Crafty Inspiration in the Mail!

I got a double dose of crafting inspiration in the mail today. The latest issues of Ottobre Design and Craft: transforming traditional crafts arrived, and I couldn't be more thrilled at the contents. Of course I had to page through both magazines right away to cull the best features.

The latest issue of Ottobre Design features some adorable summer fashions for kids. I would love to scale up a couple of the patterns for myself: This issue also includes instructions for two cute accessories: a button necklace (on the cover) and a little girl's purse, which I'd love to try.

I was also excited to learn that individual issues of the magazine, as well as a subscription, can be ordered at The Wooly Thread. And the fabric featured in the magazine is available at Bunte Fabrics, which has a lovely though pricey assortment of organic fabrics, including the cutest organic bias tape. According to the web site, the fabric is free from formaldehyde and synthetic dyes.

The Shoe issue of Craft is very timely, because I have been thinking about how to approach summer shoe shopping in a sustainable manner. None of the shoe-making tutorials makes me want to go out and become a cobbler, but there are several interesting ideas for jazzing up old shoes, including knitting a new upper, painting on cool designs, and of course, the ultimate in nature-friendly design: applying birdseed to a pair of flats.

(Last month Betz White photographed her cute new Converse-style and eco-friendly shoes, Ecosneaks, and I think every member of our family needs a pair of those.)

I was also thrilled to see two of my favorite artist-bloggers featured in this issue. Elsa Mora's exquisitely crafted paper bee is included as one of the Favorite Trinkets and Treasures, though she deserves a multi-page spread, in my opinion.

A short feature on Danny Mansmith shows him in his studio surrounded by many of his pieces. Again, this artist calls for more content, Craft! I was disappointed that most of the article was culled directly from Mansmith's web site, and there was little discussion of the incredibly wide range of objects he creates. I guess I'll just have to keep trolling through his website to learn more about what he creates!

Carnival Craft

It’s spring, and that means carnival time is right around the corner. My son’s school carnival is next month, and I’ve agreed to organize a craft for the kids to do. My goal is to use as many recycled items for the craft materials as I can. It’s cheaper that way (and thus more profitable for the school PTA) and eco-friendly.

Through the freecycle network, I have amassed a collection of about 300+ empty CD cases. (Can you just imagine the number of these cases that must be filling up the landfills as people switch to ipods?)

I found a few suggestions online for repurposing the CD cases, including a clip-art calendar and a card at Martha Stewart Living, a photo frame at lifehacker, and an art cube at craftgossip.

I like the idea of using the cases to display kids’ art work, so I’ve been fooling around with some ideas for a small, framable art piece.

For one piece I used scrapbook paper to create a collage.

For the other, I created a silhouette inspired by Anna Maria Horner’s painted fabric silhouettes. I cut a simple stencil, taped it to a piece of fabric (from books of swatches I got from the last SewGreen sale) with double-sided tape, and painted the negative space around the stencil.

Both projects are simple, easily and quickly done with a few supplies, and the kids can leave the carnival with their own piece of art. The creative possibilities are pretty much infinite, and I like how the young artists can change out the art piece as often as they like.

If anyone has any other ideas for how to reuse the cases, I’d love to hear them!

Zen Knitting, or What is the Sound of Two Needles Knitting?

I think I've found the definition of Zen Knitting, and it's called Habu. Habu Textiles is a Japanese yarn and handwoven textile store in NYC for hard-core knitting afficionados. The yarn colors are soft and natural, and the yarns are made from linen paper (!), silk, bamboo, wool, and other natural fibers (Naturally dyed kakishibu cotton shown above, in persimmon and charcoal) .

Jane Brocket of yarnstorm has just blogged about her experience starting a Habu kit. Her description of the sound of her knitting needles pretty much encapsulates what the "zen" knitting experience is all about:

When you block out all the white noise of daily life, you really can hear your knitting--the paper yarn makes little soft rustling sounds. But you need to be very quiet to hear it.

