Wrapping with furoshiki

When I was ordering some shampoo bar tins from Lush, I also sneaked in one of their lovely furoshiki wrapping cloths. I have a couple of furoshiki already, and lots of scarves that I could also use, so I thought I would try out some wrapping techniques.

Furoshiki are Japanese cloths that are used to wrap objects – whether gifts or your packed lunch! They are a great way of avoiding using other wrappings such as wrapping paper.

I also have some instruction cards for how to tie furoshiki wraps – but I have no clue where I have put these, so I just looked up some instructions on the internet!

Baskets from foraged materials

I’ve been interested in foraging for food for a few years, after attending a foraging walk, but I hadn’t thought about how foraged items could be used in other ways. Just by chance I came across this free workshop that was being run by Jan Hendry at Lochore Meadows, to learn to make baskets from foraged materials.

The morning was spent learning the technique of making the baskets. We stripped the leaves of bulrushes into thin pieces, then bunched these together and stitched them, using a technique that is used by Native Americans. You can also use rope found on beaches, and I'm keen to try this!



In the early afternoon, when our baskets were well on their way to being finished, some of us had a walk in the woods to gather interesting things to add to the baskets – berries, seed heads, etc.



After that I had time to make a second basket – I had kept my first basket really tiny so it was quick to make.



This was a really useful workshop and it has given me lots of ideas about how I can use foraged materials. I took some of the bulrush leaves home with me, and I was able to make an even tinier, dollshouse-sized, basket the next day!

Pyjama shorts

A few years ago I bought the book Love at First Stitch by Tilly Walnes, with the plan that over that summer I would work my way through all the projects in the book. That plan didn’t come to fruition – I made the first project, a simple headscarf, then got no further! 

Last month, with my clothes spending ban in place, I decided that sewing would be a good way to fight the cravings for new clothes, and picked the book up again. The next project in the book was a pair of pyjama trousers, and I’d always fancied making these as a pair of shorts. 

I looked out some lovely Holly Hobbie-ish bedding that I’d bought recently at a charity shop, and got to work! Because I used secondhand material that I already had, and I also already had the thread and ribbon needed, this was another great eco friendly project. 

The shorts only took me an afternoon to make, and now I’m excited to try making more clothes! I’m not going to go through the whole book, though, as I’ve realised I’m better sticking to the styles of clothing I am most likely to wear. So maybe a dungaree dress will be my next project!

Eco makes: napkins and wipes

This month is all about being eco friendly, so here are some things I made to help me produce less waste.

I’ve got quite a few napkins in my airing cupboard that I’ve bought secondhand, but they are all a bit too nice for everyday use. So I decided to make some everyday napkins to use instead of kitchen paper. I used secondhand material to make these, mostly duvet covers and pillowcases that I’ve bought at charity shops and car boot sales. I just cut the fabric to the same size as a piece of kitchen paper, and frayed the edges slightly. Because these are for very informal use, there was no point spending time hemming the edges!

For the reusable face wipes, I cut two squares from an old flannel pillowcase for each wipe, and sewed the edges with an overlocking type stitch.

I’m using a lot less kitchen paper and cotton wool now that I’ve started using my napkins and wipes!

Spray-painted jar lids

I spray-painted a couple of lids for glass jars, that I had in my craft room. I love this colour of mint green!

transFORM art exhibition

Each week I go to choir at the Rothes Halls in Glenrothes, and on the upstairs landing there are often art exhibitions (it reminds me of when there used to be the Corridor Gallery at the swimming pool, and I'd look at exhibitions there when my brother was at swimming lessons!). The displays are always interesting, but this one is the best I've seen there yet. The exhibition was called transFORM, and it featured four artists: Nathalie Cortada, David Henderson, Robert Mach, and Keiko Mukaide.

When I came up the stairs I was intrigued to see what looked like a pink metallic Buddha head. This was interesting enough in itself, but when I came closer and saw that it was covered with Tunnock's Teacake wrappers I grinned! I love Tunnock's Teacakes, and I've done a few craft projects based on them myself (a card and some felt brooches). 

I love to see craft projects that involve recycling, and that's what the whole exhibition was about - creatively reusing man-made items, whether they were sweetie wrappers, cassette tape, or teacups. As well as the pink buddha there was a blue one, made from the dark chocolate teacake wrappers, many collage pictures made from foil wrappers, items knitted from tape, and a sculpture of old teacups and mug trees.

Everyone else in the choir was fascinated by the exhibition too, and we spent our short break looking at, discussing, and photographing the artworks. There were many comments about how many Tunnock's Teacakes the artist must have eaten! It was a really inspiring exhibition and made me think about how I could reuse and recycle items in my art and craft work.