rhinestone beads

a few months ago, i made a necklace out of polymer clay beads. i had a few leftover beads that were a little burnt, so i decided to make a quick project by covering the damaged beads with craft rhinestones from michaels, using a glue gun. the whole things is strung on a double string of recycled t-shirt yarn, generously donated by keith recker of hand-eye magazine.

t-shirt yarn from haiti

a week ago, my good friend and founder/editor of the amazing hand/eye publication, sent me box of recycled t-shirt yarn from haiti (thank you!). keith knows how to make a crafter happy! i set myself the goal of making a different necklace from each color. here are the first three. the red necklace is a simple crochet chain, onto which shorter crochet chains are tied. i left the ends of the shorter pieces long and tied hex nuts on them. the black one is a crochet chain into which i crocheted keychain hardware. i then inserted six shorter lengths of yarn in each keychain and tied them off to make them look like a tassel. the last one is the simplest: eight lengths of yarn are held together by these gold-colored rings i found in the hardware store, i am sure there is a technical term of these but it's escaping me at the moment.

espadrilles

a quick word about my summer shoe of choice: espadrilles or alpargatas are casually flat shoes originating from the pyrenees. they usually have a canvas or cotton fabric upper and a flexible sole made of rope and/or rubber. fancy espadrilles can be had for $50 and up, but i get a steady supply from my mom (dank u mama!) who buys them in belgium where they can be had for less than $10 in the supermarket! this year's crop yielded some very cool patterned ones. stay cool...

clothing labels

i finally got round to doing something with the collection of weird and cheesy labels i kept from my various tie-projects: the wrap and the hairpins. i simply glued them to a scrap piece of leather, and turned them into a cuff bracelet. it's my homage to the unsung heroes of branding and the complete opposite of the coolest of all labels: the 4 white stitches, indicating the no-logo white cotton tape that makes up the martin margiela label. the award for most original brand goes to madeleine vionnet however, who literally incorporated her thumbprint on her label - and she did so in 1923!

thimble bug

i bought a batch of vintage thimbles at the flea a while ago and - long story short - a thimble bug was born. i think i was an entomologist in a past life.

rice necklace

here's another medium that is great for making jewelry: rice. it provides weight, it is easy to handle, and most importantly, it's cheap. i sewed a "tube" that is about 2.5" wide when flat, using a fabric that was previously tie-dyed in striped pattern. tie off one end of the tube about 5" in, fill with 2 table spoons of rice and then tie off the resulting "bead" using a waxed jute string. repeat until your necklace is the desired length, and make sure it will fit over your head. stitch the remaining ends together and then wrap string over the whole closure. done!

yoko saito

i just picked up the book "japanese quilting piece by piece : 29 stitched projects from yoko saito". i am blown away. yoko saito is a master quilt artist who explores traditional folk themes, but interprets them with a vintage, yet modern feel. some of the projects in the book are a bit daunting, and require a serious dose of patience, as well as major skill with needle and thread. yet, each page is more inspiring than the next, and yoko's color palette especially is so gorgeous: all tonal tea-stained taupes, mushrooms and charcoals. absolutely gorgeous!

mother-of-pearl ring

if you've read my blog posts in the past, you know that i like jewelry but that i am mostly drawn to necklaces and bracelets. in fact, i really only wear 2 rings and they're on the same finger: my wedding ring and my late grandfather's signet engagement ring. i decided to branch out and see what i could make with ring blanks: these are simple rings with just a flat round surface which can be decorated at will. here is my first attempt: i hot-glued a stack of vintage mother-of-pearl buttons on the ring blank, from large to small. what do you think?

bunting

i just learned a new word: bunting. bunting is a lightweight loosely woven fabric used chiefly for flags and festive decorations. also: decorations, especially in the colors of the national flag. i made these versions - not in the colors of any flag i know - to use up some random fabric samples i had lying around. in the first version, the flags actually have a front and back, which i sewed together and turned inside-out. the second version was a half-hour project, sewn up by zigzagging with the sewing machine around the edges of the flags and onto a white nylon washing line. happy 4th of july!

blog lovin'

what a lovely surprise this week to see not one, but two blogs reposting my projects. denimology highlighted my denim lavender cubes, while the french blog thread & needles counted my scrap bracelets among their "finds of the week". thank you both!

key tassel

another fun use for the easy-to-make tassels i blogged about earlier in the year: key tassel! these are repurposed from my kids' old striped t-shirts:

summer toes

i am off for the weekend, but not before sharing a quick pic of one of my favorite things about summer: painted toenails and flip-flops!

