Yarn Shop Day! Come see us! Saturday 2nd May!

Following the success of last year’s event, Fabrications is pleased to announce that we will be participating in the national ‘Love Your Yarn Shop’ campaign, initiated by Let's Knit Magazine which aims to raise the profile of the value that bricks and mortar yarn stores bring to the local community. Part of the campaign includes ‘Yarn Shop Day’ taking place on Saturday 2^nd May.

On ‘Yarn Shop Day’, Fabrications will be hosting a ‘Close-Knit Community Knit-Tea Party’ open to all ages (from 7+) and all levels of crafter from 1:30-5:30pm. 

Flowers, leaves, and garlands will make up the creations for the day, which can be knitted or crocheted in detail with small needles and hooks or large on their unique MACRO knitting needles and French knitting wheels. All of the items created will be added to a flourishing knitted trellis installation on Fabrications shop front, so that everyone can admire them! 

Special Goody Bags are set to be available for the first 25 customers of the day to start off the event. Everything will be provided, from the materials to the food, with Fabrications lovely teachers on hand to help, so all you need to bring is you! Everyone is welcome to this free event, but space is limited, so be sure to book your spot NOW!. 

Participating in this exciting day is just the beginning of the celebration to mark Fabrications 15th birthday! 

Waste Less Live More

 

Today is the first day of 'Waste Less Live More' week. An initiative by 'Keep Britain Tidy' to raise awareness that environmental and social issues are interlinked and tackling these issues together is a far more effective solution. This year's theme is 'Be Resourceful', which is right up Fabrications street!

 I was approached by the 'Love your Clothes Campaign' to share one of my garment upcycling ideas as part of their 'Waste Less Live More' daily updates in collaboration with the 'Centre for Sustainable Fashion' . Between the two of them they will be streaming lots of tips and advise on how to get the most out of your old clothes in fun, practical and stylish ways. So make sure you tune in to their daily updates this week!

So here is my tutorial on how to transform a man's shirt into a stylish summer top. Time to raid your Father's, Brother's, Boyfriend's wardrobes! Thankyou Ali from Love your Clothes (London's arm) for taking such great pictures to illustrate how it's done. 

 

 

Step 1 -  Iron out any wrinkles to prepare for ....

Step 2 - Cut off the arms and cut through front and back of shirt in an even , straight line. Avoid accidentally cutting through a button! (which your scissors won't be very pleased about)

 

Step 3 - undo the buttons down the shirt front to reveal the inside back panel where you want to measure down 2" from the cut edge, put in a row of pins or mark with tailor's chalk.  

Step 4 - Folding under at the beginning and end (to hide raw edge), pin cotton tape (1" wide) along the row of pins / chalked line from side seam to side seam.  

Step 5 - Measure down 1.5" to add a second row of tape as per Step 4.  

Step 6 - Attach cotton tape to the inside (back panel) of the shirt by stitching along each edge, creating a decent sized channel for threading elastic through.

 

Step 7 - Attach a safety pin to your elastic (I used 6mm elastic) and thread through each channel, using the safety pin to secure the elastic at each end while you determine how gathered the back panel needs to be to fit your body. This can be done roughly at this stage and tweaked later to get a better fit.

 

Step 8 - Now it's time to play with the sleeves to make straps. Find 'Centre Back' and mark with a pin. Temporarily pin the sleeve cuffs on the front and lift sleeves over your shoulders towards the Centre Back pin mark. Now you know how much of the sleeves to cut down!

Step 9 - Set the machine to the longest straight stitch and run along the newly cut edge through both sides of sleeves (opposite end to cuffs) Pull on either top or bottom thread to gather.the fabric.

 

Step 10  - Pin both cuff ends facing down on top of outside of shirt fronts ('Right Sides Together') either side of the button opening and 'Stay Stitch' in position (stitch as close to the edge as you can, this stitching is just to help you for the next step.

Step 11 - Pin the cotton tape along the stay stitch line and just along each shirt fronts (not the back panel yet!) This time fold raw edges on each end of the cotton tape towards you (as this will get folded over as a hem later)  

 

Step 12 - Position the other end of the sleeve straps either side of your 'Centre Back' pin. Repeat same actions as Step 10 - pin 'Right Sides Together' and 'Stay Stitch' in position.

