Tag Archives: fashion

October 15, 2025 · 5:24 pm

I wove a coat

I have just finished sewing together this coat:

I wanted to make something special to wear to the opening of my solo show- The Oracle of Stillness: Weaving Coherence in the Chaos.

I’ve been weaving this fabric on many different looms for about 5 years!

I worked my chops off to finish the last length of it, and then agonized over what on earth I would make with it…. a vest? a tunic? a shirt? a smock? a tabard? ack….

Finally, I settled on a coat-ish, duster-ish, big shirt-ish sort of a thing and cut out slopers and spent a whole lot of hours basting it together, trying it on, pinning new seam lines, basting them, snip snip snip

over and over and over until I was happy with the shapes:

I played around with fitting the various pieces of fabric onto the slopers

And, then eeeeeeeeeeeek I cut out the shapes! Hmmm something horrible has happened to the colors in the photo below… sorry about that!

Then -the long slow process of hand and machine stitching all the fabric components together…

I don’t like the raw edges of hand woven fabric, so I cover them with bias tape:

and hand woven narrow bands:

Every seam is sewn at least 3 and often 4 times (and of course, I zig zag stitched all the raw edges before doing anything at all).

It’s a slow and pleasant process- very meditative and contemplative.

And, of course- it has pockets! Pockets are essential!

Here’s the back:

It’s a very simple construction of an easy going and comfortable coat/duster/big shirt that I plan on wearing for years.

But first… to the opening of my show on Friday night at Harcourt House Gallery in Edmonton.

Hmmmm…. what to wear under it? Probably basic black shirt and pants, but jeans are tempting, too….

I am pretty sure that I have enough of the fabric left to cobble together a vest, too…

just not this week!

Here’s the link to my show: Harcourt House announcement

Jim and I just got home from the final ‘tweeking’ of the show, and I am so happy! ❤

These are the last of my one of a kind hand carved wooden Teddy Bears and Panda Bears

A couple of years ago, I had a wonderful time designing, carving and painting one of a kind wooden Teddy Bears and Pandas. Each one is unique.

They all have jointed arms and legs, so they can sit and move about.

I am not carving wood anymore, and won’t be making any more of the Wooden Teddy Bears or Pandas. These are the last of my series and are for sale.

Hand Carved WOODEN PANDAS

1- This Panda is approximately 6 1/2 inches (16.5 cm) tall $95 + shipping

Note: It has a beaded necklace that can be removed if you prefer them to not wear a necklace.

2– This little Panda has a gold heart, red bead necklace and red shoes and is approximately 5 1/2 inches (14 cm) tall $95 + shipping

3- This Panda has a gold heart, a gold bead necklace, red shoes that have flowers on the soles, green and purple leggings and a flowered body suit and is approximately 7 1/2 inches (19 cm) tall

$95 + shipping

Hand Carved Wooden TEDDY BEARS THAT ARE ABOUT 7 1/2 Inches TALL:

4-This Teddy Bear has red bead necklace, red boots with flowers on the soles, blue and white striped leggings and a flowered body suit and is approximately 7 1/2 inches (19 cm) tall $95 + shipping

4- This Teddy Bear is approximately 7 1/4 inches tall (18 cm) and has a pinkish gold necklace, pink and purple high top boots that have flowers on the soles, a floral body suit and leggings. $95 + shipping

I have made a couple of dresses that fit these Pandas and Larger Teddy Bears and are available, too….

A hand knitted old fashioned looking dress: $35 + shipping

It fits the 7 1/2 inch bears but is too big for the 4 inch bears

This is what it looks like on the bears (the bear is not included in the purchase of the dress…. they are all sold separately)

And here is a little sewn dress that is reversible. It fits all the bears. $20 +shipping

Here’s what the dress looks like on the bears (dress and bears sold separately)

4 inch tall Carved Wooden Teddy Bears

1a- 4 inch tall Hand Carved Wooden Teddy Bear in a Pinafore (the pinafore is included in the price) $95

If you are interested in purchasing any of the bears, please drop me a note in the comments

Finished my eBook on Woven Jewelry (Happy Dancing)

Do you hear that skippetty thump thump?

That’s me, happy dancing!

I’ve been working on a new eBook for more than 6 months and I have FINALLY finished it!

WHEEEEEEEEEEEE! and Squeeeeeeeeeeeeee! 😀

What’s it about?

Jewelry Woven on weaving sticks: LINK TO MY WEBSITE to see lotsa pics and order it, too 🙂

I’ve designed a slew of wonderful necklaces, bracelets and pins that are just sooooooooooo neat!

Some of them, like this bracelet, are woven with t shirt yarn, so woots!

You can be super eco friendly and upcycle and recycle at the same time as weaving and wearing fab jewelry!

Speaking of being eco-friendly, I show you how to make funky, cheap and cheerful embellishments and nifty closures for necklaces and bracelets:

You can use all kinds of yarns, cords, threads, fabric strips, paper ribbon- you name it….

I love weaving jewelry, and hope that you will, too!

So scoot on over to my website, and see more pics and order the book, and start weaving!

Happy weaving! 🙂

8 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, jewelry, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, Peg and Stick Loom weaving, peg looms and weaving sticks, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as fashion, how to weave jewelry, Noreen Crone-Findlay, paper ribbon, small loom weaving, stick loom weaving, style, weaving stick loom, woven jewelry

September 26, 2012 · 1:45 pm

Embroidering Leno Lace

I am passionate about lace and lace making.

