Lions and Tigers and Bears.. Oh My!

Sorry I'm being a rubbish blogger and crafter at the moment. I suddenly have a load of 'real' work and a bit more of a social life here in France so I'm going to be fairly busy until after Christmas.
I do have time just to direct you towards a great blog where you can find a little drawing I did... The blog is a collection of lots of different peoples' pictures of bears and is run by the wonderful Lizz Lunney
(I seriously recommend you check out her incredible handmade gifts)

I will hopefully return soon with some finished headbands and new underwear sets!

Well Hello There!

I've been a bit useless these last few weeks. Life sort of got in the way. Above is the picture I would have entered for Meet me at Mikes' My Place and Your's project. It's where I blog and work from and where I haven't been enough recently.

However I can't dissapear any longer because I have 103 followers! This is just incredible and wonderful and lovely. And has definitely done something for my motivation.

I love my followers as much as I love marmite!
found here

I've always thought I would do something special if I ever reached 100 followers. Unfortunately grand surprises aren't really in my capacities right now, but having this many people reading my blog I would love to take the opportunity to know who you all are!

from bleubird vintage

Please comment below and tell me a bit about yourself:
how did you find your way here?
what do you do in your non internety life?
where are you from?
do you come here often (that one sounds a bit more like a chat up line!) etc etc.

Sometimes when I'm blogging I forget that I'm not just writing into the void so it's nice to know who actually reads this stuff. I don't expect to be nosey without you being able to have a nose back, so if there's anything you'd like to ask me please go ahead!

from ffffound

Headband Offer - Edited: Now even better!

...for even less!

My wool arrived this morning from my new supplier. It's lovely warm 100% wool, but there's one little problem:
I started crocheting up a new earwarmer, but the ball was dissapearing at a worrying rate! It turns out the wool is a lot shorter than the previous make I was using.


What this means is that I'm going to have to order some more. However I had a think and decided why not turn this little problem into a nice deal for my lovely blog readers...

If you order a headband from me now, before I order the wool, not only will you be able to choose your colour, I will also give you over 20% discount. This will make one £12 instead of £15. Thanks to supplier discount now even cheaper!
£10 instead of £13.

Like the sound of that? Here's what you have to do...

1. Choose your headband(s) colour(s) from the swatches on this website
   
2. Send me an email to pretty-green-message@hotmail.co.uk
3. Make the subject line 'headband offer'. Tell me the colour code(s) you have chosen, your name and address and your paypal account email address. (If you don't have a paypal account let me know and I will help you set one up, it's very easy) Also if you want a snug fit give me the measurement around your hairline in cm (from base of neck up to forehead and back down again).
   
4. I will reply with a quote for postage and if you agree I will bill you using paypal. If you are using a currency other than £ paypal will make the conversion for you.
   

The offer will close on Tuesday 10th at midday (GMT+1) when I will be making the order. At least send me an email telling me what you wany by this date, it doesn't matter if payment takes a bit longer. I will endeavour to make all the headbands and send them out by the end of November. If the order is particularly urgent please let me know.


Now that it's getting a bit chillier (at least where I live) I'm wearing my headband all the time. I also think lots of people will be getting them for christmas presents (but shhh!)

The Return of the Skull Scarf

I finished the interesting bit of my skull scarf. Fairly happy with its resemblance to the original drawing. Now I'm onto the boring back and forth of the body of the scarf. It may end up very short depending on my patience... Also I'm a bit sad because the sides are curly in. Hopefully some blocking and, if absolutely necessary, lining will fix this.

First Ever What I Wore Today

I don't really draw very often. For some reason it scares me a lot more than my crafty pursuits. Pierre on the other hand is a wonderful illustrator and is always encouraging me to get in touch with my inner artiste (not sure how far 'in' you have to go before you realise it's not there!). The other day he got out his box of watercolours and showed me how to use them properly.

I've been looking at Gemma Correll's What I Wore flickr group for a while as it's full of wonderfulness. Today I thought I'd make my own contribution. For some reason the skin came out a bit grey on the scan, but it probably isn't too far off it's actual colour that day! Click the image to be able to read the text if it's too small.

Show and Tell

The lovely James from Bleubird Vintage set up a wonderful show and tell on her blog... and I'm in it! To take part you had to take a picture of yourself with something you love. I chose this little crocheted giraffe:

My loved item is a little stuffed giraffe. It's the first thing I crocheted without a pattern and I based it on a drawing I did when me and my boyfriend were first together of a very happy giraffe. It made him laugh so I botched a crocheted version for a handmade present! It means a lot to me because it was quite an achievement in my crochet life, it reminds me of Pierre and it still makes me laugh.

Skull Scarf

I've been far too rambly in my recent posts so here's something short and sweet:
A scarf I'm working on for my boyfriend based on this little skull picture he drew.
I'm making up the intarsia as I go along! Probably a very unwise choice, but I like to think I'm sketching in wool.

Covert Candy Giveaway Winner

I drew the winner for the Covert Candy giveaway last night and it turns out the winner is a lovely friend of mine:
martalucysummer

Just in case this seems like favouritism here is the results from Random.org (didn't know how to put it in a pretty box like I've seen other people do, if someone could tell me for next time?)

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

3

Timestamp: 2009-10-25 18:52:17 UTC

Marta is the perfect person to win this prize because she is wonderfully ecofriendly and is brilliant at picking up second hand clothes and making them look great. She is also pretty green's number one customer, so far she has bought 4 pairs of knickers. Here is the last pair I made for a friend of hers using Marta's unwanted fabric. She hasn't seen them yet so it will be another surprise:




Thank you so much to everyone who commented and gave such useful advice. As you helped me out so much I will also giveaway a crochAID set to one commenter chosen from this post and the original covertcandy post.



