S T I T C H Y B R I T T

Guerilla Art

2012-02-06T22:10:00.001+11:00

You may already know that I have a bit of a thing for guerilla art. I love it when I'm travelling and I find some yarn bombing around a bike rack, or concrete televisions displaying thought-provoking pictures. The fact that someone has taken the time to make the street more interesting is a nice thought.

Photo from amoment.com.au

One street art project that I adore (but am yet to witness for myself) is aMoment. aMoment make little gifts and do mass drops of them in the street for people to find and take home. For their first drop they planted forget-me-nots in teacups and left 100 of them on the streets of Melbourne with 'please take me home' tags. How cool is that? aMoment are actually looking for funding to help their next project right now - do you think you could spare a dollar? If so, go here (there is a cute video about them too).

Then my lovely friend C bought me this book for Christmas! It is full of brilliant ideas for guerilla artists, such as guerilla gardening (creating a small garden in an unused space like the middle of a roundabout) and moss graffiti (truly awesome).

I have not chosen my first project yet, but I am scheming.

Teddy

2012-01-30T18:51:00.002+11:00

See this funny little fellow? He was a gift for a work friend who has just started her maternity leave with her first little one. He (the teddy, not the little one) was crocheted from yarn entirely from my stash and no pattern.

Now, Aussie readers, if you think you have seen a look-a-like of this fellow advertising a certain Australian brand, you're right. I modelled him off the other 'Teddy' as a sort of in-joke at work.

He was well appreciated.

Oh, and it's now the end of January, so I'm due to check in about my year of no plastic food packaging. Here are the plastic food packaging items that went in our bin this month:

Three lids of UHT milk cartons (which I use for making yoghurt)
One vaccum sealed bag that had a whole chicken in it, and two that had sausages (meat packaging is on the 'allowed' list, but in the interest of full disclosure I'm listing it here anyway)
One small plastic window from a mostly-thick brown paper bag of corn chips (I was desperate for chips and these were the closest to plastic-free I could find)

Not a bad effort, me thinks!

Making Yoghurt

2012-01-22T17:06:00.001+11:00

The first gift that I unwrapped on Christmas morning was a sterile jar. Insert puzzled look on my face and boyfriend unable to contain his laughter. What on earth was this for? I unwrapped a few more gifts and was very pleased to discover that I was the proud new owner of a yoghurt maker (the sterile jar is for keeping the dried yoghurt cultures). Awesome! I had been investigating ways of making yoghurt online, but the risky part seems to be being able to keep the yoghurt at a consistent low temperature for the right length of time. Some people have had success, others, icky sour dairy.

This wonderful yoghurt maker, however, is pretty much foolproof. As long as all containers and utencils are sterilized before using there's not much that can go wrong. You simply pour your milk into the container (UHT milk, otherwise you have to heat treat it yourself by heating it to 90 degrees celcius then letting it cool to 40 degrees before adding any cultures) and either add a tiny 10th of a teaspoon of yoghurt culture or a dollop of the last batch of yoghurt you made. It's then as simple as putting the container in the yoghurt maker and switching it on - this then keeps the yoghurt at the perfect temperature (around 40 degrees) for your desired length of time - usually 8 - 12 hours. Then you will have a container of yummy fresh yoghurt to pop in the fridge!

I love this yoghurt maker. We've already used in numerous times since Christmas day. And it came at the perfect time as I was starting my 'no plastic food packaging' year. It's also really cheap to make. Double whammy!

Yum!

Ruffle top

2012-01-15T15:32:00.000+11:00

I have been seeing loads of these ruffle tops getting about town, and decided that I really wanted to make my own.

It started out with a plain, grey, long-sleeved shirt that I hardly ever wore because the high neckline didn't suit me. Around the same time, the ever-stitchy Nikkishell was clearing out her fabric stash and I became the lucky recipient of some fabric she had no use for. This black-and-white spotted georgette was perfect for the ruffle. I basically just made a long tube of it, gathered it, then arranged it down the front of the top. I hemmed the shirt sleeves shorter and that was it!

The thing I learnt about ruffle tops is that there's a fine line between the high fashion look and the deranged clown look. It look a couple of goes pinning and unpinning to try to emulate the former as best as possible.