Step 13 - Attach cotton tape to the back panel, following the same method as Step 11

Step 14 - Fold the cotton tape over creating a hem in 3 parts (Front/Back/Front) on the inside. You can use an iron to help press into position neatly. The sleeve straps and any raw edges should be sandwiched and hidden behind the cotton tape.

Step 15 - Pin into position and stitch down the remaining cotton edge along the 3 sections of the shirt. 

Step 16 - As you've stitched the tape in 3 sections, you should have a neat opening on the back panel to thread elastic through to add a third level of elastication on the back.

Step 17 - Final touches! Pull elastic in all 3 channels to fit your body or ruched how you like it! Once happy cut back any excess elastic and hand stitch to anchor on the inside of each end the cotton tape channel.

As with many upcycling projects you will be led by the size and style of the shirt to create many variations on a theme. The blue shirt was an XL so needed more gathering on the back panel. On the purple gingham I also gathered the middle section of the sleeve straps to create a different finish. The possibilities are endless! Happy Upcycling! I'd love to see what you create! Please post your pictures on my Facebook or Twitter pages with the #wllm14

Meet the Maker: Gilda Baron

Over my 15 years of running Fabrications, I have promoted, sold work, collaborated with over 200 talented textile practitioners. In my shop I have explanation cards alongside makers work, giving insight into the maker, their ethos and processes. I thought it would be fun to extend this to my blog.

 

 Image of Gilda courtesy of Colouriciuos

I am delighted to present the talented Gilda Baron, who will teaching 2 textile workshops this month at Fabrications. In 'Don't Bin it, print with it!' Gilda will share fabric printing methods with a twist! In the afternoon you can stay on and learn different hand embroidery techniques and learn how to embellish your printed fabrics created in the morning or other fabrics!

Textile piece by Gilda using printing (from rubbish!) and hand embroidery.

Barley: Where do you draw inspiration for your work?

Gilda: I try and have a sketch book at hand when on holiday, although it is sometimes not easy, as it maybe pouring with rain, freezing cold, or nowhere to stop and get my pencils out.

I only carry a very small notebook mini coloured pencils and a black pen.

  
Barley: Your work is so multi layered, using a number of different textile processes in a piece, do you have a favourite technique?

Gilda: I have developed a unique style of textile art, which bursts out of the frame with life and vitality.  The techniques I use to achieve this include fabric dyeing, batik, hand and machine embroidery, hand made felt and applied pieces. The many layers are what makes my textile art so distinctive and draws the viewer into the scenes

I love all the techniques! 

Barley: You have led a very accomplished and long textile career, can you share some highlights?

Gilda: Life has been good and so many special things and people.

I think the first of the many was convincing everyone that I wanted to go to Shoreditch Technical School, for the Garment Trades when I was only 12 years old and not stay at school and take O levels and do a Commercial course as nice girls did in my youth.

At the other end of my life to be invited to teach at the V&A Museum last year

 

 

Gilda running her 'Don't bin it, print with it! workshop at The Attic, Lines of Pinner

Barley: What can participants expect from your classes you will be offering at Fabrications?

Gilda: Finding throw away items to print with, your rubbish will never look the same to you again. But most of all having fun, while learning.

Another example of Gilda Baron's innovative printed 'Don't bin it' pieces!

  

Gilda Baron has a large exhibition of her work at this Spring's 'Knitting and Stitching Show' in Olympia, 13th - 16th March. Go and meet Gilda and her amazing textile works and then book onto her workshop at Fabrications for a unique learning experience with a special, internationally recognised textile artist.

The Upcycling Academy at this year's Knitting and Stitching show

 

 

Last month, I took my 'Upcycling Academy' experience to the Knitting and Stitching show. Now in it's third year the aim of the Upcycling Academy is to raise awareness and 'create change' to the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry through creative and thought provoking activities which can be delivered at large events or in smaller gatherings. Recently 6th form students at Woodford High school, engaged with the Upcycling Academy team on their induction day. 

 

 

As well as adding value through creativity and design, the Upcycling Academy promotes the value of working collaboratively and collectively. I approached Traid, War on Want and The Craftivist Collective to bring their perspective to the experience and give participants a well rounded picture.
 

