Tag Archives: upcycling

March 29, 2016 · 8:59 pm

Introducing Findlay Bear and Flora Panda Knitted teddy bears

For several years, I designed teddy bears (Edward and Anastasia) for a knitting magazine that is no longer being published.

People have been asking me for the patterns for Edward and Anastasia, but I can’t share them, as I don’t own the copyright on them 😦

So…..instead…..

I have been working on a pair of tiny knitted teddy bears that will have all manner of adventures.

And, I would like to introduce:

Findlay Bear and Flora Panda:

Findlay Bear and Flora Panda are 4 inches tall.

Findlay Bear How to 1

They are really fun and easy to knit.

Findlay Bear How to 2

Here is the link to their pattern in my etsy shop: PATTERN

Because they are small, they can travel easily in a pocket:

Findlay Bear How to 3

Findlay Bear and Flora live in a Tree House.

Findlay bear house 11

Findlay bear house 12

They have just moved in, so the inside isn’t decorated yet.

They have to make up their minds how that will go….

Their house began as a thrift shop find that I did a whole lot of renovation to.

Here’s a little slide show that I made, showing how I made their house:

Findlay Bear and Flora Panda have all kinds of thoughts about the adventures that they would like to have.

I hope that you will knit your own version of Findlay Bear and Flora Panda and join us!

The pdf pattern for Findlay Bear and Flora Panda is available in my etsy shop: PATTERN

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Filed under Findlay Bear and Flora Panda, knitting, teddy bear

Tagged as doll house, Findlay Bear and Flora Panda, knit bear, knitted bears, knitted teddy bear, knitted toys, knitting, pocket bear, teddy bear house, teddy bears, upcycling

January 11, 2016 · 10:58 pm

Memory Bears

Last summer, Marie, a member of our extended family (through marriage and love) died.

I asked her daughter for one of Marie’s sweaters so I could upcycle it to make little bears for Marie’s close kin with it.

I unraveled the sleeves of the sweater and used the Comfort Bear pattern LINK to pattern

It’s taken awhile, because, I think that I needed to design the Comfort Bears first.

I was so pleased when I had an ‘AHA!’ that I could use the Comfort Bear pattern to make the Memory Bears for Marie’s daughter and her partner, her son and grandson and her grandson’s Mum.

They’ll be able to cuddle a little of their Mum and Grandma whenever they need a small bit of comfort…..

I am finding the Comfort Bears to be very inspiring… They have many aspects, and more keep being revealed.

Tiny bears, made with love. ❤

12 Comments

Filed under blessing bear, charity knitting, crafting for charity, eco crafts & green projects, gifts & easy to make gifts & presents, knitting, teddy bear, tutorial & how to

Tagged as blessing bear, comfort, Comfort Bears, compassion bear, grief, knitted teddy bears, Memory bears, re-using a sweater, upcycling

January 14, 2015 · 10:22 pm

Upcycling a little box into a band loom

I absolutely love weaving Scandinavian style woven bands, using different styles of rigid heddles.

A few weeks ago, as we were cleaning and clearing in preparation for our big move, we found some sweet little drawers that my father in law had made many decades ago.

He had reclaimed some tiny little wooden butter boxes and made wee drawers for his workshop with them:

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.tottietalkscrafts.com

And, since then, the idea for building a tiny, oh so portable band weaving box loom has been gestating in my mind….

After much trial and error, I have built the little loom, and absolutely adore it!

I have made a small video that shows what I did to build this little charmer:

This is the ratchet and pawl that I designed for my loom.

I made them from a scrap of marine plywood, which allowed me to curve the pawl.

I am going to make the next one from a piece of purpleheart that we’ve been saving, so I am going to make the pawl straight, to make it stronger and not risk breaking it by cutting a curve against the grain.