Hopefully I didn't come out looking too circusy, but just in case, here's me trying to fit in...

Many thanks Nikki!

My Year of No Plastic Food Packaging

2012-01-08T17:56:00.000+11:00

Food purchased from our local co-op shop (byo jar)

The idea for having a year free from plastic food packaging came about because I wanted to reduce the amount of plastic coming into and exiting our house, knowing the amount of resources it takes to make plastic, and the fact that once it's used, it will be sitting about in landfill for the next 500 years or more. Given the short amount of time that plastic is actually in use, 500 years is crazy, right?

We're pretty lucky because we live not far from a co-op shop that sells food staples in bulk - you take your own jars and containers and fill them up. As I've mentioned before, we're also members of a veggie co-op that brings us a delivery of fresh fruit and veg direct from the farmer's market each week. So I have absolutely no excuses to not buy plastic packaging-free fruit, veg, pasta, rice, legumes, herbs, flour etc.

In making this commitment, however I do acknowledge there are some things that I consider staples which I will need to buy in plastic. I have narrowed this down to two items - meat and cheese. I've mentioned before that we don't eat a lot of meat in our household, but when we do we get it from an organic, free-range supplier who deals in only sustainable meats. There are some cheeses that come in foil or wax, but most varieties come in plastic packaging, and we are cheese lovers in our household. These are the two items I am not willing to go without.

There are other things I can live without though - packets of chips (crisps), sweets, store-bought breads, dips and a multitude of other things.

The point is, it's not about putting excessive limits on ourselves, it's about making our lives better whilst also reducing our impact on the planet. I might be about to have a year without marshmallows (sob!) but eating less refined sugars is actually going to be heaps better for my health, not to mention those plastic packets that will not be heading to landfill.

By the way, have you seen the film No Impact Man? It's really worth watching. If a family living in a New York apartment can completely cut their impact on the environment for a year, then we can all make small changes in our lives, don't you think?

New Year, New Plans

2012-01-02T12:23:00.000+11:00

Some people seem to avoid any kind of end of year reflection, not wanting to review the things they promised they would do, which may or may not have been done. But I bet if you actually sat down and wrote a list of all the things you did last year, you'd be quite impressed with yourself.

Fabric shopping in Amsterdam in 2011

My 2011 goals included some careery type ones, some stitching type ones, and some sustainability type ones. I'm pretty pleased with how I've gone in all those departments. While some of these took quite hard work to achieve, they were all things that I REALLY WANTED, so the hard work wasn't so hard once I got into it.

In 2011 I...

Read 16 books. I just did the tally up, and that's way more than I thought. However, some of them were smaller kids books (like Paul Jennings Unreal!) and some were gardening books which are heavy on pictures (but still awesome).
Sewed 11 items of clothing, and mended, hemmed or altered countless more. Even as I sit here typing this, and stop to think, I'm moving the buttons on a pair of shorts to make them fit better.
Refashioned 3 items of clothing.
Knitted 5 items of clothing, including my first pair of socks which I worked on whilst travelling around Europe.
Crocheted 6 items.
I also made some things to cut down on the amount of waste entering and leaving our house, like veggie bags (no more plastic supermarket ones) and serviettes (bye-bye paper napkins). Also towards a more sustainable household we joined a veggie co-op, made our own bread, jams, sauces, chutneys... and even laundry liquid (see excellent instructions here, introduced to me by Erica from Recycled Fashion)

Wow - that's quite a list!

Cloth serviettes means no more one-use paper napkins

So then to 2012. I have three big themes for this year...

1. Creating
Ok, so if you look at the list above, you would probably think that I do enough creating already. But a lot of this stuff is from a pattern, so mostly I'm just following instructions. This year I want to do some more arty creating, less about the functional and more about the interesting and thought provoking. I have some plans here, which I will share with you as they start to take proper shape in the coming weeks.

2. Exercising
That's gotta be the most common New Year's Resolution, right? However I'm talking about exercising both my mind AND body. I love it when my brain gets working and the good ideas start to flow. I want to find the muscle that does that and give it a regular workout. Things like learning other languages or even doing crosswords helps. And as to the physical - I've never been a gym girl. Way too boring and monotonous. I have been taking acrobatics lessons for the last few years and I will be continuing to hone my skills (and hopefully perfect my handstands) in 2012.