Trashion

I'm addicted to Etsy, the online marketplace for crafters and artists. The site has all sorts of cool features to help you browse through the astonishing amount and variety of handcrafted items. Sellers routinely take turns compiling favorites and present a lovely mosaic of Hand-picked items on the site's front page. The "Pounce" feature allows you to see recently sold items and similar items still for sale in individual stores. Featured Sellers, Main Showcase, and themed Showcases (right now a Mother's Day Showcase is on tap) are other ways to browse the virtual showrooms.

Etsy sellers can also organize into "Teams" based on related interests. One team that caught my eye recently is the Trashion Team, a group of Etsy makers dedicated to creating wearable art from materials that otherwise would be destined for the landfill. According to their mission statement:

Trashion is a philosophy and an ethic. It encompasses environmentalism and innovation, and respects the human creative and healing potential. Making traditional objects out of recycled materials can be trashion. Making avant-garde fashion out of cast-offs or junk can be trashion.

The refashioning that I've been doing lately certainly falls under this rubric, and it's inspiring to see so much beautiful, usable, and generally pretty affordable stuff being created from junk. Here are a few of my current favorite trashion items available on etsy:

(Clockwise from upper left) Goldfish baby booties made from a Goldfish cracker box by MoJoTrashion. Spinning Flower pendant made from a domino by papermoondesigns. Green and orange upcycled plastic bangle made from plastic bags by GarbageofEdenDesign (today's Featured Seller). Kinglet coin purse made from vinyl banner remnants by birdversusbird. Recycled skirt by Little Overcoat. Orange carnation flower pin made from t-shirts by Marang97.

A Creative Lull

In the last couple of weeks, my creative energies have fizzled a bit. A mild but long illness, tax time, the kids' Spring Break--all converged to sap my energy. And because of that lull in creative energy, my insecurities about my skills resurfaced in a big way. I started questioning whether I should be focusing my energies on creative endeavors.




So this blog has been a little quiet lately. Fortunately, just today, I've felt a rekindling of that same excitement about writing and making things and that familiar thirst to see and read about what other crafters are creating, such as these embroidered marigold slippers (sorry, I lost the link!).

(Note: These wonderful booties are made from vintage linens by tiny happy. Visit her blog, her Etsy shop, and her Flickr photos.)

Part of this renewed focus has to do with a very productive conversation I had this morning with my designer friend Maya. She encouraged and cajoled me into agreeing to post on the blog even when there's not a whole lot going on creatively for me. She called me a "finder" and encouraged me to keep searching out inspiration from other blogs.

I cannot convey how important that this was for me to hear. It's a difficult business reaching down into oneself and trying to create something unique and meaningful--and to carve out this time in the midst of raising kids and taking care of things around the old homestead. Maya encouraged me to see that although the process is difficult and bumpy, I shouldn't abandon the attempt at maintaining my creative spirit.


I think everyone could use a craft buddy like Maya!

What is Zen Crafting?

Last night I spent a lot of time reading about Buddhism and thinking about why I chose the name "Zen Crafting" for my blog. I'm not Buddhist, nor, I admit, do I have a deep understanding of Zen Buddhism as a religion or as a spiritual practice.

Let me try to articulate why I sort of blindly chose Zen Crafting as my title. I had a vague notion that I wanted to give myself permission to be more instinctual and less cerebral or formulaic as I create. Part of this involves being very mindful of the materials that I'm working with--the texture of felted wool, the lightness of the weave of a linen fabric, the dimple that embroidery floss makes as it's stitched onto felt, the smooth flow of watercolors from a brush (I could go on and on!), etc. I also want to be spontaneous as I create--willing and curious enough to follow a design or an idea onto a path that I hadn't originally intended and to use materials that would otherwise have been overlooked or discarded.

(I hope I'm not oversimplifying Zen Buddhism by suggesting that these three elements--instinct over cerebration; mindfulness; and flow or spontaneity--are central beliefs. A Zen master should set me straight here!)