I love to tat, crochet and knit lace.

And, recently, I have been experimenting with weaving lace.

Well… weaving leno lace and then embroidering it…..

This was my first attempt, and to be honest, it’s wonky and woobley and ‘real weavers’ would consider it to be a messy failure.

But, I really learned a lot while I was working on it- and am intrigued and intend to keep working with this technique.

By the way, this was woven on my 16 inch Mirrix loom, with loom extenders attached.

When I was warping up for my second embroidered Leno lace scarf, I made a video about the things I figured out while warping with loom extenders:

I got so overwhelmed with all the work for the Soumak Weave Along that I didn’t have time to do much more with the embroidered leno lace.

I needed my 16 inch loom for a tapestry, so I wove off the blue scarf to get it off the loom, and will be doing the embroidery with the scarf being off loom.

I am pleased with the progress I have made with the embroidery, and look forward to doing more of this technique.

I love scarves and wear them year round.

Leno lace scarves are light enough to be comfortable even in the summer, especially in the evening.

I haven’t had a chance to wash and block this one yet, so it’s not as nice as it will be.

I am planning on working a twisted cord with beads on it for the fringes.

Leno lace is so wonderful and has so much design potential that I intend to continue experimenting with it!

6 Comments

Filed under Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tutorial & how to, video tutorial, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as clothing, embroidering Leno lace, fashion, Leno Lace, Mirrix loom, Noreen Crone-Findlay, weaving lace, woven lace

May 19, 2012 · 1:49 pm

Bead love

I love beads- how could I NOT love beads?

The colors! the textures! the complete wonderfulness of them- sigh….

For many years, I did a lot of off loom beading- using brick stitch and peyote stitch to create pieces like this necklace:

This necklace is an homage to the Minoan Goddess of the Bees.

The blue teardrop shapes are dew drops, as the Minoan Goddess of the Bees is also known as ‘The Dewdrop Goddess’.

I love that—- dew happens when the earth is waking up and shifting from the dreamtime to the waking world.

How wonderful that there is a tiny Goddess there, guiding us back from our dreams, to our waking lives, and refreshing our spirits with dewdrops!

The red petal is a pomegranate seed, as The Minoan Goddess of the Bees is also closely aligned with the Goddess, Persephone.

Persephone was snatched from this world, and taken to the underworld, where she ate 3 pomegranate seeds. This meant that she had to return to the depths for 6 months of every year.

In Western Canada, where we live, winter reigns for at least 6 months of the year, often longer, so I resonate deeply with Persephone’s journey!

By the way, I love how the corded part of the necklace formed a figure ‘8’ – tilt it sideways, and you have infinity!

I worked the cord in peyote stitch, using tiny brass beads that a friend found in a thrift shop. Nice!!! 🙂

I carved her face from a tagua nut (an ecologically harvested palm nut) that is also known as vegetable ivory.

I have never done much loom beading, but that is about to change!

Every year, Claudia and Elena at Mirrix looms have a ‘social media campaign’.

They choose 2 weavers (a bead weaver and a tapestry weaver) to be part of the team, and then give them each a Mirrix loom.

Then, the weavers blog and post and tweet and fb etc about their adventures with their Mirrix looms for 4 months.

Well… I am soooooooooooooo delighted!

They picked me as one of their weavers! wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

A few weeks ago, I bought a Mirrix Joni from another Canadian weaver who hadn’t bonded with it. I am working on a series of woven tapestries and fiber arts collages and I need Joni Mirrix to be my loomie for that 😀

Woots! I fell madly in love with Joni Mirrix (although I felt unworthy of her at first… will tell you more about it, later) and thought-

‘Hmmmmm… there must be a Ravelry group for Mirrix looms’.

I looked for it, and sure enough, there is! Link

I joined, and the first thing I saw was that they were having their annual Social Media networking campaign.

I sent in my application, and last night, I was doing a huge happy dance to discover that I got picked for the team!

(good thing I don’t have to catch a ball or throw one to be on the team, or else I would still be standing on the sidelines! ahem)

Oh ho! I want to fill my studio with Mirrix looms, (tapestry is slow, and I want to be doing bead weaving, toooooooo, so I am just ecstatic!)

Speaking of bead weaving, I treated myself to Claudia’s bracelet workshop on Craftsy (anyone who has seen any of my video tutorials will know that I am madly in love with bracelets!) and I am chomping at the bit to get going on a bunch of yummy woven bracelets!

Alright…. back to work on design deadlines so I get back to my weaving!

Go gently! 🙂

Oh! PS: if you would like to knit yourself a Minoan Goddess of the Bees, I designed one for you to knit, and can be ordered here:

Link to the doll page on my website (scroll down, waaaaaaaaay down the page to click the ‘buy now’ button)

6 Comments

Filed under doll & dolls & dollmaking & doll making, knitting, Loom & looms & small loom weaving

Tagged as bead weaving, beaded necklace, beauty, brickwork stitch, fashion, knitted Minoan Goddess of the Bees doll pattern, minoan goddess, Minoan Goddess of the Bees, Mirrix loom, peyote stitch beadwork, social media campaign, style, tapestry weaver, tapestry weaving, teardrop shapes