If you are interested in learning more about weaving Scandinavian style narrow bands, definitely seek out the work of the marvelous weaver extraordinaire, Susan Foulkes:

http://durhamweaver64.blogspot.co.uk/

And, if you’d like to see some of the ways that I use narrow bands please click:

https://tottietalkscrafts.com/2014/08/08/woven-women-small-bird-sang-and-all-was-forgiven/

Note: I have upgraded the little box loom…. it’s even better!

Here’s a link to how the little band loom has evolved: LINK

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Filed under band loom, eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tutorial & how to, video tutorial, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as hand weaving, hand woven, how to build a box loom, how to make a band loom, loom, narrow band weaving, Noreen Crone-Findlay, reclaiming, recycling, Scandinavian style, upcycled box loom, upcycling, video tutorial, vintage butter box, woodworking

April 18, 2014 · 2:02 pm

Weaving with recycled & upcycled fabrics for Green Window City

For the last 6 weeks or so, I have been weaving up a storm, working on an installation for the Green Window City project in Edmonton Alberta. Link to Green Window City

I wove 7 banners ( each 5 yards long) from cut up clothing and t shirts cut into t shirt yarn (tarn and ‘Farn’- fabric strip yarn) on my Saori loom.

I rescued a warp chain that an angry weaver had cut from the loom and tossed in a box at the Reuse center:

It wove up beautifully:

I figured out how to weave stars for the ends of the banners:

I built a mannequin, a cat,

a dog,

a stool, a loom and a stand. LINK

I made gigantic balls of yarn…. I wove a tapestry of the earth, using cut up fabric strips- whew… so many new things to figure out! LINK

copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay www.crone-findlay.com

And, then, yesterday, I installed it all in the window of a beautiful little boutique in Edmonton, ‘C’est Sera:

And, today… I clean the studio and work on new projects.

4 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as #rethinkjunk, #YEG, Earth Day, Earth Month, eco project, fabric yarn, farn, green project, Green Window City project, hand weaving, hand woven, how to build a loom, how to build a loom stand, Noreen Crone-Findlay, recycling, saori banners, Saori weaving, t shirt yarn, Tarn, textiles, upcycling

April 7, 2014 · 11:25 am

Green Window project – weaving a tapestry of the earth

I have been incredibly busy, working to deadline on a really neat project: The Green Window City project. LINK

13 artists were paired with shops in the Old Strathcona district of Edmonton as part of Earth Day celebrations.

We are each creating an installation in our partnered shop, using stuff that was pulled out of the trash…..

I have been building and weaving like mad….

I can’t show too much until I have the installation up and running.

But – I am going to give a sneak preview of a small tapestry that I have woven for my installation.

I was nervous about using discarded fabric that I cut into strips for the weft of the tapestry- I had NO idea if it would work!

Also, I built the loom (more about that later) and wasn’t sure if it would be alright for tapestry weaving.

On top of all the other unknowns, for the warp, I used hemp yarn that was given to me by someone who gave up on weaving.

Fuzzy, sheddie, hairy hemp yarn? As warp? Bonkers.

I was sceptical when I saw that the cone of yarn was labelled as being warp, but thought- Why not?

This is all about experimentation, and creative adaptive re-use….

So, I warped up the loom:

And then, I cut up strips of fabric and started weaving.

I’ve never used fabric strips to weave tapestry, so I was really quizzical about it at first….

Those are the fabrics that I cut up, and wow…. I LOVED weaving with them!

Its’ very slow, but I was amazed at how well it worked!

I loved it, and I am eager to weave more tapestries with upcycled, re-used, recycled fabric cut into ‘farn’ (fabric yarn).

But, for now, I have to get back to cutting up more t shirts and discarded garments for the banners that I am weaving for the installation.