Joining a veggie co-op was one of the best things I did in 2011. No plastic supermarket bags here!

3. Cutting down on food packaging
I have decided to cut out plastic food packaging as much as possible. The thought came to me when I went out to get some lunch one day, and came back to the office with some takeaway Japanese food. I finished my food in about 10 mins and realised that I was about to throw out a plastic container that had been used for literally 15 mins. When I thought about all the chemicals, water and energy that went into making it, and the fact that it was to become landfill after 15 mins of use, I was totally disgusted. I then resolved to cut out plastic food packaging as much as possible. This is my big commitment for 2012, the one that will require me to be more conscious when making food-buying decisions.

I'll be sure to keep you updated with my 'big themes' for 2012 and how I am going with them. How about you? Any big themes for 2012? Travel? Study? Cooking up a storm? Do tell!

Christmas Round Up

2011-12-29T21:21:00.001+11:00

Christmas has passed, we've ripped open our presents, eaten too much, perhaps had a few too many rum balls and fallen asleep on the couch. Ah, but now I can finally show you some of the Christmas gifts that I crafted this year!

Jars of seasoning mix - possibly the easiest gifts in the world to make, but always well appreciated! It's simply a mix of your favourite herbs - mine included rock salt, colourful peppercorns, oregano, rosemary and fennel seeds. Just mix it all together, spoon into jars and give them cute fabric tops to make them look festive. Easy!

Hypotrochoid hankies. These were a gift for a friend of mine who likes sciencey things but also crafty things. I used my trusty hypotrochoid set to draw the shapes (I knew there was a reason that I had to buy one as an adult, even though a voice inside was telling me that they're for kids) then embroidered them onto soft cotton linen.

Ooh... smokey barbeque sauce. This is one of my favourites. It really does turn out smokey and yummy, and you know the main ingredient used for smoking? Tea. Yep, good old tea. If you would like to make some smokey barbeque sauce of your own (I highly recommend it!) I wrote up the full recipe and instructions here. I also made plum and nectarine jam, but sadly forgot to take photos!

Some boxer shorts for boyfriend. I used an old pair of boxer shorts as a pattern, and was impressed with how well they came together. Fairly simple too, taking about an hour to whip up. I used some fair-trade, organic cotton that I bought online.

And I crocheted some face washers from fair trade, organic cotton yarn (I thought I had taken full photos, but can't seem to find them now). After looking at a few patterns online I decided to ad-lib a bit and just make up my own. I ended up doing a row of double crochet then a row of three double crochet in one stitch, chain and skip the next stitch. It worked out really well!

And me? Well I was truly spoilt this year, receiving some fantastic gifts that I had really wanted. Some beautiful books, new running shoes and something that I will blog about in the coming weeks - a yoghurt making set-up! Awesome! Just another step towards cutting down on the amount of packaging and food additives in my life. My yoghurt requires just two ingredients - milk and yoghurt culture. I promise to show you very soon.

In the meantime, enjoy your New Year's Eve celebrations and I will be back in 2012 with many more exciting stitchy stories!

The bow belt

2011-12-23T19:07:00.000+11:00

Only two sleeps until Christmas my friends! I can't wait! And guess what? I have one Christmas gift that I have made which I can show you... this bow belt which is for my Mum. How do I know that my Mum isn't going to see this? Because she's actually at the airport right now, about to hop on a plane to come and spend Christmas with me. And once she's here I'm going to keep her well and truly busy glazing the ham, making salads, and when she's not busy in the kitchen I will make sure she has a drink firmly planted in her hand - and that she goes nowhere near my blog. Should be easy!

This fabric bow belt is modelled off the clever original made by Tilly of Tilly and the Buttons, and you can find all the instructions on her blog. The fabric is actually the off-cut from a 2nd hand skirt that I bought in Antwerp - I shortened the skirt and this was the leftover fabric!

This is me trying it on for size before I give it to my Mama. Do you think she'll like it?

Merry Xmas all!

Caught in the Christmas rush

2011-12-13T19:25:00.001+11:00

Guys, did you realise that Christmas is less than two weeks away? I know - scary! But also fun! I am a big Christmas geek so I spend lots of time making gifts, decorating the house and planning a yummy feast (including a big free-range ham).

