A Small Scale Beginning

Getting back into regular crafting there is a huge list of things I want to try. One of them is hobby horses, and I have begun playing around with patterns and ideas but it's a pretty big project and hasn't gotten very far yet.

So for the moment, I have made a tiny hobby horse Christmas tree ornament, to at least give me some feelings of hobby-horse-related joy.

Pinterest Progress - Pumpkin

I pinned this fabric pumkpin tutorial that was adapted from a Martha Stewart magazine tutorial or something. I mostly only pinned it because I wanted a pumpkin to write "boo" in buttons on, like another pin.

I went searching for the right fabric in my stash and all this laundry was in the way! Then I looked at the laundry, looked at the old tea towel with the spots in one corner, and my problem was solved!
So I turned this:

Into this:

Of course now it is too small and maybe too bumpy for the original idea.

This was a very detailed tutorial. She explains as though you have close to zero sewing experience, which is pretty awesome, because it is easy to skim over bits you already know, compared to having too-vague tutorials that leave you confused mid-project.

It was pretty simple to make but not as neat as I like things to be ideally, and I can see why Martha originally used thread to create the shape, because I used string and it was really difficult. The tutorial used knitting wool but I don't have any, short of taking apart my "Wrap with Love" monstrosity. I tried ribbon first and failed completely at that.

I think I'll give it another go because I did find some other possible fabrics, but I'd also like to find another pumpkin pattern to try.

Vote for me! And maybe some other people too...

The "School Supplies" competition on Spoonflower is now open and I have entered! Very nervous about this because although I like my design, it is always scary putting something out there. I think I still have a long way to go getting my stuff to look right for fabric. Some of the others are just awesome.

You don't have to sign up to vote, and you just vote for all the designs you like which is quite fun. I've been enjoying voting in the recent competitions. So Vote Now! Please :)

My second ethical purchase: urbanearthwear

The ethical fashion journey continued, and I satisfied some wardrobe needs by an op-shop tour of the Central West of NSW. Jumper, jeans, knit vest (the latter is essential if you are a maths teacher).

But I ventured back to new for my next need: underwear. Happily, I found urbanearthwear.

The positives:

• organic cotton
• made in Australia
• made by an Ethical Clothing Australia accredited manufacturer
• environmentally friendly dyestuffs
• the website goes into great detail about each part of the process and product so you can see that each element has been carefully thought out
• minimal packaging - mine arrived tied up with a strip of scrap fabric - no plastic at all! This made me SO happy.

I was really pleased with all the details - especially the packaging. It felt like the ethical considerations were taken into account at every step. Also I love the undies! They are comfy and sit well. I found it funny at first, because they looked like something I could make, but I like that about them, and I find a nicely sewn edge is more comfy than whatever elasticated trimmy edges you get on standard undies. I will be a return customer. Many times, probably.

Slowly slowly Wrapping with Love

I've been learning to knit. Sort of. Our teacher librarian whirled into my classroom last period on the last day of term with knitting needles, a ball of wool and a few rows done for me and gave me a run-through of the basics. We're participating in Wrap With Love this year and I made the mistake of saying "I don't know how to knit." This is not an acceptable excuse, apparently.

Knitting is crazy. Apart from one dropped stitch and very wonky edges as I had Adventures with Tension, and I've somehow added 7 stitches, it is going quite well, but I can't believe people really do this! It takes forever. I have been working for over a week and have yet to finish my little square. The only reason it doesn't really feel like it's taking forever is that you can knit while watching TV, and therefore you can think of it as bonus productivity. "Sure it has taken me hours, but those were hours I otherwise would have sat still doing nothing while watching TV."

I am in awe of people who can knit crazy complicated things that take actually forever, like whole blankets or jumpers. I think I'll stick to squares. Despite my desire to one day become Miss Marple, I had to admit to my mum that "I don't think knitting is for me." "No," she said, "knitting is not for you," in a tone that said, "I could have told you that."

Free soft toy patterns

In my childhood, I collected soft toys. Initially by accident, later on purpose. And I also began dreaming of designing my own one day. I made a few from kits (successfully) and a couple of my own design (far less successfully).

Contemplating returning to this dream, I thought I should start again at making before designing, so I looked for free patterns. So far I have tried two.

Found this Woman' s Day pattern and it looked super easy and pretty cute. I actually found it quite difficult because it was so tiny. But I like his quirky charm and button eyes.