And, then, back to weaving weaving weaving…. I have 5 more long banners to weave….. oh my!~

3 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as creative adaptive re-use, fabric strips, Green Windows City, hand weaving, hand woven, installation, Noreen Crone-Findlay, tapestry weaving, upcycled, upcycling, woven image of the earth

March 30, 2014 · 3:48 pm

Tapestry Diary 2014- 3

This week has been insanely busy, with a major new project being on the top of my list, plus a maker’s faire yesterday, AND having to rush to get a vest done that I have been working on as a wedding gift… busy… very busy!

Even so- I have been working on my tapestry diaries….

Here’s where I have gotten to with my latest ‘Dancing Lady’:

The Schacht Mini Loom has been surprisingly satisfying for this small piece (*no affiliations or profit from saying that I do like this little loom*) although, of course, tensioning is pretty minimal!

I still have a whole lotta work to do on her, but that is ongoing.

For April, I will be working on this piece, that is the other half of the warp strands from my first Dancing Lady of the month:

The light is so glaring in my studio right now that I am either getting totally over exposed or under exposed pics. Sorry.

One of the things that has kept me so wildly busy, is that I am participating in a very neat project in Edmonton, Alberta, called, ‘Green Windows City’.

A group of artists have been paired with businesses in Old Strathcona, a very artsy part of Edmonton.

The artists are scrounging up stuff that has been discarded, or donated to the ReUse center, and are creating magical installations in one storefront window of their assigned business.

I chose the theme: ‘Weaving a new world’, and have been busily building a mannequin and loom and stand and props, and will be weaving up all manner of things….
so, here’s the loom warped (I’ll show more about the loom and stand in the upcoming days), but I haven’t got the drawing done for the cartoon yet….

The warp is set at 6 epi, and is soft hemp that was given to me by someone who had given up on weaving. The label said that it was warp, but it’s sure new to me to use hemp as warp! Wish me luck!!!!

The next couple of weeks are going to be sooooooooo busy, as I have to have everything done and ready for the installation on April 17 – eeeeeeeeep!

But, I do feel that the weaving on the loom for the installation is very much part of my diary process, so I will be including it here, and posting about it.

2 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tapestry, Woven Women tapestries and woven works

Tagged as Edmonton Alberta, green projects, Green Windows City, tapestry, Tapestry Diary, tapestry weaving, upcycling

April 30, 2013 · 10:41 am

I’ve been weaving bracelets

I am participating in all kinds of craft fairs and maker’s markets this summer in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

I’ve been weaving up all kinds of bracelets for the upcoming shows:

The bracelets are a combination of paper yarn, t shirt yarn, vintage buttons and charms and other embellishments, as well as copper and brass findings and embellishments that I have made.

And, now, I must get back to my looms! 😀

10 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as brass findings, copper and brass, handwoven bracelet, Noreen Crone-Findlay, paper yarn, t shirt yarn, Tarn, upcycling, vintage buttons, woven bracelets

June 4, 2012 · 6:49 pm

A neat variation on Card stock bobbins for storing threads and yarn

I love buying vintage crochet cotton at the thrift shop. It speaks to me of the hands that it has passed through, and the pleasure it has brought to other thread lovers.

I like to use it in my weaving, crochet and tatting, as it gives me a sense of connection to needlewomen of the past.

BUT… storing balls of crochet cotton can be a problem. Those hollow cores take up a LOT of space!

So, for many years, I have been upcycling old credit cards or pieces of cardstock to make bobbins like this:

Because, storing yarn or thread on a small flat bobbin is so much more efficient than leaving it on the cardboard tubes:

Last night, I had insomnia, and was thinking about winding off a pile of vintage crochet cotton, when I had a flash of inspiration!!

Instead of making chubby little embroidery style bobbins, if I made ‘dog bone’ shape bobbins, I could use my bobbin winder to speed up the process of winding them. AND, they’d take up less room, as it would be a longer, leaner shape.

I jumped out of bed, and started cutting the new shape bobbins:

And, winding up balls of cotton:

In a twinkling of an eye, I have compactly wound bobbins that won’t tangle with other bobbins, as the thread is taken through a slot and secured. Another bonus! No snaggles!

