Have a Cuppa

Settle down for a a cuppa as I have a few bits and pieces to write about before taking a blogging break for the season.

Take it Further challenge News
I have just updated the Take it Further challenge and the sign up period is now closed. There are a few stragglers that I am waiting on for a web addresses for. I have a number of people who have not got back to me with this question and I am now working on the assumption that people have changed their minds if I have not had a return email with their web addy to list, in 48 hours. Sorry folks I simply can’t chase you all up constantly.

At the moment the number of participants is at 273 277 I want to thank everyone who helped spread the word as this sort of number is a good starting point for a challenge. Inevitably there will be drop outs but even with these there is now a large enough number to keep a good group dynamic going and make for an interesting and successful challenge.

On the 1st of each month I will post the challenge which means the first challenge will be posted on January 1 the day I get back form my little blogging holiday.

A little self promotion
My online class Sumptuous Surfaces will run again in January commencing January 24th. You may like to treat yourself or drop some heavy hints as to a Christmas present. The last time this class was run some fantastic work was produced. You can see students work on the flickr group that was set up for students of the class. Even if you are not considering the class it is worth taking a look as there is some great stuff there. The class commences January 24th. There is further information about the class on this page and you can book this class here

A few thinks …
In response to my ideas on slow cloth and slow craft floated here and here Carol-Anne of Threads across the Web has written a very thoughtful piece about the philosophy behind Japanese embroidery and how it might relate to slow cloth in Why do we feel the need for speed?

On the same topic Debra Spincic in her post When Opportunities Arise has suggested that if the opportunity arises to teach someone and don’t dumb down the project. This is a very practical approach to the dumbing down of craft practice and one of the reasons I delight in seeing people write tutorials and post them to blogs. Even if it is as simple as a knot like this the information is invaluable for anyone who does not have the skill.

Sequana dropped me an email to point me to SusyJack which in turn was pointing to an article in the New York Times about contemporary craft titled Handmade 2.0. It’s an article well worth reading because I think many of us sense that the scope and meaning of craft activity has shifted and has been re-energised in the last few years.

Jo of No Matter Where I go I Always Meet Myself There came up with a clear definition of slow cloth in this post
” SLOW CLOTH is what it is all about, taking the time, and care to create something, with thought, with some individuality, and with a genuine interest for the process, as well as the result.”

Elaine Lipson of Red Thread Studio has defined her ideas more here. Kay Susan of S’mockery has seen the debate from a different angle again here
Allison Aller has told the story of one of her slow pieces and Christine of Lady Janes Journal has also dusted off a slow cloth. Mara of Applique and Embroidery in Beijing has also made some good points. I particularly was interested in point about the loss of skills

On another note the idea of slow textile practice tied to the slow movement is part of the Whip Up philosophy look at their manifesto. To quote them “Whipup is for the slow movement, slow cooking, slow living, slow schooling, slow sundays, slowly enjoying life. By living life out of the fast lane we will hopefully notice more, learn more, enjoy our children, friends and family, enjoy our time doing the things we love.”

As you can see slow craft is not about machine versus hand or even the art craft debate but a philosophy about where your values sit. The strength of the ideals behind slow craft is that it does not set a dichotomy between this or that point of view but introduces a way of thinking about craft practice.

There is a shift in craft practice and I have been thinking about a definition of craft that addresses the highly creative DIY community. Certainly this is craft or crafting, just not craft as we think we know it. Hobby Princess in writing of this shift summarized the change “…it’d be a mistake to shrug crafters off as clueless. Below the innocent appearance they are planting the seeds of change. Without making a big deal about boycotting big brands or saving the environment, crafting changes the way we consume. It exposes us to the original ideals of William Morris: the preference of creativity, sincerity, good materials and sound workmanship over wasteful mass-production.” Related to the topic of the shift in how we think about craft practice is an article in Craft Research titled Craft 2.0

As you can see I have been poking around and thinking the notion of a slow cloth has lead me to trying to define for myself what craft practice is in the early 21st century. I hope in the New Year you can bear with me as I tease away and untangle this topic a little further as for me the slow movement also reacts our culture of consumption and consumerism and considers our environment. It is a topic I am going to give more thought to and feel free to chip in with comments or write a blog post about what you think.

