over the next couple of weeks we are going to find out a little more about the wonderful makers featured in the 2010 whipup calendar – Our July artist is Laura Amiss with her machine embroidered Little legs.

Laura Amiss: www.lauraamiss.com, lives in The Netherlands, Amsterdam (although she is English).
Main craft of choice: Free hand machine embroidery, using the sewing machine is like drawing for me.
Craft hero: Freddie Robins, amazing knitter and artist based in the UK
Fave web site: I love all the design blogs, I suppose my favorite is Poppytalk
Fave crafty materials supplier: I don’t really use a supplier, I recycle a lot of my kids clothes! Plus I live near an amazing fabric market in Amsterdam.

I asked all our participants to answer a few questions about their creative process:

1. When did you start making/crafting, and who or what inspired that first creative burst?:
I studied Textiles at Goldsmiths in London, but I have always drawn, painted and made my own clothes. Fabric and stitch is now the medium in which I draw and create images. I love the narrative quality of textiles and the contrast between technique and subject.

2. What would you say was that light-bulb moment when you discovered your ’style’ and really hit your making stride?
I’d say that this develops every time I make something at the moment, it was pretty recent that I got into layering my images and fabric together. But I feel that there is much more to explore within the style I currently use, it’s only going to get better! I often think about ideas much faster than I can make them, especially with two small children aged 3 and 18 months. I’d like to develop different lines of work and contrast the medium of digital art with textiles.

3. Why do you make – what do you get out of it?
Sorry to sound corny but I get such a buzz when it all comes together from idea, to drawing to finished piece. I love the physicality of making with my hands and the process of piecing colors and compositions together. Not to mention the joy when other people like what I make!

All images courtesy Laura Amiss – in order they are: 1. My umbrella, 2. She wore a yellow dress, 3. Shoes Shoes Shoes, 4. Lacey legs.

Find out more about how to get your hands on a copy of the 2010 whipup calendar here.

I love doing these refashion roundups – there is so much innovation out there … here is more innovation and inspiration to help you turn old into new again. [thanks wardrobe refashion - take the pledge]

dollar store pj’s to super cute ruffle shirt [see pic above]
80’s jumpsuit to jumpdress – I love this transformation
make wool soaker baby pants from felted sweaters

t-shirt memory scarf
cheaters guide for a very cute fancy dress for a toddler
layered circle skirt for toddlers from a barbie curtain
jewel t-shirt
sweater houndstooth pillow
lovely layered shirt dress
maternity shirt

over the next couple of weeks we are going to find out a little more about the wonderful makers featured in the 2010 whipup calendar – January is Margaret Oomen (Resurrection fern) with her assemblage Homage to sea sew, a collection of sea stones & wood slices covered with her handmade crocheted lace, with added vintage thimbles, sea glass, feathers, ferns & moss.

Bio:
Margaret Oomen from resurrection fern lives in Canada and sells her work on etsy.
Main craft of choice: no favorite I love knitting, crocheting, embroidery, hand sewing, felting and printing equally.
Craft hero: I have so many but I don’t think I would be answering these questions if it weren’t for the constant inspiration and encouragement I received from Elsita Mora.
Fave web site Besides whip ( of course) I love Elsita’s web site, poppytalk ( for it’s Canadian content) and bookhou home (Aounna is so very talented, kind and the best instructor).
Fave crafty materials supplier: thrift stores are where I purchase most of my materials, etsy and of course my walks in the forest.

I asked all our participants to answer a few questions about their creative process:

1. When did you start making/crafting, and who or what inspired that first creative burst?
I have been making things as far back as I can remember. As a child I used to make dolls for family members and I embroidered a jean jacket for the lead singer of a local rock band. My father was a great inspiration. He was an electrical engineer and university professor. He instilled in me a love for treasure hunting in both the natural world and second hand stores.

2. What would you say was that light-bulb moment when you discovered your ’style’ and really hit your making stride?
I don’t think of myself as really having a ’style’. It is more a ‘process’. I spend lots of time exploring my natural environment. It is my major source of inspiration and also where I find most of the little bits and pieces that end up in my organized collections. I use this to inspire my heart, mind and hands to create things whether it be a crochet covered stone, an embroidered portrait or a softie. I think the light-bulb moment might be when i joined flickr and then later started a blog and realized I was a small maker of things in a large wonderful supportive community.

3. Why do you make – what do you get out of it?
It keeps me balanced and has allowed me to ‘meet’ so many amazing people. My other motive is to inspire others to get outside, explore the world, fall in love with it, share it with others and vow to preserve it.

the pictures in order of appearance are 1. blue green collection in a hoop, 2. the owl and the pussycat (was made for daughter Rebekah’s birthday), 3. the language of stones ( available as a print in my etsy shop),
4. matryoshka turtle (one of three softies made for plush you 2009 and available for sale at Schmancy, Seattle).

Find out more about how to get your hands on a copy of the 2010 whipup calendar here.

Get your craft on and support New Zealand’s handmade revolution, with free gift bags for the first 100 people through the door, and free make-and-do activities all day long. Saturday 24 October 11am-3pm at the New Dowse.

No doubt there will be more Halloween crafts in the coming weeks – but things are gearing up so here are some crafty ideas to get you in the spirit.

Halloween paper village by Claudine Hellmuth
bat mobile by the long thread
felt pumpkin pencil topper by roots and wings.
owl cross stitch pattern by cross me not
martha stewart bird mask
sweet paul and his scary family portraits [see pic above]
Halloween candle holder by Cathy Filian
Craftzine kids halloween costume
crafty crafty and the spider twig wreath
mermag and the paper jack-o-lantern [see pic below]
love the felt masks at spool sewing
the storque has a wacky knitting free pattern – knitting a baby frog suit costume

Try saying that over and over! Link.

Crafty Diane shows this nifty idea! Link.

brassy apple has started a series on remaking (re-using/refashioning) t-shirts – first in the series are these fab kids backpacks.

Eco Craft: Recycle Recraft Restyle by Susan Wasinger. Lark Books (March 3, 2009).

Eco craft, refashioning, upcycling, recycling – this is the really exciting thing about crafting – you have a chance to re-use materials and not waste a thing – “one man’s rubbish is another man’s raw materials”…

This book shows us some ingenious and unusual methods and projects – how to transform trash into useful household objects.

Projects include a recycled sweater rug – knitted using sweaters that have been cut into inch wide strips. Using a six-pack plastic holder to make a screen (just a bit of ironing to shape and flatten the plastic) – it is surprisingly pretty! Papier mache bowls, wood mosaic planter and a CD case towel rack.

I quite liked the coffee bag and duct tape tote for something really quite cool and original. The bamboo trays are also very cool – sustainable bamboo is a eco friendly product and easily purchased from most gardening shops if you don’t happen to have some growing nearby.

There are lots of projects and lots of ingenious uses for these materials – inner tyres, plastic takeaway containers, plastic shopping bags – ironed into fabric which can then be sewn into all sorts of things, tin cans and jars and even paper bags get turned into lighting – but two of my favourite projects are – first a suitcase ottoman and second a wood and knitted clothes hanger.

There is so much in this book for the recycling fiend – lots of fun – not all the projects are exactly practical – but so many good ideas.

craftzine have a tutorial on how to make this family Intentions and Inspirations Banner – great idea.