So although things have been quiet(ish) on the blog, I have been doing quite a lot of crafting, but I can only show you a sneak peek here in case the gift recipients are reading. So right now, I am joining other Christmas crafters to blog over at the Crafty Christmas Club blog. Now, if you're the kind of person that usually receives a gift from me (i.e. a family member or close friend) then you'll just have to sit tight and wait. But if you're not and you want to see what other Christmas crafters and I are making before the big day, head on over to the Crafty Christmas Club and take a look!

Well looky what's finished...

2011-12-04T16:33:00.001+11:00

Oh yes... they are finished! Here they are *drumroll*...

The finished Bella high-waisted shorts (based on the Burdastyle Bella Trousers). Looking pretty good, aren't they?

I had hoped to take these photos outside in the summery sunshine, alas, today was wet and thundery in Sydney (not that I'm complaining - I love this weather!). So here are the shorts modelled with a cardigan.

Boy, these shorts really were a challenge to get finished - I had problems at every step. Even when I was stitching on the buttons, of which I only had five, I stitched on four then reached for the fifth one to finish it off... and I couldn't find it! I called in boyfriend and we looked everywhere - on the desk, under the sewing machine, on the floor - it was nowhere to be found. Then suddenly I remembered - it was in the automatic button-hole foot for my sewing machine. Duh! Thankfully I got the last button on and I am very happy with them.

Ok summer, you can come now, I'm ready!

The Granny Square Cushion

2011-11-26T17:43:00.001+11:00

You may remember, a few posts ago, I started making granny squares for no particular reason. Such a simple thing to make, but great because you feel a sense of accomplishment every time you finish one. Then I realised that a friend of mine loves granny squares and I could whip them into a cushion cover for her birthday.

When I figured out the size of the cushion I was making I made a cover out of calico and cotton demin (no zip, just one of those foldover backs for easy removal when needed). Then I stitched my granny squares together and stitched the one big square onto the front of the cushion. Stitchy peeps out there are probably thinking "why didn't she stitch the granny squares onto the calico before making it into the cover?" I did think of this. But I was worried that the granny squares might not sit right if I put them on first, so that's why I left it until last (Stitchybritt logic - sometimes not the same as everyone else's logic).

Another well received gift! Onwards to Christmas crafting!

The Hump

2011-11-21T21:39:00.001+11:00

Have you ever run into to a hump in your sewing project? Maybe you started out all excited, choosing fabric and patterns and thread, winding on the bobbin, making those first few easy stitches. Everything was flowing smoothly and you thought to yourself "I'll have this finished in no time!".

Then some difficulty sets in. Some seams don't match together quite right. You run out of bobbin thread halfway through an intricate stitch. You accidentally cut a hole in the item while overlocking (don't talk to me about it). Then you're at the hump.

Say it ain't so: a hole accidentally cut in the front of my shorts

The hump is usually characterised by a project sitting idle for some time, the owner trying to avoid it, resigning it to the 'too hard basket'. It's going to take some effort to get back on track, and you just can't find that amount of effort inside you.

It's about here the instructions started making no sense whatsoever

That's where I was at with my Bella shorts at the beginning of the weekend. I was having a hard time trying to bring myself to look at the next step of the instructions, let alone tackle any unpicking or fixing that needed to happen. But I did, and little by little, I moved towards a finished pair of shorts.

The shorts are still not completely finished, but they are getting close. They have pockets. They have a hems. They have buttonholes (no buttons, mind you, but that's not such a difficult step). They are probably going to need a little taking in at the back, which could be tricky, but not the type of tricky that makes you avoid picking them up. I'm glad to say that I'm over the my shorts-sewing hump. And soon, very soon, I will be able to show you the finished product.

Crafty coasters

2011-11-13T11:28:00.001+11:00

Around the end of September I set myself a goal of finishing two new items of clothing by end October - my Jersey Dress, which is now finished and even has non-gapey neck binding thanks to Beth's instructions (see the comments below the Jersey Dress post), and my Bella high-waisted shorts, which are still not finished. I've run into a few hiccups along the way - my sewing machine and overlocker were both in the repair shop for a good 3 weeks, and the shorts themselves have been problematic - some vague instructions, some dodgy stitching on my behalf, and as they came together I began to realise that they are too big, even though I used the Burdastyle sizing chart. Anyway, I am persevering, and hope to have them finished for you to see (and me to wear!) soon. It's getting hot in Sydney, you know, and jeans just won't cut it for much longer!