I have a little bit of feedback in response to your advice and questions:

• Danielle suggested calling it croshAID. I had thought of this myself as a possible solution. What do people think of this?
• MJ asked how the patch would be fixed. The set comes with a darning needle and thread already attached. You just need to do one little stitch on each of the outside bumps and finish off with a knot on the inside of your garment. I would include instructions. Do you think this would be ok for non-sewers?
• Zo asked whether the patches could cover a rip on a shirt. If the fabric wasn't fraying too much you could definitely just place one of these on top. If the tear was a bit more drastic you could do a few stitches in a thread which matches the shirt to roughly bind the rip and then place the patch over the top to cover it all up.

So there we go... a few more questions, but as I mentioned above if you comment here I will also enter you in to a crochAID (or croshAID!) giveaway. I'm not sure of the deadline yet as it depends on when the sets are ready for sale (this also depends on your further helpful comments!) so for now it is open ended...

to upcycle or not to upcycle

I read a really interesting post on one of my new favourite blogs today. This blog follows Gretchen and her mission to improve her seamstressing whilst following all the projects from Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing. In this post she was discussing the idea of repurposing unwanted materials in the forties compared with nowadays. Some of her comments got me thinking about Pretty Green and what I wanted to achieve with it. Something I don't think I've ever fully discussed on this blog.

Gretchen showed this make do and mend inspired pattern from the forties, which shows you how to make the blouse and sweater illustrated from an old shirt and dress. Although she liked this vintage idea she had some misgivings about modern repurposing projects:

"I hesitate to admit this, as I fear I'm gaining a reputation as a major snob. But some of the refashioning projects on various "hip" crafting websites seem so slapdash to me. Why bother turning an old shirt into something different but low quality? It just seems like the idea is "take this old thing and cut it up and throw some fabric paint on it and ta-da! Green sewing!"
... I don't understand the idea of refashioning for refashioning's sake, and that's what some of the green trend seems to be about to me. "

Although I have nothing against other people refashioning for refashioning's sake, I must say this summed up feelings I've had in the past and that is what reminded me of the beginnings of Pretty Green...

I have always been interested by the idea of upcycling and looking at everyday objects in another way. To me the idea of being able to recycle materials yourself seems very satisfying and I love things which go against the throw away culture that seems to be popular at the moment. I would therefore hunt out these sorts of projects online and, while I found them very inspiring, I often felt that I would never actually use them. It was the process which appeared more important and interesting than the finished item itself. This didn't seem right to me, in order for an upcycled item to be ecologically worthwhile and justify the time spent making it, I felt it needed to be better than it was before.

This became a bit of a challenge, could I use unwanted materials to make something which
a) looks better than the original item
b) makes it useful again
c) if possible is as good as something you could buy brand new?
I felt that this would truly make upcycling ecological. I tried out a few projects and realised that people were willing to part with money for them. There was born Pretty Green, items which try to be green but also pretty and practical.

Recently I have been very focused on making upcycled underwear because of the number of orders I've had and I realised that both my shop and this blog seem to be very lingerie-related. I will definitely be keeping this up as I love making them, but here are some other upcycled projects that I hope to find some time to work on very soon:

Fashion Magazine Homewares:

I have loads of homeware items I have been collecting to cover in these 1920s fashion magazines, I just haven't had the time to work on them! I sorted out the magazines the other day because some are still in a good condition and I definitely would not want to decoupage with those.

Plastic Bag Purses and Wallets:

There is a big pile of plastic bag fabric which I prepared waiting to be transformed into more purses and wallets. I like how thanks to the plastic bags these purses are waterproof and don't get so dirty in your pocket or handbag. Seriously good upcycling I think... this product wouldn't be as useful if I didn't use recycled materials!

Crockery Cake Stands



I have piles and piles of chipped or mismatched plates waiting to be transformed into cake/jewellery/clutter stands. I just don't see how I would be able to sell these unless I have a stand at a craft fair. I don't think they would post very well!

and of course my Upcycling Lingerie Service:

I would love to know what you think of the upcycling part of Pretty Green. Have I managed to fulfil my challenge? Are the items well made enough with enough attention to detail? Do they look worse for being made out of recycled materials? (Honest answers are very much encouraged and appreciated)

Warm Ears and Happy Hair

This is a custom hair protecting ear warmer for the lovely lady behind p'tit book, Helene.
She is a wonderfully creative person so I thought these little scissors which I found in a little old lady's button box at a craft fair last year would be perfect! Rummaging through my supplies finding the bits I want to use my favourite part of making anything.

Now that the weather has turned frosty where I am I decided to get back into making these earwarmers (my most important motivation was the earache I got from the ferocious wind we've been having!). I bought some lovely 100% wool the other day so when it arrives I will be crocheting away for the benefit of your ears and hair.

I probably should explain the hair part of the equation. I often wear my hair in a high bun at the moment (blame bad hair cut) and wearing a hat at the same time just looks ridiculous. I realised that what really bothers me with the cold is my ears and so I came up with this headband which keeps me warm and, thanks to the buttons, I can wrap it round my head thus avoiding hat hair or a cone head! If that rambling description made you more confused, hopefully this little diagram will clear things up:
I still have one headband left in my shops so if you too are experiencing desperate hat problems never fear, if you're quick you won't need to wait for the postman to deliver me my wool...


Just click here if you like dollars, here if you're happier with pounds or here if the euro is more your thing!

In the unlikely event that my finely detailed and life-like drawings above do not give you a clear enough idea of what the earwarmers look like on, here are some pictures of one I sold recently: