Introducing 'Constantia', my slow fashion model

Hey - who is this?

Let me introduce 'Constantia' to you! A bit shy yet, she is, but I guess you will see more of her before long!



When Sara came to visit me, we talked about the possibility of using a doll for our knitting and other textile experiments, thus being able to try out patterns and ideas in a smaller scale.

We agreed on keeping the dolls quite simple, not too small, and on using the same outlines for both, hers and mine. As Sara is far more experienced than I am in doll-making, I asked her to outline it and to teach me how to sew and stuff it.

I wanted a doll looking more like a grown-up woman, with ample bosom and belly and a few grey hairs - well, more like in real life, if you see what I mean :-)!

Constantia measures about 80 cm/30 inches and is entirely made out of stash material and what I had at hand: an old cotton sheet, dyed with black tea, a red and grey tangled wool, a bag of padding and a little black acrylic paint for the boots. (For these first photos I just dressed her in one of my daughter's T-shirts - it's getting a bit chilly outside.)

Although we had almost a week together, Sara and I started making the dolls only a few hours before she had to go - so she left with only a paper pattern and I had a kind of empty fabric skeleton without a face in my hand ... So well, Constantia is not perfect - neither am I - but she's my first try-out and I would like her to serve as a model for a bit of slow fashion, for handmade and recycling wearables.



(German summary: Dies ist Constantia, eine 80 cm Stoffpuppe, die ich gerne als Model für selbstgemachte Anziehsachen verwenden möchte. Als Sara bei mir war, haben wir diese Möglichkeit des verkleinerten Ausprobierens diskutiert und zusammen ausgearbeitet - es wird also auch eine zweite Version davon geben!)

Still crazy ... doing malfatto

I found this wonderful unplugged version of "Still crazy" with an aged but still irresistable Paul Simon on YouTube and I think I have to share it with you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46bkXgxb66E&feature=related

Doing this and that, just playing, having fun ... Maybe I have to realize that those imperfect things are mine.



I've made two booklets to send to my cyber friends, Paula and Elizabeth - go check their blogs, they're both very good at what they're doing and have grown to be very dear and special to me!

(The booklets are punched with wool, yarn, fabrics on wool fabric, using the embellisher.)



I've found out there is a word for those imperfect, self-crafted things: "malfatto" - actually, it's Italian for "badly made", but it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be bad or ugly - just a bit rough, often made out of recycling materials and with a bit of vintage charm.

(By the way, I've discovered a very nice Finnish book with lots of pictures and ideas regarding stylish recycling of old things, written by Liisa Hellemaa-Hautamäki and Marjo Koivumäki. The German title is: "Aus alten Sachen Schönes machen" - unfortunately, I don't think it's been translated to English yet.)

It's not so easy to find or figure out minor projects which can be realized with a small amount of (handspun) yarn, but these are two bags - the left one is actually a cover protecting my GPS, the right a normal one - which I've crocheted lately:



(German summary: Die beiden Notizbücher sind mit dem Embellisher gepuncht, Wolle/Fasern/Stoff auf Wollstoff, die kleinen Taschen aus handgesponnener Wolle gehäkelt. Das Buch von den beiden Finninen kann ich wirklich sehr empfehlen - und natürlich auch die Blogs meiner Freundinnen!)

Back again - with the Sari Sisters!

Dear friends,

I'm finally back again. I haven't got the absolute full power yet, but I've been damn lucky and I'm OK. And thank you once more for your encouraging comments and mails - I've been missing you a lot!

Meanwhile, I've learned that 50% die of this kind of bleeding and 80% of the rest suffer of disablements ... that makes me shiver - and still, it's as if I just can't realize why my power is so low and everyday stuff suddenly requires 'slow-motion' ... the effort of raising a lot of input for a tiny little output.

Well, nevertheless, this was yesterday's output, when I was trying to play around with the making of 'crazy dolls' - let me present the 'Sari Sisters' (and brothers):



I named them so, because I used some of the Sari silk waste from the earlier posting, and combined it with some vintage buttons, beads and metal wire - actually recycling material.

(I only laid the dolls down on this pre-felt for taking the picture - they all have a hook on their backside and are ment to be hung on a wall, a branch, a parcel ...)

(German summary: Ich bin zurück - und ich bedanke mich ganz herzlich für eure lieben Kommentare und Mails! Ich habe verflixtes Glück gehabt - und trotzdem hadere ich ein bißchen damit, daß ich noch immer so wenig Puste habe ... Die Püppchen sind ein Recycling-Projekt aus Sari-Fasern, Draht, Knöpfe und Perlen!)