Monday 15 December 2014

R&S: Phunk'd Craftyhoar Fabric Scrap Placemats

Phunk'd placemats + my plant children
I am sure I have said it time and time again that I am a hoarder. The deeper I delve into the depths of crafty creativity, the more the things I hoard become endless an possibility for birthing crafty brainchildren. I have been teaching myself to sew for quite some time now and have been reusing/re-purposing many of my old clothes in an attempt to make new ones. One day while trying to sew myself a jumper following youtube seamstress Meesha TV tutorial on How To Make a Jump Suit Easy at the end of her video she reminds us to 'never throw away your scraps'. Since then I have been hoarding scraps of fabric from all of my sewing projects. 

My MeeshaTV Jumper (from old house clothes)
Now, there comes a brief fleeting moment in every hoarders life when you tell yourself 'this shit is too much'. It is accompanied by an overwhelming sensation of being consumed by things, then followed by the moment of reassurance when we become complacent in our hoarding tenancies and remind ourselves that the purpose of these things will soon be revealed. Needless to say I have a lot of crafty supplies that need storage, so I decided to look up a DIY tutorial on how to make baskets. I found this really simple how to make a fabric basket by TheCraftyGemini that uses cotton clothes line wrapped with fabric to make beautiful baskets of different sizes. With the purpose of my fabric scarps finally revealed, and being far eager to get this project popping I soon found myself annoyed and dejected. For some reason mine just didn't turn out as fly as the ones in the video. They were flat. No matter how hard I tried in all of my frustration I couldn't get them to be basket like. Crafting always has its up and downs and the first rule to remember is that no one is born a master, phunk ups will happen! And sometimes the phunk ups that can be a product of our frustrations, efforts and imagination end up manifesting into new ideas we had never envisioned. In my attempts to make fancy baskets I ended up with these beautiful placements that I so fitting like to call Phunk'd. 


Phunk'd Kanga Placemats
To get this final product I followed CraftyGeminis' tutorial minus a few tweaks; I used twine instead of cotton (because it was what i had) and just sewed in a flat circle until I got the desired size for my placemats. I didn't spend any $$$ on the supplies cause they are what I have lying around, but twine can be bought at the dollar store and you can use any old fabric you wish! Including old shirts, sheets etc.


Materials
My girlfriend reminds me all the time that stuff will happen, it is the way that we respond that shapes who we are. In the case of crafting, sometimes it can be really frustrating, time consuming or it just get all kinds of phunk'd up. But when we open our minds to the possibility of creative solutions, we become the masters in manifesting new kinds of magical creations!


Smiles :)
Tuly Maimouna

Tuesday 9 December 2014

Throwback: Craftgression

Yellow Pompom Scarf
double crochet stitch
It's always interesting for me to see how any artists craft progresses the more involved they become. I have been rediscovering some of the old things I had made and forgot to share! I went through a pompom scarf faze a couple of years back and I made this one here for a close friend of mine. This is what I like to call a throwback craftgression (craft progression) this is one of the first few things I had ever made! You've seen where I am, now see where i was!
Smies :)
Tuly Maimouna