Late Edit Take a look at Misa’s thoughts  on the subject of Slow Craft as she has ‘got it’ in other words understand she perfectly understands what I mean by slow craft

A few links
I have a few odd links today which I have either been meaning to post or develop into longer posts. I thought I would put them out there for your enjoyment
Once again I encountered again Freda’s Photos on Flickr. She has photographs of the most fantastic crazy quilt up. No doubt the discussion lists found it and delighted in the eye candy but I missed it and was delighted at seeing this quilt so I thought I would share it with you

While on Flickr I found this group for Button Wreaths, Trees, Balls and Flowers. Then I got stuck on this flickr group for vintage buttons and then I discovered this flickr group for button jewelry and accessories As you can see Flickr can be a huge time sink for me if I am not careful

With the New year around the corner many of us take stock and look at where our life is going and what we are doing. It’s the time of year that we set goals for the future and look back on the previous year.

While in such a mood you may like to take a look at The Life of Riley. Olive is 108 and with the help of Mike keeps a blog. This blog is not on the topic of textiles but it certainly is about life and not to be missed

If you are still feeling link deprived check out the Take it Further challenge page and the TAST page as I have updated the list there to those that are in the process of finishing or those frantically stitching to catch up, as there is a huge list of blogs there that will more than keep you busy!

Whats coming up in the new year?

I will be back in the new year with the Take it Further challenge, my usual links to resources, my have a cuppa type posts
I plan to regularly add a tutorial round up as there is some great resources being produced by bloggers.
Also I have noticed I have a good few new readers who are new to blogs and the internet. This has come to my attention during the sign ups for the Take it Further challenge. I have had to answer emails on some real basics like what a web address is and how to leave a comment on blogs, the fact that blogs change daily or weekly and even how to bookmark a site. So I will return to writing tips and tricks on how to use the technology of the web and blogging at a basic level. These will be either tutorials written by me or along the lines of my post on RSS feeds the other day. It is too easily assumed that people know this stuff and they often don’t. I do keep Mindtracks which is about this but many readers here do not follow that blog and it is possibly too technical for them.
Also next year I hope you can bear with me as I document more of my work in progress. I do actually stitch!

My personal challenge for next year is to get quite a few projects done. Readers will hopefully enjoy watching me blitze my work room and weigh everything in my stash as I am going on a fiber diet next year so swing back here for what I am sure will be an amusing sight. After my weigh in I am going to set about clearing the decks, sorting out, de-cluttering, de-stash, finish projects and start new projects I have been thinking about. At the end of the year I am going to weigh everything again and see how much weight I have lost.

I hope readers will enjoy what I have planned but until then I want to wish everyone my best for the season and the new year. Thank you for returning day after day to read what I dash off here. This blog brings me great satisfaction but without readers and your constant input it would not be what it is. So here I am waving and I hope to see you in the new year as I am off on a much needed no blogging holiday.

 

A Bracelet of Buttons

Button crafts are becoming more and more popular. Threads Magazine has a useful quick gift idea on using your old but interesting buttons to make a Button Bangles.

Christmas is not far away and these would make ideal stocking fillers!

 

Coins as buttons

Using coins to embellish apparel or fashion accessories is not new and crazy quilters have often decorated their quilts with coins. The trick is to make holes in the coins so you can stitch them to what ever you want embellish. DIY Coin Buttons is a illustrated step by step tutorial on how to punch holes in the coins so they can be used as buttons. Scrapbookers would find this a handy tutorial too!

 

Look who is lucky

Jerry has just returned from Paris and look at what was in his bags for me. Two books to add to my library picked up at the V&A as he had 24 hours in London and a huge 2 kilo bag of vintage buttons found at a market. Jerry has photos of the ‘button stall’ his blog that made me drool and I am sure it will make you salivate too. The beads which were purchased at the same stall are vintage too so I am happily sorting goodies.

The other gift I am actually reticent to use as it is a very old. Jerry found a very battered and cheap copy of a 1902 edition of Les Pamphlets Libertins contre Marie-Antionette in other words it is about the revolutionary broadsheets that criticise Marie-Antionette. The book itself has a broken spine, is heavily foxed and I don’t think there is a page in it that is not torn, many are cello taped together and the cello has stained the pages. Other pages are worn or damaged in some way.

I use ephemera in collages – and I like to use the real thing not digital copies. Jerry spotted this gem and bought it home for me to cut up! But I am not sure I actually can. I have no hesitation in chopping contemporary stuff or even tatted and damaged books printed from the 70s on but older material always hurts.

The material however is so interesting particularly since it can be incorporated in so many ways to talk about many ideas. Revolution, early celebrity, women in history, poverty, gluttony; the list goes on. The material in short is just great and its agony to use it, yet agony not to use it! This book is useless as a book as it is so damaged. What do you think? Should I use it? Is it a crime?

