craft gone wrong - part 2

these gems are taken from "crochet techniques & projects - a sunset book" by lane publishing company 1975. i don't really know what to say about this, other than i am quite dumbfounded.
what on earth? who in their right mind? why?

t-shirt hat

this is a quick craft to make from a t-shirt that has gotten too small - i used a size 5T for mine. cut off the bottom of the shirt, from armpit to armpit. you can use the top part and sleeves to make tassels. gather the top edge with a running stitch, cinch and sew together. use a button-making kit to make a button covered in a remnant of the same t-shirt fabric. fold over the bottom edge of the shirt and sew into place, leaving a small opening to insert a wide elastic band. done!

meow

it is remarkable how many stray socks you end with in a family of four. here's a fun way to recycle them: cut off the feet so you end up with a cylindrical piece of knit. do a small up-and-down stitch all around the unfinished edge. cinch the whole thing together & secure with a few more stitches. fill the sock up with rice. more rice = fatter cat. flatten the top of the sock and close with a simple stitch. to mark the ears, do a little up and down stitch on either side. hot glue two buttons on the face and stitch 2 pieces of twine underneath the eyes. done!

these cats were inspired by my favorite cartoon cat character totoro.

off the chain

i've always liked the hip hop culture's appropriation of the classic chain necklace. i love how they exaggerated scale and size of what was originally one of the most bourgeois items of jewelry. so i thought it wold be fun to make a textile version. i took short lengths of heavy-duty nylon rope - the kind you buy at home-depot or lowe's - and glued them into a loop using a glue gun. i then taped some heavy-duty tape around the seam for extra strength. then I wrapped half inch wide strips of a gold colored silk around this loop, again securing with a glue gun. this makes the first link of the chain. for the additional links, repeat the process, but make sure you "link" them together before gluing.

cold weather fashion

here's a fashion accessory i would love to bring back: the muff, preferably in fur, lined with heavy satin and finished with ribbons and tassels. utterly useless these days, since we mostly do require the use of at least one hand when outdoors. still, it lends such an elegant silhouette as these examples illustrate.

pillow talk

last year, i bought a large lot of half-finished embroidery projects at the flea market. i love incorporating these into various craft/sewing projects. last night, i went through the entire stash and found this gem. i assumed this was meant to be a pillow cover, possibly a placemat. i love pillows with witty quotes and this one takes the cake. in addition, it seems this is an entirely home-made project (not from a kit) which makes it even more precious.

peter pan collar

peter pan collars are so gamine: they remind me of audrey hepburn, prim and proper uniforms, french couture, vintage sewing notions (a favorite ebay-search of mine).... i could go on. this linen red-white checkerboard collar was a flea market find. i sewed on the mother of pearl buttons for extra weight and attached the shoelaces, also weighted down with buttons, for closure.

blue and white

for pure inspiration: this wonderful blue and white pottery from ebay. a great and affordable way to set a mix-and-match table.

happy valentine's day!

viking style

it's probably the ice and snow we're surrounded with right now, but i'm really feeling a primal approach to fashion: fur and metals. viking style! louise is wearing a vintage silver fur stole and a flea market chainmail necklace with hundreds of spiky talons.

the holy grail of cat books

you know how every design aficionado is pining for a copy of "i married adventure" by osa johnson? well, this is the cat lover's equivalent. "walter chandoha's book of kittens and cats" was first published in 1963 by random house, and quickly became a classic in the field of animal photography. the black-and-white photography is simple, unpretentious, and absolutely delightful. a must for any cat lover! although apparently long out of print, i was able to score a copy for $2 at a brooklyn yard sale, money well spent.

tassel necklace

it seems i wasn't quite done with my tassel obsession yet. i have now started making mini-tassels from an old striped t-shirt, its fabric was very stretchy which made the tassels curl up like little blossoms. i added them to a wooden bead necklace, another lei variation.
ps: the top that serves as a background is by joe fresh.... love that joe fresh!

craft gone wrong

over the years, i have collected many vintage craft books and magazines and i have found a treasure trove of inspiration in them. but every once in a while, things take a turn down a weird and bizarre road. introducing a new segment on this blog: craft gone wrong... see example below from "macramé accessories" by dona z. meilach (1972, crown publishers, inc.). i mean: i know it was the seventies, but really?

scrap bracelets

these are so easy to make, and look best when worn in multiples: take a 1 inch-wide scrap strip of textile (a thin silk or cotton works best), twist it onto itself and run a zigzag stitch over it with the sewing machine. fold over one end into a loop and secure with a waxed jute twine. keep wrapping that same twine over the bracelet, and over a short length of bathroom chain (place twine between each ball of the chain). when you get to the other end, string a glass bead on twine and secure tightly. done!

textile lei

yes, i know it's not summer, and i'm not living in hawaii (wishful thinking). but there was a segment on cbs sunday morning last weekend about the making of flower leis. i got inspired and made one from textile scraps instead: more permanent and affordable, though less fragrant. very easy to do: make a bead necklace - mine are vintage wooden girl scout beads - and tie little textile strips in between with a single knot. simple cotton quilt fabrics seem to work well, i left the selvedge on the strips as i loved the little touch of white at the edges.

moorish costume

as i was cleaning out some closets recently, i came across a portfolio from my art school days: a study of the moorish costume in sketches and tea-stained collages with stamps, postcards and maps. with a shock i realized this was made 25 years ago, yikes... i often wonder what it would be like to go back to school and take the exact same classes again now.