 

Here is our 'productive line' of workshops. The spirit of The Upcycling Academy was well captured in pictures this year by Rosie Allt, who kindly offered us her photography skills.

Brother sewing UK supported the 'chop & change' upcycling of clothes area with their easy to use NV10a sewing machines, which worked like a dream in this busy area.

 

 

This was a quiet moment!! A hive of activity and discussions.

 

 

Fabrications recycled rosettes were popular again!

 

Traid's 'Sew Good' workshops appealed to all ages

 

 

Here is the lovely Sarah Corbett, founder of the 'Craftivist Collective' who joined The Upcycling Academy team for the first time this year. She created a hand stitched petition in conjunction with War on Want's 'Love Fashion Hate sweatshops' campaign.

 

Participants were invited to add their hand stitched signature to the petition. Extra fabric was needed by day 2 as the embroidered signatures over spilled the petition.

 

Here I am (Barley Massey) showing people a variety of upcycled textile techniques, including 'MACRO' knitting & french knitting and peg loom weaving,

 

A beautiful atmosphere was created, with all kinds of people coming together to try new skills, share ideas, experiences and talk about the issues the Upcycling Academy provokes.

 

Some thoughts on Collectivism

These thoughts have been whirling around my mind for some time now, perhaps even most of my life, having been brought up in rural North Wales in the 70's where a sense of community and working together is embedded into the welsh culture.


Somewhere along the line, there has been a prevailing attitude of  "look out out for No 1" and not to worry about or look too deeply at the consequences of our actions on others. (positive and negative)

Recently at the Holloway Arts Festival, Rowan Arts screened Ken Loach's film "The spirit of 45" which I went along to watch. It is a powerful and rather upsetting (I cried at the end!) documentary style portrayal of the re building of Britain following the second war including the creation of social welfare, the NHS, the railways, manufacturing and employment and then the slow disassembling, erosion and privatisation under the election of Margaret Thatcher in the 80's. Ken Loach juxtaposes archive footage of soldiers and working class people declaring "We came together to fight the war, we can now come together to work for good" versus Harry Enfield's "Loadsa Money!" character.
                             

When I set up the 'Upcycling Academy' 3 years ago with the aim of raising awareness of the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry, I also wanted the Upcycling Academy to promote and demonstrate the power of collaboration. To bring together different independent organisations working together to deliver a message / activities, actions in a fun, creative and informed way. So I approached Traid, who approached War on Want.

The first Upcycling Academy took place at the Knitting & Stitching shows. It was interesting to observe the overwhelming feedback we received from an older generation on how good it was to see different organisations working together in this way and how unusual it was! Has the spirit of 45 really been lost?

As Nadia Idle, outreach officer at War on Want succinctly put it in her recent post on the Craftivist Collective's blog " The value of the collective, of coming together to act. Let us reject greed and profit as a motivation and rejoice in activities that bring us together to make things better for ourselves and others"

The Upcycling Academy will be taking place once again at this year's Knitting & Stitching show at Alexander Palace. Thursday 10th - Sunday 13th October. This year the Craftivist Collective are joining forces too.
Why don't you come along too??

Water - Colour

It's London Design Festival time again! Last night I attended the opening of Katherine May's 'Water-Colour' installation at the new Precinct space at the 'Arthouse' on Richmond Road in Hackney and what a special experience it was. I'm looking forward to seeing how the installation evolves over the next few weeks and beyond....

The installation brings together Katherine's sustainable textile practise which focuses on cloth and community , her recent MA research and cleverly references Arthouse's past life as a laundry.
Up above in the tall atrium, dyed silk cloths gently whisp about from a series of washing lines, while below a series vats of blue liquid covered in bubbles await the next submerge of white cloth.

Here is Katherine and blue was definitely the colour of the evening! The vats contain the natural dye 'Indigo' produced by the plants leaves. The process is truly magical as the cloth goes through a range of shades during the dying process from green to deep blue as the dyed cloth oxidises with the air at the drying stage.

Over the course of the installation time frame, cloth will be dyed daily until the dye vats are exhausted. The washing lines will fill up with cloth journeying through slow graduations from dark to light blue. The Dye vats will then get replaced by a sewing work space and the making of the cloth into quilts.