 

Button crafts

Yesterdays crazy quilt detail using buttons prompted me to think about button crafts and using them for other projects. You can add buttons to just about anything. Embellishment ideas are everywhere. Some ideas are more practical than others.

After many years of scavenging in second hand shops for jars of buttons I have kilos (I am not exaggerating) of plastic shirt buttons and the like. These are not really suitable for crazy quilting and I am always on the look out for interesting way to use buttons particularly plane buttons. Of course I made this button necklace last year from ugly buttons and I have made other things with buttons before.

So here is a round up of what I found. Many require vintage special buttons but some would be interesting made from the more mundane, humble and often neglected buttons. I found these button bracelets, and then there are these too. They both use vintage buttons. However here is a simple Button Bracelet tutorial and another similar bead and button bracelet which includes directions on how to make it.

I really liked the quirky personality of this Button Lady Pin. On the Martha Stewart site, I found these directions on making a Button Necklace. Craftlog has posted images of these button necklaces and this stacked button ring. There are more Button Jewellery projects on the JHB International site.

I have posted this link before but I still like this Button covered tote . If you combined it with this Tote Organizer it would make a nice gift.

I thought this project which encourages children to learn to count with buttons was cute. Also for children there are these Button Buddies which would make an ideal project for children but they would have to be over 4 or 5 as you don’t want little ones swallowing buttons.

There is also an article by Jennie Archer Atwood on Embellishing Vintage Textiles using Vintage buttons. Many of the techniques suggested in this article can be applied not only to garment construction or embellishing smaller projects such as bags, but also to adding emphasis and texture to crazy quilting.

Well I think that is enough links for anyone interested in button crafts. I am off to have breakfast then out to the garden.

 

I love the Post

Yesterday I went to the post box to discover a wonderful surprise as a parcel was waiting for me. A month or so ago I received an email from Robin Wilkinson saying she had some buttons to send me a gift that she would like to pop in the mail.

I returned her email, gave her my address and thanked her but to be honest did not think too much more about it as people do sometimes write and although they mean to get what ever it is in the mail, life gets in the way and what ever it is does not make it to mail box. They mean to send it but it never arrives. So I had forgotten about it totally. So imagine my surprise when I opened these.

These buttons are from Robin’s grandmothers button box who was born in the central United States in 1891, and moved to Texas just after the turn of the 19th century. Robin said she was thrifty and like many people of that time, she made quilts out of worn clothing and saved the button for future use. She died in the late 1980s

These are some of those buttons. A big public thank you to Robin it this is a thoughtful thing to do and since they have such an interesting story they are definitely valued and will be used in my crazy quilting work.

 

Beaded Button Tutorial

This Beaded Button Tutorial is an ideal element to add to a crazy quilt project, a special garment or accessory.

 

Swap Meet finds

After posting yesterday morning we headed out into a chilly late autumn Canberra day to the local swap meet which Rotary runs each Sunday at Woden.

In my general scrummaging around I came across an elderly lady who had bagged up the contents of her button box and was selling them off at $2.00 per bag. Since many were vintage I rolled up my sleeves, podded poked and generally had a good peer into the bags before I handed over the money for 7 of them.

These are the gems I found. Many of the old plastic buttons are either celluloid, an early plastic or bakelite. The buckles are lovely too. I had not thought of using old buckles on a crazy quilt block but as soon as I saw these in the bags I knew I had a home for them.

I was most intrigued with the two buttons of a lady which to me looks like Walt Disney’s Cinderella. I was wondering if it was a 50’s Disney button. I have had a poke around the button sites but not found any information on it. Shaped novelty buttons like this are called goofies. Many people collect them so I trawled the button sites looking at vintage goofies but to no avail. She is delightful nevertheless.

 

Lisa Kokin

For button fans (like myself) Lisa Kokin’s work will appeal as she creates images from buttons and found objects. On her site she describes her work as:

“Every button is stitched to its neighbor to form a low-tech pixilated composition. Up close each piece is an abstract mélange of colors and shapes; the further back one stands the more decipherable the image becomes. This interplay between abstraction and representation intrigues me. It is as though I am painting with buttons, building my palette as I go along, adding and subtracting until the interplay of colors and forms coalesces into a coherent image.”

 

Button Necklace directions

I have been poking about to see what sort of last minute gift ideas I can come up with for Christmas. On the Martha Stewart site I found these directions on making a Button Necklace. This year may have a button theme as on the same site I found directions on how to make a Button Wreath Ornament