onsdag 29. september 2010

I used to be a weaver

During my art teacher education, I chose to specialize two years in weaving. For some time, I aimed to make a living out of weaving, but soon had to give up. When my son was six and I found myself a single parent again, I settled for teaching. I still rented a study and tried to do as much weaving as I could on my spare time.


I loved working with scarfs in soft, delicate wool and shiny silk.
We were taught how to develop and construct the bindings ourselves. The technical complexity and the  ancient history of this craft where the things that attracted me to it. Weaving has such deep roots in our cultural history and womens history and our vocabulary is still full of weaving related words and sayings. 
-Like "the Internet weave". In Norwegian, like: "Å ha bukta og begge endene" og "neste innslag".

I worked a lot with constructing fabrics as soft as possible. The three scarfs shown are bindings I have constructed. The one with black and white stripes became my signature weave. Allowing the scarf to have a beautiful fall, softness and beeing a sturdy binding at the same time. One of the last things I constructed was a binding where I joined two separate scarfs so it could have different colours and stripes on both sides. It ended up too thick. More like a coat fabric, so I gave up the project.
Weaving is very time consuming and I guess I don't have the patience I need in the long run. I also felt limited by mainly beeing able to express myself through stripes and squares. I was happy to move over to the more spontaneous craft that screenprinting represent. But I'm still proud to be a carrier of a heritage craft.
This scarf is inspired by stained glass and it's a school project.

mandag 27. september 2010

My talented readers!

I asked my blog readers to send me links to what they make.
I'm so exited about the great designs I have received links to. It's so fun to know what you do!
Thank you so much!
So here it is, my autumn collection of handmade goodies from my readers:


Pute med grå bil, from Fishermans daughter, epla.no.
Veronika's blog. Tablecloth repurposed to a very nice and special pillow cover!

Veske, from OktoberLeaves, epla.no. So well made and lovely pattern & colours!
Elisabeth's blog.

Super cute buttons; Fluesopp from Hilde's shop, NordicStiches, epla.no.
Hilde's blog.

Wrist Cuff Wallet -Tomato Garden from MaryZoom, Kansas, USA. These wrist cuffs are crafted from t-shirt scraps that are left over from other projects. A clever way to keep your keys or money on your wrist while you're walking, running etc.
Mary Ellens blog.


Anja grows her own organic flowers and sells them on the Farmers Market in Birkelunden, Oslo.
Her firm (and garden) is called Blomsterhagen på Abildsø. Here's her Facebook group.
There were lots og beautiful flower arrangements on her site, but this one took my breath away. I've been a keen gardener since I was 20 years old and here's some of my favourites; zinnias, dahlias and fragrant pelargonium leaves. 


Super trendy, custom made headwear from Made Up.
This is Jorun's facebookpage.

søndag 26. september 2010

Your product in my autumn collection!

I'd love to feature your handmade product!
Read this post and send me a link to something you've made!

fredag 24. september 2010

Repurposing a pillow case

I fell in love again last weekend, at the flea market.
I found this pillow case that made me think of a mid century American housewife.
I instantly felt an urge to wear that fabric. So I decided to see if it was big enough for a skirt. And it was!
-But just barely and a quite straight down skirt. But enough! Horray!

So I used one of my other skirts as a template and made me a pattern. Found a zipper and a thin fabric for the lining and spent an evening sewing. I looked in my treasure chest where I keep my vintage great-aunt-laces-and-trimmings and found the crocheted lace for the edging.
I know what you think, -it looks like a Tuesday in June. -Yes, it does, but I had to wear it at work today anyway. (I never wear colours like this. I had to search through all of my clothes, between greys and blacks and purple, to find a top in the right colour.) One of my lovely collegues took the photos. I have to excuse the institutional look of the floor. -I work in a school, you know.

I wish you a lovely weekend!

torsdag 23. september 2010

Sunflowers and a call for submissions


We planted some sunflowers in front of Moa's playhouse. But where did they go?

Over the top!