The whole notion of letting go of the noise of one's thoughts that is central to Buddhist meditation is also what I want my creative quest to be about. I want to be able to focus intently on the joy of handwork without the intrusive worrying about my lack of abilities or how perfect the finished product needs to be. After all, Buddhist monks spend days, weeks, or even months creating intricate sand mandalas, only to destroy them soon after completion. The meaning is located in the process of creating and not in the final piece of art.

This is sounding pretty deep, but my whole intention of blogging about Zen Crafting was actually to lighten up and stop worrying and just create--and not to let wonky seams, misaligned edges, knotted yarn, or dropped stitches keep me from completing a project.

Another idea from Buddhism that relates to inspiration and creativity is the idea of daily, ritualized practice. Getting to that place where joy and creativity resides isn't always easy. Jane Sassaman, an art quilter who creates impossibly alive, joyful, and exuberant quilts, has a daily ritual of looking at beautiful pictures to jump-start her daydreaming and visualization of new quilt designs. An introduction to the Inspiration Center on Sassaman's web site sums up how important this daily work is:

Those in awe of very creative people often believe their vision and creativity is innate. The reality is creativity must be worked at, nurtured, set upon, cajoled or even bamboozled! Finding the inner voice, or the muse, is more often than not a discipline or routine which places us in the right frame of mind to "receive" the muse's gifts.

With any luck, you have your own rituals that kick start your creative day,
or at the very least your own nurturing, cajoling, bamboozling craft buddy--like Maya--who pushes you where you need to go.

Antiques for Earth Day

The folks at Pottery Barn continue to send me a catalog every month, even though I haven't ordered anything from them in three years. I must admit that I drool over the colors and patterns in the catalog, but I have gotten over my need to buy new furniture. It simply doesn't seem like a wise thing to do for the planet.

Instead of buying new, I've been finding things I need through the freecycle network and at thrift stores, garage and estate sales, and antique stores. It definitely takes a lot more legwork (and gas for the car, which isn't great for the planet, so there is a tradeoff), but I've ended up with items with history and the patina of loving use.

At a flea market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, the colors and patterns in a display of vintage items rivaled any spread in Pottery Barn, and the history wasn't reproduction.


At Renningers Markets in Adamstown, a lovely hooked rug made early in the 20th century (possibly by an Amish craftsperson?) would not have looked out of place with any of the retro-mod textiles available today. The rug is a lily pond viewed from above, with turtles and a duck swimming amongst the lilies.


Also at Renningers, this unique, big-bottomed rocking chair caught my attention. For all its solidness, it has a grace and history that I couldn't resist.

So, to celebrate Earth Day, try antiquing (even better, carpool or take the bus)!

Dimension

I love everything about sewing bags, especially out of felted wool sweaters. The combination of the wool's weight, softness, and drape make it a pleasure to sew. I love how the shape of a sweater (and working around moth holes!) helps determine the ultimate shape of the purse. For example, the shape of a sweater's sleeve when I cut open the seam determined the lovely bell shape of the flower purse (above).





When I started making wool bags last fall, I sewed them by hand and made them simple in shape, flat, and unlined.






But a chance meeting with my designer friend Maya at the local Salvation Army inspired me to start putting the purses together by machine. What a conceptual leap forward that was! Machine-piecing allowed me to create bags with fullness and dimension.

The octopus purse (above, left) came together easily by machine, and the octopus applique emerged from a piece of felt that I had cut for another project and that ended up with eight "legs". The messenger bag (above, right) was based on a pattern in Betz White's Warm Fuzzies book, a perpetual fount of inspiration for me.

Luckily I still have one of the earliest, flat bags I made, the dove purse (above) for my daughter. It's now on my sewing table and is in the process of undergoing a dimensional metamorphasis.

Now it has a bottom (made from quilter's template plastic), and soon it will have an interfacing-reinforced lining for extra structure.

From a design and skills perspective, it helps me to look back to where I started and appreciate the evolution of my bag-making skills. So when I get frustrated and feel that I'm not finishing projects quickly enough or well enough, I can realize that starts and stops and big leaps forward are just part of the creative process.