more doilies

a doily (or doilie) is an ornamental mat, originally the name of a fabric made by doiley, a 17th century london draper. doily earlier meant "genteel, affordable woolens", evidently from the same source. this according to wikipedia. doilies are also among the most useless of decorative objects. but no more! i spent a weekend pinning a bunch of doilies onto a hanes boys' undershirt ($9.99 for a pack of 5), and then stitching them on by hand. louise is modeling.

bib necklace

it's time to bring some bling to this dreary weather: gather a bunch of decorative stuff that is more or less in the same color family: chains, buttons, pendants, earrings that have lost their mate, sequins, rhinestones..... cut two pieces of fabric (a heavier ground works best) in a u-shape and stitch them together with the machine, right side out, leave the edges to fray. hand sew a piece of ribbon to either end, this will be the closure. then comes the fun part: attach all your stray bits & pieces with a glue gun, leaving no area uncovered. more is more!

this really works best when you limit yourself to a color or theme: i have made versions that are all-black mixed media, all mother of pearl buttons, i even made a stone version with small pebbles... you can also experiment with the width & shape of the bib, make it pointy in front, or make it more like a collar that wraps all around. experiment!

potholders

after reading this awesome tutorial on how to cut t-shirt yarn, i just had to try it. as it turns out, one t-shirt is just enough yarn to crochet one potholder, which i then bordered with a single crochet stitch in a contrasting shade. a great recycling project for all those worn-out t-shirts.... and who could not use an extra potholder?

coverlets

as i was going through my growing stash of design books last weekend, i stumbled upon "labors of love" by by judith reiter weissman and wendy lavitt (1987 - wings books/random house), an absolutely fascinating exploration of american textiles and needlework from 1630 through 1930. such a wealth of material is covered in this book, it cannot be done justice with just one post. so i will start by just showing some examples of early nineteenth-century jacquard coverlets, often executed in indigo and white cotton/wool. these feel so current right now, it is amazing they are almost 2 centuries old.

tassels

I made these out of the much beloved striped t-shirts, now too small for my kids to wear. Cut

both front and back of t-shirt into equal length quarter inch wide strips, by following the "grain" of the jersey fabric (so cut from top to bottom, not from left to right). Gather all strips and fold over through the loop of the keychain hardware. Tie underneath with an extra fabric strip & make sure to double knot. Give your tassel a "haircut" to make sure all the strips are a similar length. There are so many fun uses for these:

- keychains

- attach to backpacks & purses

- turn into curtain tie-backs

- adorn roman shade pull cords

- identify suitcases

- wear one as a necklace

- border scarves with a bunch of small tassels

The second tassel was made with tiny strips of silk. The fraying is part of the undone look, embrace it! The third tassel was dip-dyed.

black and white

here is a new black-and-white version of the plastic bowl i made for easter last year: a great project to do with bored kids over this long holiday weekend and easy to do: coat the inside of an oven-safe bowl in cooking spray, put one layer of "melty beads" inside (stack them up the sides) and put in a 350 degree oven. check regularly (our bowl took about 20 minutes). contrary to what you may think, the melted plastic does not even smell that bad.

meneer beer

as a child a had a gigantic blue-and-white stuffed bear. he was so huge, he took up most of my bed, but he slept with me every night. i think my parents still have him somewhere in the basement of our house. i was never into dolls, but bears are cool. my former employer - and renowned trend forecaster - li edelkoort called hers "meneer beer", that's "mister bear" in dutch. these creatures are loved to pieces by kids all over the world. the simplest ones are the best, such as these plain knitted ones from "the big book of soft toys" by mabst tyler (wolfe publishing ltd. 1972).

thank you

a very big thank-you to british magazine "cloth" for writing such a lovely little blurb on this blog. what a nice way to start the new year. http://www.cloth.co.uk

buttons and shoelaces

my favorite new diy project: sew small mother-of-pearl buttons to vintage shoelaces. tie or tape shoelaces together. voila soufflé! mine is about 6 shoelaces long so i can double up on layers or wear it long.... and i do foresee the roaring twenties style long necklaces - a la great gatsby - making a comeback.

plastic!

i saw this faux coral necklace at a flea market, picked it up and - before i could inquire about it - the sales lady enthusiastically exclaimed "100% genuine plastic!". sold! for $8...

tag

i went to the same catholic school in belgium from kindergarten through high school, so i wore the same navy blue school uniform for 16 straight years (no joke). you can see how the need for name tags in each item of clothing was very real, especially given that i had two sisters who are very close in age to me. these tags were typically woven in red and white, and are such a visual reminder of my childhood, i just had to share. my mom was nice enough to have similar ones made for my kids when they were born. :)

folk art

i was never really a big fan of americana, folk or tramp art.... until i found this book in a secondhand shop in the catskills last week: "patchwork folk art - using appliqué and quilting techniques" by janet bolton (sterling publishing, 1995). it takes it all back to the basics. no garish colors and cheap materials here, just pure naive artistry in tea-stained linens and cottons. gorgeous.

scrap books

i am a magazine junkie, an endangered species at this point in time. it leaves me with piles of print throughout the house, so i have resorted to pulling out the pages and images i like, and toss the rest. these all go into shoeboxes, and when I have the time, they are added to my growing scrapbook collection. here are a few pages.