I'm so grateful for all you readers of my blog! I know that many of you are making handmade stuff and have shops where you sell it. I'd love to make an Autumn collection of my blog readers' creations!
If you want to join in, e-mail me with a link to your product. -Please note that if I need other colours or shapes for the collection, I might choose something else in your shop to feature instead.
Deadline: September 26. E-mail: ustrand@online.no

tirsdag 21. september 2010

Green Post


Look what I got in the mail today! Eco friendly magnets made from paper waste!
And I really loved the sustainable packaging made from a cereal box!
These tags are so cute. The talented, hard working and simply lovely Kendra,
who runs Green Post, makes them with wild flower seeds!
And what do you think of these great business cards?
(Ingrid Riddervold Design makes some similar.)
-I just hate it when I order something handmade, and it's wrapped up in several layers of plastic.
Green Post is the opposite; a consistently green business. Kendra is not playing sustainable!
If you want to order some of these great tags for Christmas, you can get them here.

I just knew they would look good on my sheep paper...

mandag 20. september 2010

Autumn

I'm working in my study today. I have one day off work every week this year, to work on my designs.
I's a lovely way to start the week!
Autumn has arrived. Just look at the lovely, red foliage on the grape wines in my garden.
The hen pouch is listed in my Epla shop.

Tea towel with sheep. You can find it here.
Inger the Hen tea towel in my Epla shop.

Ans this is a part of a custom order I finished today.

What will you make this week?

søndag 19. september 2010

lørdag 18. september 2010

Teatowels

Whenever I can find some suitable fabric, I print teatowels!
It's not often I come across any good, upcyclable towel fabric, but I've been lucky and found some natural linen. So I'm now proudly presenting teatowels with Mrs Cow and Inger the Hen. -Probably the most eco friendly tea towels you can find this autumn?
The sheep will follow soon.

These two are listed in my Etsy shop; Strand Redesign.

More numbers

Numbers are fun! Not only for school kids and mathematics teachers. I've started printing numbers on fabric scraps and I like how versatile they are as a decorative element. And I love to have a way to use small, lovely fabric pieces.

Here's some numbers from Etsy:

321 Found Numbers by eyeful on Etsy.

16oz porcelain mug, numbered from Gleenashop, Etsy.


Vintage Cash Register key Lucky Number 5 Ring, qacreate, etsy.com.


I'm trying out some number prints in my Etsy shop.  They are eco friendly and repurposed from used fabrics. More number patches will be available in my Etsy shop later!

I hope you'll have a lovely weekend!
I'm taking my five year old to a flea market tomorrow. She has started to love them as much as I do. It could be due to the fact that she always gets a piece of cake and some clothing for her dolls or other toys...

søndag 5. september 2010

Hand-me-downs


We are lucky to receive hand-me-down clothes to our daughter from our neighbor's twins. Actually, most of the clothes she wears are used. I rarely buy anything else than some tights and some of her her outdoor clothing.
She is so excited whenever she gets a new bag of clothes and can't wait to try her new treasures on!
Sometimes there can be small spots on hand-me-downs or they could need a little extra. That's when I take the garment down to the study for a makeover.
This tank top where embellished with a number print.

fredag 3. september 2010

Love at first sight

I found this fabric at the flea market last weekend. I instantly felt that I needed a tote like that. I like the way it balances on the edge between cool and ugly.
I'm not sure if my love is returned though, since what I did, was take her home, cut her into several pieces and stab her with needles.


On the other hand, from living a silent a life in the back of a closet to get a new start as a tote, travel and see places, and maybe even get the chance to move to another country far away. -That doesn't sound too bad? I got three totes from this fabric. One for my Epla shop (already sold), one for my Etsy shop,
-and one for myself, of course!


And here's a couple of new designs for little girls!
I hope you'll have a lovely weekend!

torsdag 2. september 2010

A lovely gift


My daughter, Moa, got this lovely and cute gift from Lisbeth, who runs the children's clothing shop Barnigjen with her daughter. I sent her some white foxglove plants and she made this sweet belt from fabric scraps. My daughter loves it!
You can have a closer look at the belt over at her blog Hos barnigjen.

This blanket is just one of the great retro inspired items you can find in the Barnigjen-shop!