The Water-Colour installation has been designed to raise awareness of water consumption in the production and use of textiles and aims to reconnect us physically to water through a direct experience of handling water in a dye vat. As the space filled up with visitors, it was certainly mesmerising watching the dyeing process, which was attracting quite a crowd!

Over the next 2 weeks there is also an exciting programme of talks, workshops and events taking place within the installation. I've got my eye on the following:
Emma Rigby's  (co founder of the Dalston ethical fashion store 'Here Today, Here Tomorrow) 'Garment Polling Station'.
Emma Neuberg's (Slow Textiles Group) workshop on Sashiko, a decorative reinforcement stitching from Japan.
Katherine May's patchwork and mending workshop inspired by the Japanese technique Boro.
To find out more and book visit Precint's Eventbrite page.

The Upcycling Academy

Once again this year, Fabrications, Traid and War on Want will creatively bring you 'The Upcycling Academy' at the Knitting and Stitching Show (Ali Pali: October 11th - 14th)

The aim of the Upcycling Academy is to present creative,hands on learning experiences which explores textile waste, upcycling and introduces people to better fashion industry practise.

Last year, in the lead up to the show I wrote a blog post entitled 'Adding Value(s) at The Upcycling Acdemy' exploring the word 'Upcycling' and what it means to me. This year Twisted Thread (the show organisers) have also initiated the 'Upcycler of the year' competition. I'm looking forward to seeing the entries, and Traid have offered a 2 week internship and window display space in their Camden store for the winner, which is a fantastic prize for budding upcycled fashion designers.

Although the competition deadline is now closed you can get involved in re working garments provided by Traid for a mere £2 (t-shirts) + £3 (other garments)  live at the show. Rotate around our workshop stations and learn skills and get chopping and changing with me and other Fabrications teachers and Traid's.

WIN TICKETS! to the show by entering Fabrications FACEBOOK COMPETITION. (Scroll down to find the Picture of The Upcycling Academy team) We've got 3 pairs of tickets up for grabs!! DEADLINE: Monday 4th October at Midnight. GOOD LUCK!

Behind the Seams!

I had a little film made about me recently by Story as part of series of films 'Uncovering East London' for the new Westfield shopping centre (Stratford) website.
I was quite surprised that I had been chosen as my independent cottage industry is the antidote to this global chain of shopping malls. But it's a positive portrayal ,and I'm always for looking for mainstream channels for getting my environmental, social and value of craft messages out there. Hope you enjoy it!

Behind the Seams photos thanks to Story!

Adding Value(s) at the Upcycling Academy

Earlier this year I was approached by ‘Twisted Thread’, the team behind Europe’s largest textile event ‘The Knitting and Stitching Shows’ to develop a new feature area at the show.

Over the last couple of years ‘upcycling’ has become a bit of a buzzword, but many people are still unsure what it means or misappropriate the word. The term was popularised by the 2002 book ‘Cradle to Cradle’ ‘Remaking the way we make things’ by William Mc Donough and Michael Braungart. The book identified how materials being recycled actually downgrade and use more resources whereas materials being upcycled gain quality and value and impact less on the environment.

I have been a professional upcycler for over 12 years. I introduced the term upcycling into my vocabulary after being invited to make a presentation of my textile practise at the ‘Upcycling – adding value through design’ symposium organised by TED – Textile Environment Design at Chelsea college of Art + Design. For me upcycling is not only the process of transforming, giving new life, stories and meanings to waste materials but I see this resourceful approach as a framework to do more with less and to action positive social and environmental changes within ourselves, locally and globally.