Then the other day my friend Lucy came around for a spot of stitching and she was making these very cute fabric coasters for Christmas gifts. I was dying for a quick, easy project that I could finish in one sitting, so I joined in.

Cutting out the birdies

The coaster pattern actually comes from Pip Lincolne's original Meet Me At Mikes book. There is a sweet looking birdie stitched on the front of the calico side, and the same fabric that you used for the bird is used to back the coaster.

You sew the cut-out bird body on (with rough sewing lines to give the cute scrawly effect) and then stitch on legs, a wing and an eye. Here are our first ones...

And here are my finished coasters. These will make a great Christmas gift for someone, though I'm not sure exactly who yet. I really need to get organised and write my Christmas make list!

The finished coasters - a nice matching set!

Closing down the Stitchybritt store

2011-11-09T21:12:00.000+11:00

That's right, you read that correctly, I'm closing down the Stitchybritt Etsy store.

I've got a number of reasons for closing down the store. The main one is that I've recently started a new full time job with lots of responsibilities. That is a good thing - it's a great job and I love what I do (for those of you interested, I work in workplace diversity, which basically means I help make workplaces more fair and accessible for everyone no matter what your gender, culture, age etc). But this means that my spare time is more precious, and I'd rather spend it stitching and crafting for myself and my friends.

The second reason is that I'm a bit bored with tea cozies, despite the fact that they are pretty and I still (and will always) drink numerous cups of tea every day, there's only so many tea cozies a person can own, right?

Thirdly, I'm becoming more and more disillusioned with Etsy. I believe that the quality of the site is slipping due to their lack of action on re-sellers (if you don't know what I'm talking about, see these examples) and copycats (like these). Of course, there are still many talented crafters selling gorgeous stuff on Etsy and I will continue to be a buyer, but I am just a little more scrutinising these days.

Regardless, this means good things for you, because I am having a MASSIVE CLOSING DOWN SALE between NOW and 4 DECEMBER to get rid of all my stock. Everything in the Stitchybritt Etsy store is marked 50% off. What you see is what you get. There will be nothing new listed, and once it's gone it's really gone.

That's not to say that my crafty adventures are over. Hell no. I'll still be blogging here as normal, and I have a few plans up my sleeve for crafty fun in 2012. Stay tuned. It's gonna be big : )

Another birthday, another Sorbetto

2011-11-07T21:03:00.000+11:00

It was another friend's birthday recently so I decided to make another Sorbetto top - but this one was a refashion! This top began life as a men's business shirt - one that was barely worn by a male friend but was headed for the bin after a he had done a big wardrobe cleanout. Of course I snapped it up, planning to refashion it in some way.

The 'before' shot

That was 18 months ago. The shirt was still hanging around in my 'to refashion' pile until recently, when I knew my friend's birthday was coming up and that the pale blue colour would suit her complexion and auburn hair.

The 'after' shot

I traced the Sorbetto pattern onto the shirt with the button-up front in the centre of the front of the shirt. I wanted to keep the front pocket, so I had to unpick one side of the pocket to put in a dart underneath (and then put one on the other side), then stitch the pocket back on. I finished the neckline and armholes with pale blue bias binding.

What do you think, Snorky?

And it was a hit! My friend really loved the top, and I know that it will be well worn. One more shirt saved from landfill!

P.S. Buy Nothing New Month is now over, and I am pleased to say that the only new 'things' I bought were the tickets to see Circus Oz and a roll of kitchen paper (recycled) that I accidently bought alongside some groceries one day. No new clothes, shoes, books or anything else. It was not actually that difficult, but just required a bit of conscious decision-making (as my buys both happened without thinking about it). I'm not sure if it has changed my shopping ethic, as I already try to buy second hand where I can, but it was good to have the challenge. I'd happily do Buy Nothing New Month again. How did you go?