the upcycled denim skirt

this is certainly not an original idea, but one of my favorite summer projects for upcycling a worn-out pair of jeans. here's a quick how-to: cut off your jeans at desired length, no need to hem - i love the fraying that will naturally occur. don't discard the bottom pieces, you will need them. carefully open up the inside leg seams with a seam ripper, there could be as many as 3/4 layers of stitching that need to be opened up. open up front seam all the way to where the zipper starts, and back seam all the way to where the seam runs straight. lay skirt flat by placing one inside leg over the other. make sure the fabric falls naturally flat (iron if necessary). don't force this process as you don't want to end up with an unsightly bulge in the crotch area... open up the side seam of the bottom leg and place this rectangular piece behind the "V" shape in the front that needs to be filled in, lining up the bottom seam with the bottom edge of the skirt. when everything is in the correct place, pin it all together and make sure the edges of the inside leg pieces are folded over. stitch it all into place with 2 rows of topstitching for extra strength. turn skirt inside out and cut away any excess fabric. repeat process for the back of the skirt. if you use denim with some stretch, this will be one of the most comfortable pieces of clothing you have ever owned!

dip-dye dress

i may try more versions of this fashion project. the premise is simple: start with an existing top - in this case a classic button-down shirt - and add a piece of fabric at the bottom to make it into a dress. i used a cream-colored 54" wide piece of fabric, a little over a yard long. i folded it over - so the the skirt is a "bubble" and closed up the sides, leaving an 12" long opening, which matches up with the middle front of the shirt. i gathered the fabric in little, evenly-spaced folds and pinned it to the top. when it all looked ok, i sewed both pieces together. i soaked the whole thing in water and did a reverse dip-dye, dunking the shirt and top of the skirt in dark blue dye. i rigged up a washing line in my kitchen, so i could suspend the dress partially into the dye for about an hour, while stirring the dye carefully. i always add a few table spoons of salt which makes the color set. the tricky thing is then to wash out the dye while keeping the bottom of the dress out of the water. once you've rinsed out the dyed part as best as possible, wash the entire piece in the machine. the happy accident that happened here is that while both the shirt and skirt fabric were cotton, apparently the yarn that was used for the embroidery of the circles was not, so it did not take the dye at all. i thought it made for a cool effect...

thank you cloth magazine!

what a nice birthday present: cloth magazine featured my peter pan button collar in the inbox section of their latest issue. louise is modeling. happy summer!

button bracelet

another super easy 10-minute craft. gather 20 to 30 buttons - mismatched or similar colors - just make sure they're all shank buttons, not sew-through buttons. string them all on a length of fabric-covered elastic cording, preferably of a similar color. when you have enough buttons to fit comfortably around your wrist, make a double knot and snip off ends. done!

very retro craft

love the extremely detailed crochet patterns and renderings from the book "victorian crochet by weldon & company", published in 1974 by dover publications inc. this is an unabridged republication, originally published by weldon & co circa 1895. crochet acorn anyone?

charm safety pin

a quick 10-minute project, that will really jazz up your new coat this fall. all you need are some charms, pendants, watches, buttons.... use a pair of pliers to attach them with jump rings onto a large kilt safety pin. done!

john singer sargent watercolors at the brooklyn museum

when i was an art student in antwerp, an exhibit of the sketches and travel diaries by delacroix and ingres made a lasting impression on me. later on when i was living in paris, i discovered the amazing watercolors by rodin. and now, this spectacular landmark exhibit of john singer sargent watercolors at the brooklyn museum, once and for all cements my opinion that i far prefer the sketches and watercolors - the preparation and research leading up to the final oil painting - to the grand finished canvas. the sargent watercolors feel shockingly current and are sublime in their use of color and depiction of both architecture (hard) and clothing (soft). a must-see for the summer!

costume jewelry

i can't wait for the exhibit "fashion jewelry - the collection of barbara berger" which will open on june 25 at MAD (museum of art and design) in new york city. there is something so thrilling about buying costume jewelry, especially when the pieces are so extravagantly designed, they are obviously fake. take away the burden of expense and creativity soars! of course expense is a relative term. the costume jewelry of lanvin is jaw-dropping, but not exactly affordable. thus my hunting ground remains the flea market. here are a few picture of some recent finds.

needlepoint

my obsession with needlepoint started years ago when I was living in paris and regularly visited the puces de vanves, where i purchased unfinished needlepoint projects for a song. a good friend of mine owned the fashion it-item at the time: a vivienne westwood corset. the real thing was completely beyond my budget, so i borrowed it to copy the pattern and made my own version using a piece of vintage needlepoint. since then, my collection has steadily grown. i have made xmas stockings with them, and am now planning a patchwork needlepoint rug. i don't mind that the embroidery is unfinished, i think it adds to the charm. i have also learned a lot more about embroidery techniques by collecting and reading the books by the late and great erica wilson, the doyenne of embroidery. erica deserves a separate blogpost, so i will just leave you with these images for now.