Here is a sneak peek into my upcoming shoe and bootmaking eBook. The focus is on handcrafting artisan Derby shoes and boots at home with just a few tools and no machines.
I’m so excited to finally coming a bit closer to finishing it. I started working on the book over a year ago, it’s slow going but it will get done sooner rather than later, I hope.
I haven’t worn sneakers for a very long time. I do like them but I stopped buying shoes once I learned how to make my own. Sneakers, I thought, aren’t the kind of shoes I could make at home.
I know they now sell sneaker making kits but I’d prefer a plastic-free version. So I’m glad I finally figured out how to make all-natural sneakers out of things I have in my craft room.
I used raffia for the soles and denim scraps from my ever-growing fabric stash for the uppers (it hasn’t shrunk much after completing this project, sigh), pigskin lining and leather soles.
Out came these sneaker style espadrilles. I’m so happy how they turned out, they are super comfy and so soft to walk on. So here is how I made them.
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Every spring I make my children new sandals, so this year I decided to make sandals with a punched design. Before I start making them I look for inspiration on the Internet.
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I love exploring new fibres for spinning yarn. Recently, I’ve noticed a lot of unusual fibres appearing in online wool shops, fibres made from seaweed, mint, corn, banana plants…. I’m just beginning to explore some of them.
Here is my newest crochet pattern: a roomy carryall raffia bag. It would make a fabulous accessory to a colourful summer outfit – but it’s big and strong enough to carry all your groceries, too.
I made the carryall from soft yet strong raffia yarn, the base has a leather lining to make it even more sturdy and durable.
This daisy leather wrap bracelet is the newest addition to my collection of leather bracelets. I love the look of metal embellishments on leather, so was really excited when I discovered these metal brass daisy eyelets.
It’s that time of year again when I get out my leather stuff and start making sandals (while still wrapped in wool). These are my son’s new sandals. In this post I share my process of making a sandal pattern using lasts.
Going through my fabric scraps, I came across lots of small pieces of sweat shirt fabric, the remains of my teen daughters obsession with hoody making over the past year.
So I thought what could I do with it, it’s a lovely soft organic cotton fabric, too precious to put into the bin. Well, I decided to create a new hoody with it, although a very different one to those my daughter made.
I gathered all the pieces, pole dyed them (a shibori technique), cut them out using three different sizes of squares to use up even the tiniest pieces and sewed them together again to create a new fabric.
I can’t survive winter without a pair of fingerless mittens, I wear them all day long inside and outside the house. They keep my hands and wrists warm but fingers free to work, type and use my touch screen.
So here is a crochet pattern for the mittens you see above. Although I used handspun wool, you could substitute it with another DK weight yarn.
The mittens are worked flat, then sewn together, leaving a hole for the thumb. It’s an easy and fast project using two different stitches, riddle stitch and half double crochet.
The pattern is written in standard American/U.S. English terms.
One of the joys of winter for me is wearing cosy, colourful and hand knitted or crocheted wooly hats, scarfs and mittens. It’s my winter jewelery, so to say.
I spend most of my free time dyeing, spinning, designing, crocheting and knitting winter accessories.