Silver Seams has this fantastic hedgehog pattern, among other open source patterns and instructions. I'd like to make the Teddy Pig too. And maybe a balloon dog. What a weird and awesome idea. Anyway his snout seems a bit thin and he looks very different with a non-fur front, but I'm pretty fond of Hedgie.

An enjoyable start, but as my soft-toy-hoarding days are over, I now have to work out what to do with them!

an ethical fashion question - how much choice do you give up?

Ok, so that title is rather dramatic for a post that will focus on funny t-shirts, but bear with me.

I have a number of t-shirts with cute or witty or funny or geeky designs on them. Not as many as my husband, or many other people in my circles, but quite a few. Whether there should be so many in my wardrobe is a subject for a different post; for today, we are taking their continued existence in my life as a given.

I really like redbubble as a source for such shirts.  They fit in with our ethical fashion journey in two ways - the American Apparel shirts (and hoodies, although I've yet to buy any of those) that they use are sweatshop free, and they support small designers. In fact, I know three or four people who have designs on the site, whether for T-shirts or other things, and my husband owns t-shirts with designs that were made by friends of ours.

I went to browse through some designs the other day and noticed that since the last time I was there, they've introduced some organic shirt options! Yay!
Except... the organic ones are only available in four colours: black, white, natural, and a weird light purply-grey colour they call 'cinder'.

Now I'm torn. Knowing the organic shirts are available, can I justify buying the non-organic ones just because I want a particular design in a different colour? Or is the fact I already viewed them as an "ok" source for clothes enough to allow me to keep buying any shirts from them, in the colour I want, only going organic when it is a design that works on one of those backgrounds really well?

yarn fail - saved!

"Yarn fails" come in two main categories for me. Either I've used the wrong yarn for a project (whether wrong handle, weight or look) or I've run out of yarn before I finish. While the former I can view as a learning experience (especially as I use a lot of vintage patterns which don't have a gauge listed), the latter make me embarrassed and defensive. It seems like such a silly mistake!

My last yarn fail happened when I found a scarf pattern in a crochet magazine that I thought would suit a friend of mine, so I dug out a lovely variegated yarn with a light sheen out of stash and started it... only to run out of yarn about 2/3 of the way through.

The design consists of triangles - I was supposed to end up with 16 and I only had 10. Attempts to match the yarn failed, as not only did I buy it four years ago, so the store no longer stocked it, but I'd lost the wrapper of the skein so didn't know brand or anything.  I could have left it as a short scarf, but that seemed terribly poor form for something that was going to be a present. Annoyed with myself, I gave myself a stern lecture on how I should plan projects more carefully. Weeks later, I went and bought some new yarn, still variagated but with a stronger colour palette, to use for the scarf, and I started again. The unfinished scarf got shoved into a small bag and left under my craft desk.

Today when I was clearing up said desk, I came across it and thought that there had to be something I could do. In line with the interest in ethical fashion and moving towards more ethical crafting, I couldn't just throw it out and waste the yarn and my time, but I didn't want to unravel it all either.

It was then I had a lightbulb moment! I undid the half-triangle at the working end, until only one row remained, and then I looped it around and joined it to the starting end, forming a cowl scarf. It will go around my neck looped twice. A perfect addition to my scarf drawer. 

Playing with Spoonflower

I've loved the idea of Spoonflower ever since I first heard of it. Getting to design your own fabrics sounds like loads of fun to me. So I recently started to have a bit of a play and ordered my first swatches last week (details of that order to come soon when I've made up the project). I'm also planning to enter a fabric in one of their weekly contests.

The contest theme is "School Supplies" and this is my intended entry. Very inspired by Donald in Mathmagic Land. I sketched a lot of different ideas first but this one flowed easily so I rolled with it.

I will be entering soon. At the moment the title is "Helpful Pencils" but I'd love some better ideas for what to call it. Or any other constructive feedback to improve it or future designs.

Entries close on August 21st and after that there will be voting for the best design. At which point I will beg for your votes :)

My first ethical purchase: Gideon Shoes

When I chose to start making ethical choices when buying fashion, I went into a frenzy of internet searching. It seemed thin on the ground at first, but soon I had found a number of exciting stores offering me various guilt-free products that I totally drooled over.

But then I had to face the horrible truth. That a big part of ethical fashion is the way we consume. It's not buying the stuff unless we need it. And since I had been a slight shopoholic in my pre-ethical days, I didn't need it. I am still waiting and waiting to need some of these lovely things.

