Obi 1

Here's something I made a few months ago, but only attached the strings this evening. I love the obis at fantastic Melbourne shops like Queen, but simply couldn't justify the purchase. Also, as soon as you begin sewing in earnest, your internal monologue starts chanting 'I could make that'.

The only upcycled part of this project was the maroon silk fabric which I found in an op-shop and which was inexplicably glued to a piece of paper???? The Japanese fabric was quilting material bought from Lincraft and ribbon from Spotlight.

Front view

Back view.

Also, it's reversible. Here's Genevieve modeling the inside.

Weekend-itis

So...here's a secret. I'm not really a weekend person. Both the man and I consider it to be the low point of the week where nothing is open when you want it to be and it's difficult to get a car-park. You feel like you're supposed to be doing something, expect that you can't remember what. There is a lack of electricity in the air which is intrinsic to weekdays.

So how to combat weekend-itis? Well a $1-a-meter fabric sale at Spotlight helped...

 Love this fabric! And the best part of all? It's flannelet! With it I made:

Two pillow cases at about 70 cents each.

Here's the inside of the second pillowcase. I included it to show off the awesomeness which is my over-locker.

 A 20 cent pouch for my new smart phone to stop it getting mashed up in my hand bag.

Playing with the camera function of my new phone.

Loving the 'sepia' option.

Happy Monday!

Buttons!

Every dedicated upcycler needs a few things to really come to grips with their craft:
1. A schedule which allows for visits to op-shops between meetings/appointments/deadlines etc
2. Big plastic tubs to store odds and ends of fabric, paper, thread, cotton etc
3. A patient partner/housemate who accepts that sewing projects take precedence over food on the dining room table.
AND
4. A button tin!

My button tin is over 60 years old and was originally a special edition biscuit tin to celebrate the wedding of Elizabeth II and Philip.

I think that both Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret were incredibly beautiful as young women. While portraiture of royalty is generally idealised, I love the fact that with each new edition of Australian coins, the Queen has more and more chins!

My button tin was inherited from my maternal grandmother who, as a result of living through the depression, never wasted anything. Coming from a large and poor family, clothes were generally second, third or fourth hand. Once the garment had completely worn out, the buttons were cut off and saved before the clothing was cut up into cleaning rags. This is a habit she continued her whole life and now that we live in a time where waste is looked down on as un-environmental and unsustainable, I do the same.


Button Cushions!

And to match the button tin....Button cushions which liven up our incredibly comfortable but fairly unattractive display model couch.

 Purchased for the grand total of:

 I love the fabric and they haven't been used!

 Buttons are something which can be found in multitudes at op-shops and I've even been known to buy bits and pieces for the buttons. Because buttons (I feel like this paragraph is suffering from a gratuitous overuse of the word 'buttons) are such an important part of upcycling, stay tuned for the further adventures of grandma's button tin!

Cassette skirt

My inspiration for this project was what looked like a square scarf, purchased for $1 at an an op-shop. I loved the colour and adored the pattern of tiny cassettes all over it. It had the name Ted's printed in the corner, which I immediately associated with Ted's camera shop, but the font was different. It seems strange that an electronics store would sell scarves, but then I considered whether it was perhaps part of the uniform for female staff?

For this project I cut the scarf up into strips for a panel skirt and teamed it with some black theatre cloth and bits from an old green table cloth.

 With the very tiny amount of left-over fabric, I cut out the shape of a cassette, over-locked the edges and finished it off with two mother-of-pearl buttons from Grandma's button tin.

MP3's are fantastic, but there is something aesthetically pleasing about tapes, Cd's and records. I'm already thinking about matching accessories for this skirt...

Harvesting

Part of the role of an upcycler is to harvest, a concept which can conjure up a plethora of images.

Ye olde harvester of crops...

Harvester of souls...

Often extremely usable things can be harvested from incredibly UGLY things.

A glass dome can be gleaned from a hideous plastic clock made in China for 5 cents and bought for $2 at the Salvation Army op shop.

Ugly clock

 Elegant 1900's museum style display: constructions of humanity and nature in sharp juxtaposition.

A smaller ugly clock purchased a week later became a house for this shell.

Dragonfly Cuff

Sometimes the smallest object can inspire an upcycling project. In this case, it was a sweet dragonfly charm which came attached to the price tag of some jeans I bought eleven years ago. The jeans have since died and gone to denim heaven, but the charm sat in my sewing basket until it was pressed into service for this cuff. I made it a few years ago, so it's looking a little worse for wear close up...but you get the idea.

 Wool left over from a scarf.

Button from my Grandma's button box.

Scrap material left over from other projects and a beautiful vintage print fabric from Hunter Gatherer in St Kilda.

Twist the wool around the button and wear!

Stuff on my Mantlepiece

What's the difference between upcycling, customising, recycling, re-purposing and op-shopping? For me, the lines are blurred. I like and live them all. Today I'm introducing a new segment called 'Things on my Mantlepiece'. Is that not a completely gripping and fascinating concept? At least 90% of my objects are second-hand and I suspect that they fit mostly into the category of re-purposing.

 Abstract sculpture centered around an op-shopped water carafe.

Thin wire, scrap origami paper and pieces from a Japanese dictionary

Bakelite knitting needles in a stunning Kelly green.

Sea glass picked up on the beach.