Design Inspiration

My kids and I took a quick trip to New York City this weekend, and the creative energy was intoxicating. I felt dizzy looking at all the angles, textures, icons, and patterns. The mix of building facades in the city is like a crazy, vibrant patchwork quilt. That juxtaposition of sleek modern next to weathered stone seems so uniquely New York . And of course the store windows were a design lover's dream, especially the whole series of windows at Anthropologie.

A Simple Pinafore

My creative process is pretty slow. Projects sit quietly on my sewing table for weeks--even months--as some part of my brain works on what they will become as I go about my daily activities. Since I'm only able to steal a few hours at most in the evenings to sew, implementing my ideas gets stretched out over a long period of time.

As frustrating as it is to have multiple unfinished projects lying around, I love the initial excitement of starting on a project. When I saw the Spring 2008 issue of Ottobre Design magazine on another blog, I was immediately drawn to the playful fabrics and designs. I knew right away that I wanted to make something from the magazine for my niece, who is two years old and already has developed her own sense of style.

However, the Ottobre pattern booklet was very different from the pre-printed tissue patterns I am used to. Even though I chose an easy pinafore, having to decipher the intricate maze of colored lines and letters in the pattern booklet intimidated me.

A lucky find of some new-to-me but not new fabric at SewGreen spurred me to get over my creative paralysis. The lovely combination of two linen and rayon blend fabrics--one a spring green and the other a delicate floral--seemed a perfect fit for what I wanted to make--something light and comfortable for my niece to wear through the Arizona summer.

The pinafore only had three pattern pieces, so the pattern tracing and cutting, fabric cutting, and sewing actually turned out to be relatively easy. Once the pinafore was constructed, I knew it needed something to jazz it up. But I wasn't crazy about the flower embellishment that the pattern suggested.

Another lucky intervention occurred--my designer friend Maya came over and saw the pinafore and suggested a vine design up the side. And immediately a potential design popped into my head. It is so nice to get direct inspiration from someone whose design skills I admire!

The final push to complete the pinafore came this past weekend, when I had a sewing lesson on my new machine. After learning to do a satiny zigzag stitch, I knew I wanted to try an appliqued design. My first sketch of a curvy, scrolled vine didn't look right, so I got out my ruler and sketched a more linear and angular design. The bird shapes took a few tries to get to the right size and level of simplicity. I haven't sketched anything in quite some time, so it was nice to loosen up those creative muscles as well for this project, and it's something I'll continue to do.

I'm glad that I stretched my sewing skills in this project by trying machine-sewn applique for the first time. I used Pellon lightweight double-sided fusible interfacing to adhere the applique designs to the pinafore. Unlike other fusible interfacing I've used, this interfacing allows the fabric to stay flexible rather than feeling stiff and plastic-y.

Sewing the tree and birds to the pinafore was a little tricky, especially the satiny zigzag stitch around the tree top. I warmed up by cutting out some of my scrap fabric into a bird shape and sewing it onto another scrap fabric with the zigzag stitch. The mama bird on the ground looking up at her baby birds in the tree (have they just learned to fly?) was actually my test sample for the zigzag stitch. When I had completed the tree, I thought that the other side of the pinafore needed something to balance it, so I decided to iron and sew my little experiment on the "ground".

This simple little pinafore took a few months from inception to completion, and I still don't know if it's done. I'd like to add embroidery as an embellishment--and it needs some shorts to go with it--but I think I'll just stop here.

But, really, how does one know when a project is done? For me it's when there are so many projects piling up that I just need to stop obssessing about one thing and move on! So, the pinafore is boxed up and on its way to the post office for my niece, who I hope will concoct a little story of her own about the appliqued birds.

More Orange

OK, I must have stepped into some trend stream while web surfing, because my fascination with orange is shared by many. (See my orange WIPs at left.) Time Magazine's Style 100 issue just featured orange as this season's hot design trend. Remodelista has a blog entry with a whole array of orange items for kids' rooms. And look at this adorable felted acorn treasure box, perfect in orange, for sale at Three Potato Four.