The Sun Hat

2011-10-29T14:46:00.000+11:00

With summer coming up here in Australia, and an outdoorsy friend's birthday around the corner, I decided that a sun hat would make an excellent handmade gift. The hat has rows of stitches around the brim which helps to keep it sturdy, and has a contrasting fabric for lining.

The pattern for the sun hat comes from Lotta Jansdotter's Simple Sewing book, and the fabric is Cloth. I actually won a sampler of Cloth fabrics from the Crafty Minx blog a few months ago, and this was the perfect opportunity to use some of it (by the way, if you love a bit of crafty vintage, you'll love the Crafty Minx blog). As the gift was from boyfriend and I to our friend, he helped to cut out the fabric, fuse interfacing and stitch it together. Go crafty boyfriend!

In other news, I've started blogging at the Crafty Christmas Club blog again, alongside many others who are making rather than buying gifts. It's a great resource for handmade Christmas gift ideas, and a fun place to check out what others are making. However, if you are a close friend or family member of mine I will have to ask you to refrain from visiting the Crafty Christmas blog - you wouldn't want to spoil any surprises!

Sauerkraut

2011-10-22T15:53:00.001+11:00

Making sauerkraut in pictures...

...you start with a cabbage and an apple...

... it's ok if you find little fellas like this, it means the cabbage wasn't drowned in pesticides. Just pop him in the garden (or feed him to the chooks)...

...finely chop your cabbage and apple...

...pop it in a bowl and salt it up!...

...then mash! Mash for your life! (or at least until the juices are coming out)...

...spoon it into a sterilized jar. It's ok to get some on your hand (and the bench and the floor)...

... cover with cling film, put another jar on top (you want to make sure it is all submerged in juices) and cover with cling film again...

...pop it in the fridge and wait a couple of weeks. Then you will have yummy sauerkraut to have with your sausages, your mash, your veggies, your rice.

Oh, and a quick update on Buy Nothing New Month. Day 22 and all going well. Only slight error I might have made was to buy paper kitchen towels while I was picking up some food supplies the other day. I'm not a big paper towel user (tea towels all the way!) but occassionally there is a need for paper towels, for example, when the kitty vomits. And now that I've put you all off your dinner, I'll be off! See ya!

Jersey dress

2011-10-17T22:31:00.001+11:00

My sewing machine and overlocker are finally back from the repair shop - hurrah! - and the minute they came home I wasted no time in getting to work stitching. One of the October projects I promised myself that I would finish was the Burdastyle Jersey Dress, made from patterned jersey that I bought in Amsterdam.

Like many Burdastyle website patterns I've encountered, the instructions were unfortunately fairly vague, but thankfully this pattern is relatively simple so I just used common sense to put it together. Most of the seams came together very quickly with my overlocker (I love that about jersey).

Really the only problem that I encountered was the neckline. I started with some of the same fabric to make binding, but it wouldn't sit right, so then I went for facing with top stitching. The first time I put in the facing the neckline went very warped and gapey, so I dutifully unpicked it all and pinned it in again, stretching the facing slightly as I went. This seemed to work better, but there's still a bit of gapey business going on - as pictured below. Experienced stitchers - any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong? Do I just need to stretch the facing more as I stitch?

The dress is wearable in its current state, but I don't want it to become one of those items that falls to that back of my wardrobe being overlooked everytime I remember its gaping neck. So your advice would be much appreciated! What to do with a gapey neck?

A pardon

2011-10-10T20:28:00.000+11:00

Less stuff, more happiness TEDtalk by Graham Hill

After my accidental Buy Nothing New Month error, I tweeted about it and got this response from the @Buy_Nothing_New twitter account:

u'll be pleased to know tixs to circus oz is not a fail. Buying a brand new outfit to see circus oz however wld be epic fail

I'm taking that as an official pardon! Yay! And no, I will definitely not buy a new outfit to see Circus Oz!

(By the way, you can follow me on twitter @stitchybritt if you so desire)

Since then, all I've bought is food, drinks and a train ticket. That's it. I've actually been quite busy, so I haven't really even looked at any other kind of shop. Only a few minutes ago I bid on a second hand jacket (for work) on eBay and won.

