Reprodepot now sells marimekko! woo-hoo!

Along with a ton of other wonderful new fabrics, these just blow my mind! Perfect for summer. The teatowels would make great handbags, I’d say (or of course, aprons.)

Ok, here’s my own tutorial for making a skirt from old t-shirts. Please excuse my choice of t-shirts but this is all i could manage to get from my husband, where DID he get that pink t-shirt?!!!

Ok, pick 2 t-shirts

cut up the sides and across the top, both front and back making sure all 4 pieces are the same size , unless you want the side panels smaller.

Sew together alternating the panels. You will notice that you don’t need to sew a hem, bonus! Now, fold over the waistband twice and sew in place (making sure this chanel is wide enough for your elastic to fit through), feed through the elastic and TA DA!!! you have a new skirt

please excuse the photo, and the socks! Hehehehe!

Amazing detail and skill, Camille Allen’s miniature and life size freehand clay sculptures are so mesmerising. Link to further info about Camille, who’s just a bebe herself at 25 years of age.

Via One Good Bumblebee.

There are some Modernists (you know who you are) who, like Adolf Loos in 1908, equate ornament with crime. One interior designer we know, is proud that he designed an 8-year-old girl’s room in all taupe. “Now that’s a crime,” I thought. That’s when I knew that I wasn’t one of them. But I also knew that I had no tolerance for doo-dads or designer names mindlessly attached to things.

I think it was moving to our 1914 Arts and Crafts bungalow that helped me make peace with ornament. Here’s where I am now: If you’re going to have ornament, something that says “Hey, look here. A little closer. I have something beautiful to show you.” If you’re going to have that, it has to be really well-designed and well-made ornament to warrant the extra look.

Laura Foster Nicholson’s exquisite ribbons fit the bill. I first saw them when she came to our studio to rent our long-arm quilting machine. I immediately thought that I had to design something to use them to their best advantage. Now that’s good ornament for you. Good ornament is something that you want to design around. Laura’s ribbons are beautifully designed and woven, befitting an artist of her caliber.

I’ve put them on backpacks, purses and luggage tags so far. I’m planning some on pillows as well. They are so lovely they begged to be used. I try to design something to avoid having to deal with cut edges, but when that’s not possible, Fray Check can be applied to the cut edge.

Our daughter fell in love with these bug ribbons at a local fabric store and we made her this cool messenger bag with a ladybug lining to show them off. And by the way, her bedroom is a beautiful shade of robin’s egg blue and has Marimekko curtains.

Michael grew up in Houston, Texas and now lives in Dallas. He has two dogs and two cats and at any given time up to two thousand caterpillars! You see he raises silkworms and reels silk from their cocoons.

As a child he learned to sew and crochet from one grandmother, to draw and paint from the other.

“I taught myself to knit. My mom’s mother made a valiant effort when I was a child, and I managed to pick up sewing, crochet, and embroidery, but my hands just wouldn’t do the motions required for knitting. I was probably six or seven or eight; I remember trying it a couple of different summer vacations. Years later, having learned to weave and spin, I decided I wanted to figure out knitting, and I picked up a book and slogged my way through, English style. I did a scarf and some swatches, then put it away. After a reallymagical trip to Peru, where *everyone* knits, crochets, weaves, and spins, I was inspired to pick it back up again, and figured out Continental knitting with the help of knittinghelp.com (then valleycafe.com) and lots of practice.”

When asked about his most significant project so far, Michaels replies:

“For me, it has been a little amulet bag that I am working on, made from hand-spun wild Polyphemus silk. These moths live across most of North America, eating oak and beech and birch trees, and they spin a tussah-like silk that spins into a golden-beige sparkly yarn. I’m not done with the pouch yet, but the thing that’s special about it to me, is the completeness of the process - raising the moths from eggs, degumming and carding out the silk, spinning it, knitting it on 000’s.”

Michael has page after page of tutorials on the entire silk process from reeling to dyeing on his webpage (link below). Also be sure to read his article published over at Knitty about silkworms. More recently Michael was seen dancing in a Willie Nelson video; find a link to the video on his blog. He will also be featured on HGTV’s show “That’s Clever” this fall/winter (date to be announced).

Michael’s Website
Michael’s Blog
Knitty article written by Michael