Yumminess!

More Ecofashion

I got some more shots of the SewGreen Green T Reuse Contest winners. My daughter's favorite fashions from the show included this vest, dragon shirt, and hat combo, all made from repurposed t-shirts, jeans, and other fabrics.

Amelia Rosenthal, the designer, sells her work on Etsy.

Hooked Rugs from T-shirts

Lynn Leopold makes these gorgeous, colorful hooked rugs from t-shirt scraps. The swirly patterns are works of art!

Bag Evolution

My reusable market bags have achieved a new milestone in their evolution--the ability to stand upright.

I made this "Un-Paper Bag" from a Purl Bee pattern. The outside and lining fabrics are from SewGreen, and the handles are Chocolate Lollipop from Anna Maria Horner.

It's a simple bag, but the pattern involved very precise measuring and cutting. I had to rip all of the stitches out at one point and re-cut the fabrics. The lining fabric is a pretty loose weave, so it gave me the most trouble.

The tricks to getting the bag to stand tall are the heavy-weight interfacing in the lining, a plastic insert in the bottom of the bag, squaring the botton of the bag by adding two seams, and LOTS of ironing.

I'm hoping that this bag will work well for holding egg cartons and wide-bottomed milk cartons, though it looks like it might prefer to hold a bottle of wine, some cheese, a loaf of French bread, and a bunch of big-headed Gerbera daisies. I'm sure my husband wouldn't mind helping me clean up after that photo shoot!

SewGreen T-shirt Winners

SewGreen held an opening-night reception for its gallery show presenting all of the Green T Reuse Contest winners. My daughter and I enjoyed seeing the variety of shirts, dresses, hats, pillows, blankets, capes, and rugs made from old t-shirts and denim.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get shots of everything because my camera battery was low. But let me tell you, there are some very creative individuals creating inspiring designs out of repurposed materials. There were some beautiful hooked rugs made from old t-shirts that I'll try to post pictures of soon.

Luckily my camera held out long enough to get a few shots. Maya at maya*made, the grand-prize winner, posed with my favorite ensemble. I enjoyed seeing the sweet baby outfit in person, and it is made with great attention to detail. And isn't that wool scarf/necklace that Maya is wearing cool? I'll have to ask if it's a maya*made creation.

And here's a lovely play mat, all in bright colors and from reused fabrics. This would be a fun project to make!

Completing Projects

I'm celebrating a significant (for me) milestone of actually completing some smallish projects--all in one week. I am great at starting on new things but terrible at completing them, especially with the toddler underfoot (not a complaint, he's a sweet distraction).

The two orange Caroline bags from the previous post were completed last weekend, and just yesterday (well, technically early this morning) I finished off the handmade items for my first two contest winners. Maya at maya*made received a felted wool cupcake pincushion made from a pattern in Betz White's Warm Fuzzies book and a custom stationery set.

The stationery set was fun to make, and it was mostly from repurposed materials. I painted a tin CD case (orange, of course) that the lovely folks at AOL kept sending me a few years back and decoupaged one of Maya's elephants on the front and back. Inside were envelopes I made from the pages of the spring Pottery Barn catalog and note cards hand-stamped with maya*made. I attached a little pen with a magnet to the outside of the set. A narrow, green satin ribbon on the outside rim covered up some AOL advertising that I couldn't cover with paint.

My daughter and I made another one of these sets a few years back for a Secret Valentine, and we spray-painted the outside of the case silver. Then we hand stamped a Valentine's message on the outside in pink, which looked really nice on the silver. We included a small notepad with a magnet on it, a pencil with a magnet, and some small magnets in the case.

It's really a project with infinite possibilities, and you could even attach magnets to the front and back of the case itself to display each side. It could also be a great travel set for long car or plane trips, with custom-made magnets inside to make a particular scene, such as a construction site with tractors (yes, I'm thinking of a particular little someone for that scene!).

I also completed Stanley's handmade gift. He was the first person to comment on my blog, and I very much appreciate his interest and feedback--as I do all of you nice folks who have commented recently. Thank you!

Stanley, who is a globe-trotting psychologist and author, will be receiving a felted wool passport cover. The design is Scandinavian, which is appropriate for his heritage, and just looks like something that Stanley would appreciate. The pattern was adapted from Betz White's journal cover project in the Warm Fuzzies book.

Orange

What is it about a particular color or color combination that makes it so enticing at a particular point in one's life?

Lately it seems that every fabric (and even a waste basket!) that I've been attracted to is either that particular shade of '70s vintage orange or has that color in it.

I just made two Caroline bags (one as a bookbag for my son and one for a friend) out of this beautiful orange corduroy (shown at left). Both the orange corduroy and the striped fabric are recycled, which makes them even more appealing.

This combination of the orange with the stripes just makes me feel happy. Would it be too trite to say that orange is the color of joy?

Serendipity

Does anybody else out there go a little nuts trying to find inexpensive recycled fabric and notions for green sewing? It's quite a challenge for me. I've found some nice fabrics and rick rack at SewGreen, but you never know what you'll find there. The Salvation Army has also been quite a good source for wool sweaters for the felted wool bags I've made. Freecycling has provided us with some great fabric scraps to work with, but it's tough to be the first one to call dibs on the heavily in-demand fabric offerings. Ebay is another source, though it can be expensive--and addictive.

But sometimes serendipity plays a role and leads me to a great find. On Friday I dropped off my sewing machine to be serviced, and I just happened to notice that there was an estate sale being held at the shopping center. The large rented space was crammed with the estate of a woman who had owned an antique shop. The sale had already been on for a week, so the goods were pretty well picked over. But I managed to snag a whole bolt of fabric for less than a dollar a yard:

I'm not sure what it will become, but if my husband doesn't find it too hideous, I think it eventually may become curtains for our bedroom.

We took a quick weekend trip to Vermont recently to attend a maple festival. On our last day there, we stopped in Bennington to check out Camelot Village, an antique and crafts mall. The prices were on the high side, but I found some inexpensive vintage trim and patterned bias tape that I'd love to use on a t-shirt project.

I also picked up a copy of Vogue Sewing from 1982 with the following useful tips:

• "Very tiny prints on a tall, large woman will emphasize the contrast between their delicacy and the size of the woman wearing them." [I infer from this that a t-shirt with a skull print on it would be a sensible choice for me.]


• "As always, to appear more slender, wear medium to dark color values in your solids." [I'm telling you, that red skull T will be very slenderizing.]


• "What if, after all your efforts to lose a few pounds, to pull in that stomach, and tuck in that derriere, nothing happens, and you are still facing that sagging you in the fitting mirror? . . . Purchase well-fitted undergarments for a controlled or more youthful figure. You are not the first to do so and will not be the last!" [Words to live by!]
  

Before we made it to Camelot, we stopped on the main drag and popped in to Junque, a gorgeous but crammed shop full of buttons, trims, lace, vintage dishes, and all manner of unique treasures. The owner was energetic and very helpful and had just cleared her winter stock (too bad we missed the 50 percent off sale the day before!!) and made room for lots of new items. There was something for everyone there, including a carved wooden squirrel for my son, a spider ring for my daughter, a vintage Navy flashlight for my husband, and buttons and trims for me. The prices were reasonable (we saw a glass cake plate for $12 at Junque that was for sale at Camelot for $42!), and I definitely recommend the shop to vintage junque fans venturing to Vermont.

I'm learning that I need to keep my eye out for treasures wherever I go!

Green T Gallery Show--A Preview

All of the winning entries in SewGreen's Green T Reuse Contest will be presented at a gallery show this week. Today my kids and I snuck in and watched Wendy Skinner displaying all of the stunning designs. All of the entries used 100% cotton t-shirts, jeans, and/or recycled cotton fabric to create their designs.

Here's a preview of the show, in pictures taken by my daughter.