Can a pillowcase be inspirational?

I am doing an elective subject called "Mining the Museum". Now, museums are great fun for someone like me who likes to collect stuff and would love to have their very Victorian Cabinet of Curiousity. There are plenty of contemporary artists out there who are inspired by the stuff in museums and the way it is arranged. Mark Dion springs to mind. If you have time you might like to check him out on YouTube too - you will find him a pretty interesting and energetic kinda guy. So whilst this subject has given me the excuse (who needs one?) to head off to a couple of different museums and listen to some really interesting lectures, so far all I have done is daydream about collections and taxonomy - which is a fancy way of saying "classifying stuff". No harm in that but I am not making much headway with the practical requirements of the course! I feel however, that is all about to change - and I owe it all to a humble pillowcase. You see today I found a single, lonesome pillowcase in the oppie ...

It has all these lovely specimen-like drawings - the sort you might have found in a botanical book. It spoke to me of early pioneers and collectors who painstakingly documented their botanical finds. A few flicks of the scissors and a turn around the trusty Singer and a transformation took place ...

Now it is a lovely A4 size journal cover that seems completely appropriate for the subject at hand. All I have to do is fill it up with clever ruminations, illustrations and some research - easy-peasy! Not! My hope is that this lovely cover will inspire me every time I look at it and the work will just flow - as a theory it has some merit ...

Pattern Making Mayhem

I have this top that I just love. It hides a multitude of sins and is soft and comfy but still looks good. Thing is though, I have worn it to death and whilst it is not exactly shabby, it is certainly not in its prime ( a bit like me I suspect!). Now this was an op-shop top that I bought years ago and I have never seen another like it - even in "real" clothing stores. I thought it had been lost at one stage and was  mighty upset. So, I decided to gird my loins and make a pattern from it and set to making myself anothery! I should point out that I haven't made a pattern for years - and even when I did I was always terribly grateful for stretch fabrics - gotta love easement! Of course there was no tracing paper in the workroom, so I snaffled the Glad-Bake out of the kitchen and set to work. I drafted the pieces fairly well (forgot about seam allowances though!) but what seems like a simple top is in fact deceptively complex - the front is actually made of 6 panels - all differing in shape - they kinda fit together like a jigsaw! The upshot was that I decided I should make a prototype - just to see if the pattern works before I go and spend my dollars on decent fabric. I only had a skerrick of stretchy fabric in the cupboard so it looks a bit odd - there will need to be a few pattern adjustments - adding seams for one thing but overall, I do believe it might just work! I sure made a mess getting there though!

 Fortunately, you can't see the floor in this pic - it was positively littered with screwed up bits of Glad-Bake- and I always like to add hints on my pattern pieces!

All in all, it reminded me why I like to make jewellery!

heatwave crafting

Thanks to the extreme hot weather we recently experienced and being trapped indoors I actually dragged the sewing machine into the living room (studio was just TOO hot!) and made a few little crafty projects. It was great. I rarely sew these days because jewellery-making keeps me fully occupied. I had forgotten the joys of a good old fossick through the fabric cupboard and the little butterfly jump you get in your tummy when you rediscover a piece of fabric you had forgotten you had and is just perfect for the project you have in mind!

This little chap is for my great-nephew who will soon be one year old. He is made of felt (the bug silly - NOT the nephew!),and some cotton scraps.I figure the baby will be able to grab those legs and swing the bug about or have a good chew on them. I used wool felt - it is so much lovelier than acrylic felt. We haven't named him yet so if you have any suggestions ...

I used a pattern from the "softies" book which is a compilation from a bunch of different crafters. This pattern was made by Carly Schwerdt of Nest Studio. The photos in the book are lovely and most of the patterns are straightforward. There is a second book out called "more softies" apparently - I borrowed this one from the library - just before the heat-wave - so I must have known I would be sewing!

I usually make my daughters a covered diary each at Christmas time and put it in their Christmas stockings ( are you ever too old for a Christmas stocking?) but this year the Christmas spirit didn't kick in until after Daughter 2 returned to Oz after a year in the UK - and that left me with just 9 days until Christmas Day! Eeeek! Needless to say a number of would-be projects were shelved. So, they became post-Christmas gifts. I made the one pictured below for said returning Daughter and she just loves it! Both of the girls have a penchant for being organised and keeping things sorted (sadly NOT their bedrooms though!) so these diaries are a practical gift and the girls can often be spotted scribbling in all those social arrangements that young adults have. Handy to keep work shifts sorted as well. I doubt my darling Son even knows what organised means, so he misses out on a diary. Besides all his social arrangements seem to take place in that murky environment called online-gaming - he and his friends talk to each other in real-time via our Skype headsets but through the actual game they are playing! Have to admit I don't really get it, technology defeats me sometimes.
I didn't purchase any fabrics for these - just used up scraps of felt I had. If I can ever wrestle the other one from Daughter 1, I will post a piccie - she wanted an owl ...