This shape of bobbin is great for warping the Mirrix loom, as it’s so compact. Yep – it’s a win!

And, they can be easily stored in unusual containers, like this:

I made a video to show how quickly and easily this works:

I haven’t tried using these bobbins for tapestry weaving, but I will, and will let you know how I like them.

I love making tapestry bobbins from wood- especially upcycled wood, so I will be showing you how I do that in an upcoming post.

Happy weaving, and here’s to creative ways of storing yarn and thread stash! 😀

10 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tutorial & how to, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as bobbin winder, card stock bobbins, creative storage solutions, Mirrix looms, textiles, thread storage, upcycling, weaving, yarn stash

January 13, 2012 · 10:13 pm

Little looms from recycled things for teaching weaving or sampling etc part 1

Yesterday, I posted about teaching children to weave Link

One of the pleasures of weaving is that it can be done with tremendously complex machines, but, can also be done with small bits of this and that from around the house.

Today and tomorrow, I am going to be posting little how to’s on making recycled and upcycled looms that are great for teaching kids how to weave, or just for noodling about with sampling yarns and weaving little bags, or hacky sacks or bookmarks….

So, here’s today’s installment:

If you make each grid square 1/4 inch, then the loom is business card size, which is a charming size to work with, and to pop into a pocket or bag.

If you weave 2 tiny rectangles on the loom, and stitch them together, then add a beaded fringe, it makes a very pleasing little amulet bag.

I think that one of the most accessible looms for beginning weavers is the weaving stick loom.

I am doing a lot of designing for it – here’s my post about the mermaid to weave on the stick weaving loom: LINK

Happy weaving!

3 Comments

Filed under eco crafts & green projects, Loom & looms & small loom weaving, tutorial & how to, weaving & handwoven

Tagged as how to make a penny pouch, how to make an amulet bag, how to weave, loom pattern, recycled project, recycling, teaching children how to weave, upcycling

September 11, 2011 · 9:59 pm

Upcycled jeans become denim dress

Whoosh! Summer raced by, with renovations on our house, and helping out on renovations at our daughter and son-in-law’s house and weaving, weaving, weaving, weaving, weaving!

I’ve been working HARD on new books and am hunkering in and am ~FINALLY~ getting them closer to completion and releasing- oh my!

I took a little break from my looms the other evening to indulge in a little bit of upcycling.

My daughter in law gave me some of her torn blue jeans a few months ago.

Suddenly, the other evening, I felt the urge to take the scissors to them:

I have a couple of dress patterns that I am besotted with these days, and find myself making them over and over in various configurations.

In my previous blog post, (link to post) I showed how I used my fave dress pattern with fabric that I had woven on various narrow looms.

Snipping up the bluejeans to fit the pattern pieces was a touch tricky, and forced me to bend a few ‘good seamstressing’ rules, but what the heck, why not?

I am fanatical about pinning the living daylights out of the sections of garments when I am stitching them together, but I don’t pin my pattern pieces to the fabric when cutting out.

I like my rock collection that I have gathered up over the years. 🙂 They hold things in place without damaging the pattern tissues.

And, of course, I HAD to save and re-use the bum pockets!

I also saved a little pocket from the inside of one pair for a cellphone or glasses mini-pocket, too.

Unfortunately, when I picked the pockets off the backside of the jeans, there were 2 dark blue pocket shapes. Drat!

I thought about attempting to bleach them out, but then thought: Ah, why not consider them to be ‘design elements’? 😀

I am tickled pink with my upcycled denim dress, and am so happy that a couple of pairs of torn jeans have come back to life as a fun and comfy tunic that I am going to enjoy enormously! Whee!

I really should show you the dress that I made from a garage sale tablecloth… it’s great! I wove the neckband…. okay… must take pictures and get back into the habit of blogging again!

And, by the way…. Happy September!