‘The Upcycling Academy’ aims to pass on these values and skills and wants YOU! To join our creative and dedicated team at the shows. So what’s happening? This first Upcycling Academy presents an alternative and ethical fashion production line. Check into the utopian factory’s ‘Consumption and Waste’ reception hosted by Traid and pick up an old t-shirt for a donation of £3 or bring your own. While there learn how growing clothes consumption and waste is impacting on our environment. Take your t-shirt and rotate around a series of experimental, re processing, craft based workshops on ‘The Productive Line’. Stitch, Slash, Print, Accessorise, Knit, Weave or mix n match techniques with our upcycling design team including Barley Massey, Sue Russell, Sissy Rooney. Alongside, exercise your values in the Gaming and Action area hosted by War on Want - Love Fashion Hate Sweatshops campaign and Traid. Participatory activities include ‘Who’s responsible?’ and ‘Be the change’. War on Want will also be linking with Sissy Rooney’s workshop in creating action slogans for t-shirts. The final link in the chain is the ‘Virtual Catwalk’ where you can strut your stuff, show off your creations, put an action on a mini placard and have your picture taken by the photo booth and share it on Facebook. You can also print out your image for a donation of £2; proceeds will go to one of War on Wants current human right’s campaigns – lobbying for better working conditions for Bangladesh garment workers.

Are you ready to join the industrious re – evolution?

For further information on The Upcycling Academy, a free down loadable resource pack for teachers, how to buy tickets and directions for the show visit the Twisted Thread website

Competition time!

To win 2 tickets to the show (you can choose Ally Pally, Dublin or Harrogate) answer the following question: What does upcycling mean to you?

Be spontaneous as we need to receive your response before Sunday 2nd October so we have enough time to post out the tickets! The most thought provoking and creative answer posted on either Fabrications Facebook page or the comment box on THIS POST wins! Good Luck!

Knitted Concrete!

Yes you read correctly! I've just received images to share with you of Hazel Hewitt's innovative material explorations in knitted concrete! Over to Hazel....

"I was researching 3D knitting and attended Rachael Matthews 3D knitting course held in Fabrications shop in Broadway Market. It was a great short course learning from someone so enthusiastic and knowledgeable.

I was then able to put the skills learnt during that course to create my own concrete model concepts and ideas. I was busy researching how to use textile and surface techniques with concrete as part of my design and research work during MA Textile Futures at Central Saint Martins"

Hazel is really pushing the boundaries of what a textile can be. She has developed knitted concrete to be used in a variety of applications and has even invented stretchy concrete!

Her research is underpinned by a sense of exploring well being in the urban environment and specifically improving the aesthetic of concrete structures to create something beautiful and tactile. We wish Hazel all the best with her research and practise!

Threads of Feeling

Foundling 10563
A heart cut from red woollen cloth, a ribbon of blue paduasoy silk and a piece of lenen diaper. 'The bit of red cloth enclosed was pinned to the childs cap.

Last night I went to an evening at the Foundling Museum which featured reflections on seperation and loss by Professor Sir Michael the curator Professor John Sykes. I hadn't heard or visited the Foundling Museum before until I read about their current exhibition in Selvedge Magazine. The exhibition features a collection of textile tokens left with abandoned children at the original Foundling hospital, which opened in 1741.
In 18th Century London many babies were abandoned in the streets, the Foundling Hospital offered hope to women and children who would have perished left to their own devices.
It was amazing to see the hospitals system of cataloging the babies on arrival, clothing, features, any special marks and the textile token offering a gateway to the parent to recognise and reclaim their child at a later date. Inspite of only 1% of children being reclaimed the hospital maintained their meticulous register without judgement.
The range of textile tokens is also interesting, demonstrating different classes, many with symbols of hope such as flowers, acorns and butterflies or symbolic weight such as knotted ribbon to denote the tie of the mother to the baby.
I highly recommend a visit to this special exhibition (on until 6th March 2011) and museum.

Swishing Salon

Tomorrow the annual textile pilgrimage up the hill to Ally Pally commences! The Knitting + Stitching show opens it doors at 10am and closes at sun down Sunday.

Come and find us in the 'Swishing Salon' and 'The Learning Curve'.

But before coming riffle through your wardrobe and pull out any items that have been lurking but not larking for a while and check them into the Swishing Salon in the morning.

Mrs Bear will be on hand to help grade, sort the items ready for the swap in the afternoon and hopefully will be having one her lovely raffles.

We'll also be doing drop in workshops all day showing some tips n tricks on how to mend it!, darn it! patch it! customise, embellish, accessorise your outfit with some nifty thrifty ideas!

And! there will be a mini version of our 'Hagedashery' with Rethink Rubbish craft kits, darning kits, DIY Couture, Wool n Boat GIANT knitting needles and nellies and more.....