DIY Yarn from Old Tees with Frau Fiber

Last week I finally had my first Frau Fiber experience!
It was GREAT!
I'm all excited about turning reject garments into yarn that I can use to make new fiber creations.
(I'm leaning toward weaving).

The event transpired at the California African American Museum coinciding with the Shinique Smith exhibition Refuge (more on that, if I can find the time). Some people upcycled tees into tote bags. I made yarn.

Here's how:

Cut off the hem. Turn tee inside out, fold so you see both seams (if you have side seams).

Cut across the tee through the seam CLOSER to you. DO NOT cut the other seam.

Closeup of cuts.

Pull tee apart so you can see remaining seam spine. (Some did this on their arm).

Cut DIAGONALLY from one cut to the next across the "spine".
This will give you a continuous strip of "yarn".

Pull the "yarn taut to get it to curl (only works with jersey. Not interlock, I discovered).

The "yarn"!

 Do the same process with the sleeves, or cut in a spiral after you cut off the hem.

My tee yarn and leftover bits.

I also did the same with lounge pants:

One leg's worth of yarn.

Two balls of yarn and the leftover bits.

Here's the start of what I'm making (pay no attention to that cat):

He's lying on a stripe that will match nicely. It was in a random pile in the living room and caught my eye.

Linking with Catherine's #SaturdayShareLinkup
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness

The Fluevog Sandal Clog Has Risen

Oh how I love these sandals!
On Saturday, they were sprung from Repair Jail. On the advice of Petrea at Fluevog Abbot Kinney, I took them to Miracle Shoe Repair in Playa Del Rey. I wanted a gentle touch -- these treasures are 25 years old! They needed new soles, front and back, and the back of the heels required a little rebuilding.

You can see two strata of heel repair: the dark upper layer was added in the 90s by Zinke's in Pasadena

To try and inspire myself to do some work on Repair Mountain, I pulled all the garments that coordinated with the sandals:

I found a lot of items! Did I do anything? No, not yet.

Remember this photo? (from this post)

I've been using the bottom skirt portion to cover the broken sewing machine.

Today's outfit -- the one I went out into the world in, not the staged one I posted on IG:

I had to make a run to Egg Slut for some VERY IMPORTANT taste test items and to Staples for printer ink.
Doesn't my dotty shopping bag coordinate nicely? Severo bought me three of them!
The little bit of walking I did gave me incipient blisters, so if I wear these tomorrow (highly likely), I'll need to wear socks.

I'm now supposed to be looking for missing art prints but instead I'm going to join Mr Lou on the couch.
It's how I Monday!

Linking up with:
Patti's Visible Monday
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike
Cherie's Shoe and Tell
Shelbee's On the Edge of the Week

Super Easy Skirt DIY

Where was I when they issued the "How To" on making a tube skirt out of a tee?
Wool-gathering, no doubt.

Find the too-tight tee/tank/cami:

Cut straight across just under the sleeves/armholes:

Wear!

So easy! Why didn't I think of this sooner!

By the way, I got a new camera.
It has WiFi. I no longer have to email my outfit pix to myself. I can use the WiFi!
Oh the possibilities...

Here's a side-by-side comparison of unedited photos (aside from cropping)
from the old Panasonic Lumix (left) and the new Nikon Coolpix L840 (right):

No more adjusting the Levels in Photoshop every single time!
[Does happy dance].

Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday (oops, she's on vacation!)
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness

52 Pick-me-up: Sun / Miracle / Reward

••• 

Ah, forgive me while I have a yellow meltdown.

[see more of this mess on The Glutton, where I'm still documenting my decluttering process] 

It's the start of seven weeks of yellow tones here on 52 Pick-me-up.
The colors are named by Tori Hartman for her Chakra Wisdom Oracle. [links here]
The interpretations are my own.
Here's what I decided back in June:

Sun, Topaz, Sunflower, Lemonade, Canary, Bronze, Gold  

This week our prompt is Sun Yellow. How is that different from Canary?
Here's what Tori says: Sun Yellow is the brightest and boldest. Canary Yellow is yellow in its purest form.

OK, so I still have four weeks to get something sewn up in my 90's yellow, black, and red plaids:

The item on top is a sweater that I'm going to turn into a skirt.

The other two are both woven yardage, the middle has spandex added.

That leaves me with the Sun Yellow jingle jangle skirt, which I still haven't decided what to do with.
Here it is, as a skirt, in days of yore:

With the famous Traveling Yellow Skirt!

"It makes a lovely bed"

"But I like the plaids more."

Yes, Mel's "Miracle" Traveling Freak Show Skirt is Sun Yellow.
Have you taken a spin with it?
Leave your link below, if you have.
If you haven't, contact Melanie. [The instructions are over on this page]. It is SO REWARDING!

Sun / Miracle / Reward -- link and tell!

52 Pick-me-up: Rose / Soulmate / Treasure

•••  

These are roses from my garden. Super fragrant, I like to turn them into rose petal jam. 

Roses, the flower of romance.
So why does my rose circle skirt hate me?
Is my love affair with skirts over? Are we no longer soulmates?

