rock-Rock" - (sorry, the pun is only funny for anyone who can speak German. "Rock" is the German word for "skirt").

Right, I admit, it's not new. It is old. It is made from an old pair of denims of mine that have been sitting at the bottom of my wardrobe for the past two years after a worn-through patch made them too embarrassing to wear. But they are just the right kind of worn, washed out denims to be worn at a festival where you might end up in a mud-bath, anyway.

So I took the scissors to my jeans and cut off the legs at knee-height. Instead of discarding the cut offs, I cut them open at the seams. Likewise, I cut the top half of the jeans open at the seams, carefully cutting out the seam nearly all the way up to the zip.

Then I placed a piece of denim from the off-cuts into the open triangle under the bit that is to become the skirt. The length will be adjusted later.

I held the pieces together with pins. And sewed the bits together with a double seam.

Here is the preliminary result before cutting the hem of the skirt properly.

And here it is all cut at the right length. I actually decided to leave it unhemmed and go for the rugged, raggy look with bits of cotton thread eventually hanging down.

If you want slightly more detailed instructions, you can also look at my tutorial for a similar skirt I sewed some time last year. 

So I am now kitted out for Electric Picnic 2011. A skirt ready to be discarded on site, if dirty necessary. Can't wait to put my dotty wellies on!

 

Ready to rock!

Best,

Skirting the Issue

Why, hello! Let me skirt the issue today. Here is a little crafty thing I did - and which I had been meaning to do for ages. I have lately discovered skirts. For a long time I never wore any. My confirmation way back in 1852 1984 was probably the last time I was seen in a skirt. Ah, no, actually, it wasn't - I wore an unbelievable pleated affair to the then current boyfriend's fraternity do. (Not sure what to be more disgusted about - the frumpy skirt or the absolutely inacceptable fraternity sh*t that I put up with...) Anyhow, it's taken me yeeeeears - and several kilos of shed weight - to dare don a skirt. And now I quite like them. So much so, that I took my scissors to a pair of old trousers and made the snip.

They are not the hippest thing anymore, but you'll remember these skirts that looked like they had been fashioned from a pair of trousers. Well, they were. To get the right length of skirt, I placed my favourite shop-bought skirt on top of the trousers and then cut the legs off the trousers, leaving some extra material for the hem. The cut off bits I put aside.

Then I took the scissors to the top bit of the trousers, carefully cutting open the seams in the middle, all the way along the seam, right over the crotch.

Back to the cut off legs. I cut those along the side seams, too, receiving 2 separate pieces of material per leg. Then I placed one of those pieces inside, under the front of the top trouser bit and pinned it in place. Make sure you get it all smooth and right. (It probably would have helped if I had ironed the trousers before starting this project - the pictures would have looked better, too...)


For the next step I did not take a picture - having everything pinned into place, I sewed the skirt together. To give my skirt a bit of a jeans-y kind of look, I used thread in a contrasting colour and sewed a double seam. Bingo.









So, that is it - a new skirt from an old pair of trousers. Dead easy, took about an hour in all. And I am a fluky seamstress - but no pattern needed. Now, it's obviously not the chicest of garments, but it's alright.

Best,

Flower Power

Yeah, I am aware it is autumn and not spring. But a little flower enhances the dullest of seasons and the greyest of baskets, ey? Making them is the easiest of things. Do you want a tutorial? Ha! Resistance futile! You're gonna get one, anyway...

Easy as 1 - 2 - 3: Cut out some petal shapes. They don't need to be regular - mother nature is pretty irregular, too.

Stitch together.

Use different colour felt for a centre of the flower - I used some grey scraps from yesterday's felt basket to coordinate, just simply stitching it on with red thread.

Or make it even easier by using a button as the centre.











Yep, you've guessed it - I couldn't resist and made another felt basket. This time in brown, with felt left over from my retro cushion.

I think I may make more felt baskets with flowers. They might come in handy as Christmas pressies for assorted family members.

Best,