I did, however, need one thing. I was going to be teaching TAS (technology and applied studies) as well as Maths this year, and I would need leather shoes (or synthetic leather) for the workshop. After reading "To Die For" I was conflicted on the leather/synthetic debate so I kept an open mind to both, and was swayed to leather by other factors.

My feeling about ethical purchasing is that there are no right or wrong choices as such, just choices with good bits to them. No product is perfect. Everything has some kind of footprint. So I just look to find things with lots of positives.

So I found Gideon Shoes. The positives:

• Handmade in Australia under ethical conditions
• Ethical Clothing Australia accredited brand
• Mostly Australian materials
• Profits sustain the Noffs foundation charity work

There is more I could wish for in a leather shoe, but I thought that was a lot of stuff, and I'm very happy with them. I have the classic low roo in the tan (which is the natural colour of the roo leather, apparently). They are comfy, lasting well so far (I wear them about 3 days a week to work) and look good with my casual-maths-teacher jeans, shirt and knit vest image :)

For people who don't need leather, they do "The Giving Shoe" which has this to say about itself: "Hi! I'm vegan, made from fair trade organic cotton and natural rubber and most of me is biodegradable. 100% of my profits go to building Street Universities around the world." Didn't really suit me but pretty good credentials.

The start of thoughtful wardrobe planning - with graphs!

Our journey towards ethical fashion was strongly influenced by Lucy Siegle's To Die For: Is Fashion Wearing Out the World?.  I came across it while browsing in the cultural studies section at Kinokuniya, and I bought it on impulse. I'd had an interest in ethical fashion, and I'd been aware that the fast-fashion model had problems, but I wasn't really doing anything about it.  Reading this book was inspirational and motivational, and I immediately told Tanith that she HAD to read this book. Luckily for our relationship, she felt the same way as I did once she'd read it.  Siegle is persuasive and rigorous yet doesn't fall into lecturing or teeth-gnashing tirades. I felt like I'd been waiting to read this book and was finally ready to act on it. I particularly like the end of the book, where she looks at the ways in which some people and business are countering the prevailing unsustainable, fast-fashion trends, and presents ideas on what would be in 'the perfect wardrobe' from this point of view.

After making the commitment to be serious about this, I made some goals. Some of them are about self-education - reading more on sustainable fashion and design, researching available brands and options - but many are about the clothes themselves. Those relevant goals include:

• Wear more of my existing wardrobe 
• Start making more clothes myself
• For 2012, have 50% of my clothes bought from ethical/sustainable sources (whether new or from op-shops) and 10% to be made by self.  

I obviously want to reduce what I buy and make, so I need to do more thoughtful wardrobe planning - what do I actually need? What do I really wear?  Inspired by all the maths floating at me lately, I decided to be really specific. I made lists and I made graphs.

Wardrobe planning could go along several different lines. The three that I've identified and which I'm planning to use are:

• colour - so core, basic, and accent colours, coordinating my wardrobe so it works together
• function - what clothes do I need for different activities and times in my life
• style - what sort of clothes do I wear? and want to wear? 

The rest of this post will be about function, as that has been on my mind a lot lately.

As my life stood a few months ago, this was the breakdown. The vast majority of what I needed was everyday casual clothing. Most of my work was casual contracts where mostly I could work from home, so my work clothes were also my everyday social clothes. I did have a need for more formal work clothes, for when I was lecturing or tutoring or giving conference papers. Social dressy covers everything from parties to weddings to trips to the opera, and sleepwear and gym are self-explanatory. And I feel that my wardrobe reflected this - what I wanted to change was what counted as 'everyday casual' - so moving beyond jeans as a default, and defining my style more precisely. Or getting a style at all?

However, with the decision to abandon my desperate scratching at the walls of post-doctoral academic employment, my wardrobe needs are going to change, as I hope to get a 'normal' job.

Obviously I'll need way more formal work clothes, and I also bumped up gym and sleepwear because I do need to get more decent clothes here - generally t-shirts, for example, start as casual, then get relegated to gym. Some go to sleepwear, although I do also have purpose-bought sleepwear. I'd like nicer gym gear as I'm getting more serious about my fitness.  I don't know whether this graph is accurate though! I can't quite imagine what life will be like with a 'go out to work' job in terms of my clothes - I've spent the last 16 years as a student and then a staff member at a university where if I really wanted to, I could have worn jeans everyday. The only reason I dressed up to give conference papers or to lecture was because I had a vision of what that should look like - but I could have worn jeans. I know I've been fortunate. But it does leave me floundering. My last few op-shop visits have been working towards increasing my green pie piece and I've been trying to mentally place each item as part of an interview outfit.