In the meantime, check out the blogs of these other awesome peeps who are also participating in Buy Nothing New Month:

Katiecrackernuts
Thrify Household (even though Buy Nothing New Month is promoted as an Australian thing, that didn't stop this UK lass from joining in)
Isis Made
The Byron Life

Are you doing Buy Nothing New Month and I missed you? Comment and let me know, I'd love to read all about it!

Granny squares

2011-10-06T20:00:00.000+11:00

While my dear sewing machine AND overlocker are at the service shop, I've had to start a new crochet project to keep my hands busy. I started crocheting these blooming granny squares with some old yarn from my stash, then realised that I could turn them into a cushion cover for a friend who is having a birthday is a few weeks. I need to crochet 16 (!) of them to cover one side of the cushion. I'd best get busy!

I'm a bit concerned about my end of October goal to have my jersey dress and high-waisted shorts finished, given that my sewing machine and overlocker will both be at the service shop until next weekend. Looks like I've got some stitchy weekends ahead of me.

In other news, I made my first (and hopefully last) Buy Nothing New Month error. I bought something new. It was only two little tiny bits of paper, but it's still new. It's tickets to see Circus Oz in January. I could try to justify the purchase by saying that it was a limited release special, and that they are amazing performers who deserve public support, and that they are an ethical company who support a number of charities... which is all true, but the truth is - I was not supposed to buy anything. And I totally didn't realise until AFTER I bought the tickets. Ok. Lesson learnt. No more new things for October. I promise!

Buy Nothing New Month

2011-10-02T19:11:00.000+11:00

Vintage blue sandals I picked up from LaFemme Vintage on Etsy

It's October peeps! (Holy crap - I'd better start thinking about Christmas!) And did you know that October is officially Buy Nothing New Month? I have pledged to buy nothing new for the whole month. What's it all about?

It's about slowing down rabid consumerism.

It's about buying second-hand, so less stuff goes to landfill.

It's about saving money.

It's about rethinking the way we consume goods, the impact these goods have on the world, and the way we dispose of them.

The website explains that you can still buy new food, drink, medicine and hygiene items*, but my 'allowed' list will be food, drink, (hopefully no need for) medicine and train tickets. But anything else will need to be sourced second hand, borrowed or home made.

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy crap we don't need" Tyler Durden

I love that the Buy Nothing New site quotes Fight Club, my most favourite movie ever. And while we're talking Buy Nothing New, why not take a ticket from the thrift-fashion icon herself, Marla Singer?

Marla Singer in her $1 thrift-shop dress (image from here)

Honestly, I don't think Buy Nothing New Month will be that much of a challenge for me, because I rarely buy new stuff anyway. Most of my clothes come from op-shops, or are homemade (and really, I have so much fabric I won't be needing to buy any new for a while). I have Ebay alerts set up for items I'm particularly looking for, like books and kitchenware. I used to frequent Freecycle, but now I only use it for giving stuff away. In fact, whenever I think about buying something 'new' now (for example, we are planning to buy an air conditioner to survive the summer) I think about where I can source it second hand, rather than where to buy one new. I also have the added advantage of being crafty, so if someone's birthday or another event springs up, I should be able to pull something together.

But we'll see! Maybe there'll be unexpected challenges? Maybe something will break and will need replacing? I promise to keep you updated.

October reading: a book about the unsustainable nature of the fashion industry, lent to me by a colleague.

*If we're talking about women's hygiene/sanitary items, then I won't need to buy those because I use a Lunette Cup. These are not well publicised in Australia (but you can buy them in health food stores and similar) and they are so much better than the supermarket options - for your body, for your wallet, and for the environment. Ladies, I recommend trying them out!

Stitchin' with friends

2011-09-25T12:29:00.000+10:00

Cutting out my Bella high-waist shorts, with assistance.

I know, it's hard work, isn't it Snorky?

: )

Planning my warm-weather wardrobe

2011-09-18T14:17:00.000+10:00

Spring has sprung and summer is around the corner, which means it's time to start planning the warm-weather wardrobe. So far I have two items planned for the making.

Image from Burdastyle Jersey Dress #109 - link

I bought this pink-ish patterned jersey at the Noordermarkt in Amsterdam, 5 euros per metre. I had been especially on the look out for patterned jerseys (why are they so hard to find?) so was pleased to find this one. I am planning to use it to make Burdastyle's Jersey Dress #109, except I'll be making the sleeves longer so that it's work-friendly for the summer. Of course I'll need to get my overlocker threading issue fixed before I start, then hopefully I can use it to knock up almost the whole thing.