This just felt all kinds of wrong. I tried tucking in the shirt and it was even worse. 

Relationships change. It's important to adapt.
Or repurpose, in the case of garments.

So much better, right? 

I hoisted the skirt up to chest level and I like the look. Into the "fix it" pile it goes.

I had a wonderful meetup with Maricel of My Closet Catalogue on Friday in Claremont.
We had become Blogging BFFs over the past year and a half and the stars finally aligned correctly.
We talked of many things, one being the culling of closets (we both are using Poshmark and are finding it a devil's bargain because we are both experiencing greater influx than intended outflow of items. Those Mary Janes up there came from Poshmark).
Anyway, I described this decluttering book I'd read about: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo (I haven't read it yet). The basic premise is to approach an item and ask yourself if you love it and it brings you joy (I'm also taking a Wear Your Joy self-guided e-course that is tackling this concept). Maricel made the astute observation, "What do you do about perceived loved garments vs the reality of them not really looking that great?" [Not a direct quote -- Maricel, do you remember exactly what you said?] It's a quandary. Minimalists would say BANISH. Maricel and I are maximalist Geminis, we let our "precious" treasure linger and build up.

[source]

For me, it's an ongoing process and involves repurposing.

PURCHASED/ GIFTED (band shirt)/ LINKS/ 

Rose red, soulmates, and/or treasure? Link and tell!

Making Things Better

PURCHASED/ GIFTED/ PURLOINED/ LINKS/

The past week, I've been thinking about how to make 52 Pick-me-up a less stressful situation for myself. Trying to sketch on Tuesday mornings before work is not easy. As Greetje of No Fear of Fashion so kindly commented, "...remember... YOU made this list of tasks. So YOU can now: delegate, turn down (as in "sorry, won't be able after all to do this") or postpone (plan further in time). All of them options to make your life breathable again."

I've been mulling it over and here's what I've decided going forward:
The prompt for the week will last for a whole week and end at 5:30am Pacific.
The cycle is Wednesday to Wednesday.
The next prompt will go live at Wednesday mornings, as always.
The sketch will appear sometime between Thursday and Sunday.

Not too much adjustment for all that want to play along. A less rigorous sketching schedule for me. Phew!

I've had a fun time matching my scarves this week. I dug into a box of them and found a wonderful gold + brown diamond weave piece that I only vaguely remembered. I wore it last week, even though it was terribly wrinkled.

This one was in the same box, also still wrinkled:

It's hand painted silk chiffon. I can't remember who gave it to me.

Here's what I put together:

The sweater was bugging me -- too tight. I took some scissors to center front:

Aaaaah! So much better!
I wore this on Friday to qi gong class and to a scanning marathon at Otis.

Here is why I scanned at Otis:

home on the left | Otis on the right

Factor in Photoshop crashing every 3rd scan at home and you have no contest. (My scanner is so old that it only works with my feeble laptop).
I scanned 37 drawings, and I hope to slowly and steadily get them colored up.
So a week that started out badly, ended up very nicely. I found a fun new App too!

So excited!!!! Selfie from 2011 "painted" in Waterlogue

How was your week?


Linking up with Patti's Visible Monday and Seeker's Très Chic Style Bits
And YOU still can link up to 52 Pick-me-up here through Wednesday morning.

I Love: Greens and Mustard

If you think I'm talking about food, well, that is entirely likely!

Beets, Shishito Peppers, + Kale from Sunday

It all started with this top made by Luv 'N' Stuff (Chicago):

I bought this plaid plush top at Sonny's, in South Pasadena [now Koi] in the early 90s.
A pullover, it was always a little too bulky, a little too warm.
I found it Sunday afternoon languishing on the floor of the wardrobe where I store my jackets.

I made a simple cut down center front and a world of new mixtures began!

I've worn it every day this week. Here are Tuesday and Monday:

Yesterday's uploads to my new Trendstartr account
So matchy matchy!

I coordinate with the kitchen floor!

Pondering the mustard and green, yellow and green while driving to work:

I end up behind trucks with these colors! And road signs! And painted road lane indicators!!!!!!

At work, I took a moment and mixed up some hues in Photoshop and got their nearest Pantone (PMS)#s

The green that I'm NOT caring for:
OMG Emerald, PMS 17-5641, Pantone's "Official Color" for Spring 2013

source
Too bluish for my taste.
Give me my spring green grass green PMS 363!

Feeling Plaid Magic

This skirt resurfaced while I was digging through the repair pile.
It has waistband issues (bad elastic) and I wanted to turn it into a tent dress.
I made a start on Saturday.

First, I wore it as a skirt when I went to buy ribbon so I could match colors.

(twirling is serious business, dontcha know)

Then I did one of my safety pin "sewing" jobs to position the grosgrain ribbon straps.

No, I did not yet sew it. I wore it like that to a Group Show at my gallery.
I topped it all with my leopard swing coat.

(no twirls, so sorry)

Here I am at the gallery, coordinating with a painting by Ellen Starr.
It's a still life of her husband's magic gear. I felt magic standing adjacent.

Go see what Patti's Visible Monday gang are up to -- I'll be there.