Bedroom lamp

We had 2 rooms in need of a lampshade. One is the den: “link to the post” and the other was our bedroom. I am ultimately planning to paint a piece of silk that I will then apply on a frame I have already purchased. The silk fabric had been purchased years ago for a different purpose and I am still unsure where it might be. For a while I assumed I would find it quickly and get the lamp done but as other matters took precedence I realized It would take a while before I can do this.

I have therefore purchased another inexpensive lamp shade and, in the space of less than one hour, proceeded to transform it in something I would not be ashamed to show to people:

I have used newspaper yarn. I had spun it ages ago and some of it had been died in pink and wine. (I believe that I was dying something else and simply dropped the still wet yarn in the leftover dyebath). “link to paper yarn spinning”

The yarn is wrapped around the frame and held in place by tying the yarn ends with sewing thread. Once I am ready to make the silk lampshade I will be able to recycle the yarn.

Back stencil shirt

For this one I have designed one half of the pattern, folded the freezer paper in half transferred the pattern to the other half. I have cut out the positive spaces and ironed the stencil onto the back of the shirt. This was probably the hardest thing to do. This is a cheap T-shirt from Primark and it is not exactly symmetrical.

I have sprayed red dye using a mouth atomizer onto the stencil. I have then tacked a contrasting fabric onto the back.

All I have to do now is quilt the 2 fabric layers together and, once done, cut off the top layer and any excess bottom layer.

This is the sort of work I like to have at hand because it is mindless and relaxing and it usually take a good long while to get completed. Since I have almost finished the Alabama shirt “link to post” I do need a new project of this type.

Den lampshade

Since we moved in I have been planning to make 2 lampshades for the 2 rooms in the house that had naked bulbs when we moved in. The other rooms already have light fixture and we are not planning to replace them.

The lamp of the den was supposed to be a sculptural structure made of two panes of felt spiralling towards the centre. The felt I wanted to use is dark green and I realised that it would not let any light out. So I decided for a structural ball made of several stripes of felt. This worked from the point of view of light but the shape was ugly and lopsided.

I decided to change completely and went for this:

It is made of muslin fabric, supposedly dyed to have a gradient from green to almost white but the bucket tipped and the result is rather plain. I still like it. I have used fabric I already had and the frame was £2.99> For such an inexpensive lampshade I can decide to replace it at any point.

Green backpack

This is a jacket I have used over an over to the point that it was threadbare. I still loved the fabric so I decided to take it apart to see if anything could be salvaged.

The reverse of the fabric was perfectly fine and I decided to make a bag/backpack. I had seen some around and decided to use them as inspiration and make my own.

It is a very simple design: bottom + 2 sides. The 2 sides are shaped so that the resulting bag looks like a wedge. This makes it easy to fold when used “messenger style” and looks somewhat elegant when carried as a backpack.

I have used the jacket lining to line the inside of the bag,

I am happy with the result from a merely aesthetic viewpoint but it is not the workhorse of bags that I had envisioned. It is a tad too small.
While creating the paper templates the bag looked big enough. I had designed it so that it would fit my camera.  The problem is that once the camera is in the bag there is little space for anything else.

I could have done it bigger but that would have meant using the body of the jacket rather than the sleeves only. And I could not resist the temptation of saving fabric for another project.
I have been looking to make a Mary Poppins type bag for ages and I have been imagining it made with this green fabric.

Jeans Rugs

I recycle most of my clothes. After they are no longer decent I wear them around the house and then use them for a number of uses but mainly for rag rugs. 

Jeans follow the same life up to a point. I find it hard to reuse them. 

The technique I found here: www.curbly.com works and produces rough rugs I am using in the bathroom.

For the core I have used the cheap synthetic clothes line cord they sell in the pound shops.




















I have cut strips of the jeans and wrapped them around the cord. I found it easier to do the wrapping before starting to stitch. I have used pins to keep the wraps in place and used a long straight stitch to block the jean strips to the inner cord.

I have then used a zigzag stitch to join them in the round.

I have one small rug and a bigger one made of 3 circles.

Crocheted baskets

It is possible to crochet and in-globe another material. I have done so in: Tissue paper basket.

For this basket I begun by crocheting flat to make a base and then I started crocheting in the round. I only use the basic crochet stitch. 

I have staggered the strands of raffia. This helps keeping the diameter of the basket even. Most often you need only add one strand at the time to the bundle that is being tied to the spiral.

Aragorn's shirt

This is my take on Aragonrn's grey shirt. He is wearing it in "The company of the ring" and, luckily for me, it is mentioned in the extra material of the Lord of the Rings box set I received for Christmas years ago. 

I started using a commercial pattern: Butterick 4486. I then proceeded to change it almost completely. I have added a yoke. The white toile has a too-small-yoke that I then enlarged. 

I have replaced the cuffs with draw strings and I have divided the sleeves in to pieces. The top part was replaced by a smocked section. The drawstrings and the neck closures are cords made on the lucet.