I'm still trying to decide if the graphs have been helpful or not. Obviously thinking in terms of what lifestyle or  function the clothes need to fulfil is only one approach - I may have worked out what I need the clothes to be for, but I'm struggling with what they should be, which is where style and colour come in. I'll move on to those in a later post.

Science Fiction Wedding Outfit Part 3 - Do Not Touch The Soldering Iron

See Part 1 and Part 2

I did that on my second prac as a TAS teacher. I swore. Loudly. In front of the children. But today I managed to keep my hands clear.

After the man who served me at Jaycar turned out to know nothing about electronics, I had to consult the internet, but I found some good simple info and was able to work out my battery and resistor requirements. Glad I taught some electronics this year and felt confident about soldering and circuits again. It had been a while before that! I was still very nervous when the time came to test it!

Moving on to adding the rest of the detail to the flowers. I used some beady flower-centre things that I discovered I owned, and also individual bits of ostrich feather (vanes? barbs? I looked up parts of feathers but was still confused). The ostrich bits I was hoping would move in a creepy way and look alien and unusual by themselves. They do wave about eerily when the hat moves or a slight breeze blows, so that's good.

I did encounter some issues though. The circuitry underneath, and particularly the batteries, changed how it sat and the weighting, making the band not strong enough to hold it. So after good advice from my mother, I followed the obvious solution - put the batteries somewhere else. In the end they went in a necklace - didn't get photos of that as it was all a bit rushed towards the end, but maybe Rhiannon will have some from the wedding to post soon.

Rhiannon's hat - the final stage

As Tanith mentioned in this post on the victorian/steampunk mini-top hat, she handed it over to me in an almost complete state. All that was needed was to do something to cover the working stitches on the lining of the brim. Usually she'd use a trim – perhaps a braid – but not only was there nothing in her stash that looked quite right, we wanted to give me a chance to contribute to the hat. This was important to me, as I often feel that she's being so generous making me these amazing hats and I'm not really helping at all!

So it was decided that I'd cover the stitches with a line of embroidery. I settled on oyster chain stitch, for two reasons. It looks nice both in a straight line and on a slight zig-zag, so I knew it would look fine if it had to deviate a little to properly cover the working stitches. I also like the way it gives an effect almost like a string of tiny beads.

Oyster chain isn't a difficult stitch. It starts with a twisted chain stitch (figure 1), then the needle passes under the top of the stitch (figure 2) so the thread lies snugly up along the side of the twisted chain. Then a loop stitch is made around this, with the needle going in at a and coming out at b. The end stitch should look something like figure 3 except more snug – it is hard to draw what it should look like where the threads should lie next to each other just using a solid line, sorry – and the thread is now ready to start the next twisted chain. My illustrations aren't the most sophisticated or clear, I'm afraid, but I hope you get the gist.

oyster stitch instructions

In this picture, I'm in the middle of doing the twisted chain.

And here is the final result!

I'm quite happy with the way it looks. I did the stitching in two strands of black embroidery cotton, and was worried that it wouldn't be a strong enough visual line, but now I'm glad I didn't use more threads or a thicker perle thread.

It made a beautiful crowning touch to the outfit – the full effect of the hat is destroyed by the fact that I'm squinting down to get the sun out of my eyes in this photo, but all the photos taken at the actual event are very dark and the hat is obscured.

Science Fiction Wedding Outfit Part 2 - Beginning

See Part 1 and Part 3

Ready to begin. Here are the non-electronic components, which are all stuff I had in my stash already.

 

I blocked the base using this sugar bowl. I did make a similar shape fascinator block in a workshop at the International Millinery Forum this year with Jan Wutkowski but I think I've left it at school. Or somewhere in this messy room. (And when I went to see if Jan had a site or blog I could link to - the photo of them is on her blog!)

The base is wired and covered with fabric.

Fake flannel flowers look a lot like creepy creatures from the deep to me.

 

But not as creepy when on the hat. I hope the glowing will make them look weird again.

 

LEDs and a switch added.

Now some other foliage to go with the flowers. Ideally I wanted something a bit more swirly off the base, as in my sketches, but I wasn't able to achieve that with what I had. Nevertheless I quite like it so far.

 

Next: the insides of the flowers, and the wiring. I hope the flowers are not too hidden at the back to get the look I wanted. We shall see.