Image from Burdastyle's Bella high-waisted trousers pattern - link

I thought I would attempt the high-waisted shorts look this year, although I couldn't find a pattern for high-waisted shorts, so I am using Burdastyle's Bella trousers pattern instead (I just find it so convenient to download patterns at home, which is why I keep going back to Burdastyle). This denim-look cotton was a hand-me-down from my Nana's fabric stash. It's a nice medium-weight cotton with a grainy denim look. It'll be a bit of a challenge - I can't remember the last time I did buttonholes - in fact, my sewing machine will need a service before I attempt tricky little things like those. So it's off to the repair shop for me before I get much further with my plans.

I've recently started a new (full time) job, so my sewing output has decreased somewhat. But my plan is to try to have these two finished before the end of October, so that I can get a good summer's wear out of them both. Let's see how I go...

Sorbetto

2011-09-15T21:15:00.000+10:00

Ok, so every stitcher under the sun has now had a go at the Colette Sorbetto pattern. Simple, sweet and super versatile, it's also completely free to download, so if you haven't already, you may as well.

I found this cute-busy-floral fabric at the Maybackufer market in Berlin for 2 Euro per metre. And I only bought one metre. You see, I told myself that I wasn't to buy unnecessary fabric, and I was particularly on the look out for patterned jersey. So when this light summery, drapey synthetic caught my eye, I couldn't go without. Funnily enough, of all the fabric I bought on my trip, this is the first one I have used.

I returned from my trip and best friend's birthday was around the corner. Wanting to give something handmade, and knowing that this print was very 'her', I scratched my head for a minute thinking "what on earth can I make from only one metre?". The answer - a Sorbetto, of course!

The finished product looked quite nice and as everyone says, it is a breeze to whip up. Off the Sorbetto went to Melbourne (with a bottle of Sake for good measure) and was gladly received by best friend in time for birthday celebrations.

A winner, me thinks : )

Foodiebritt

2011-09-09T18:13:00.000+10:00

As time goes on (dare I say, as I become more of an adult?) I've noticed myself becoming increasingly foodie. I'm not only interested in good food and cooking, but also where my food comes from, how it was produced and what the effects the process had on animals and the environment.

As a child, my family ate pretty healthy meals. There was a lot of brown rice and veggies involved, and not so much meat. When I left home, I had a five year period of being a vegetarian, then as my body developed different nutritional needs (in all honesty, I was a bad vegetarian and ate lots of carbs, not enough protein), and as my pay packet grew with my career, meals became more and more centred on meat.

My grandma's recipe Tomato Relish

Then, probably in my mid 20s, I started eating less meat again, for both ethical and health reasons. I became very aware of ethical and sustainable farming practices, and started choosing free range and organic options over your conventional supermarket varieties of meat and other products.

Now, into my early 30s, I am more aware of my food choices than ever. We still eat meat, but probably only every third night, and we buy it from a sustainable, free-range meat supplier who has a direct link with the farmers who produce it (Sydney-siders, check out Urban Food Market). As you might have seen in an earlier post, we joined a veggie co-op, and we get a fantastic delivery of farmer's market fruit and veg every week. We also try to waste less food, coming up with new recipes to use up whatever in our fridge really needs using up. We make preserves from gluttons of fruit and stock from roast chicken carcasses. It's not just less-wasteful, it's also thrifty and yummy!

Inspirational reading for sustainable foodies

With pretty much every food item now, I start to wonder... could I make this? (just like us stitchy people think when we walk into a clothes store). This has been encouraged by some of my favourite books on the topic of sustainable eating and living, such as Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and Frugavore by Arabella Forge. Likewise, we've become addicted to tv shows like River Cottage and Gourmet Farmer, both about city folk who move to the country to grow and rear their own food.

I'm not about to pack up and move to the country; I like my inner-city lifestyle too much. But I would like to continue to learn about more sustainable ways of living, whether it be by making my own cleaning products or eating more peasant style foods (which are often more nutritious and economical as the same time as being more tasty). I'll continue sharing my learnings here.