4 Fabric Camera Strap DIY Tutorials

A cute fabric camera strap has long been on my List of Things I'd Like to Make. This week, I came across two new tutorials online that have reminded me of this project and maybe bumped it up a few notches on the list. No matter how many projects I do, this list just never gets shorter...

This is the classic strap one I'd been thinking of making...

Fabric Camera Strap - Tutorial by Make Something

This one has the added benefit of having a lens cap pocket. Clever!

Camera Strap Cover with Lens Cap Pocket- Tutorial by Little Big Girl Studio

This tutorial for a shorter strap caught my attention, as it's definitely how I prefer to hold my DLSR, usually with the long strap all curled up around my wrist a kazillion times...

Wristlet Camera Strap - Tutorial by Being Geek Chic

And last, but not least, this one is also awfully cute... Perhaps for fancy dress occasions?

Scarf Camera Strap - Tutorial by Photojojo

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Sewing Capes for Social Change

 I love this initiative from Vancouver-based outdoor clothing company, Arc'teryx. Under the name of The Birds Nest Project, Arc'teryx employees volunteer their time to sew scrap material into weatherproof capes, which they then donate to homeless shelters and people living on the street. Now in the third year of the project, in 2011 they donated over 700 windproof, waterproof capes to those in need.

Good for the environment, good for people. Amazing. (Also, 'capes' and 'helping people' do tend to go hand in hand, don't they?) Read more about Arc'teryx's The Birds Nest Project here.

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11/11/11: The Date That Most Resembles Corduroy

Today is 11/11/11. The Date That Most Resembles Corduroy.

Yes. This is for real. And it is brilliant.

Read up on this fabulous fabric Friday on the Guardian, then check out Corduroy Club for more details and maybe even an event near you. I would also highly recommend celebrating by donning your cords and curling up to read the Corduroy the bear picture book.

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Summer in October

I realize that we're now deep into October, but this past Sunday morning has felt so summery. The sun was out in full force. I slept in, made a pumpkin pie, then did a few household chores, all while listening to Michael Franti's Sounds of Sunshine album and dancing around a little.



I didn't blog too much this summer, but it was not for lack of crafting. I was outside a lot of the time, spending time with friends, travelling, and getting up to Squamish to do some rock climbing. My sewing machine did see a little action, too, and I made a couple of handbags. I was really happy with how each of them turned out, especially as  I made up both patterns myself.

Little Sunshine Clutch
I made this bag to use at a couple of weddings I attended this summer. I planned to wear a charcoal grey dress from Smoking Lily, sassed up with bright yellow Miz Mooz flats. (I looove their shoes - super fun and super comfy.) So I needed a yellow bag, big enough to carry a camera and a few items, but small enough not get in the way. The wrist loop handle worked perfectly to keep the bag nearby, but out of the way.

Russian Doll Carry-All Handbag
I also wanted to make a giant summer bag, using this awesome Matryoshka doll fabric I'd been saving for something special.

My favourite part about this bag, beside the fabulous fabric, is the "tulip" top. I made the body of the bag, then left it on my workdesk for a few days, not quite sure how the top band should be... letting it percolate and sketching out ideas every now and then, till the right one struck. I'm glad I didn't just rush ahead with my first idea (which had buttons), as I'm much happier with the tulip.

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Josef Frank

"The home does not have to be planned out in detail, just put together by pieces its inhabitants love."

- Josef Frank (via ScandinavianDesign.com)

Google's all dressed up today, to celebrate the125th birthday of Josef Frank, an Austrian/Swedish architect and designer of furniture and textiles.

Google homepage on July 15, 2010

I don't know much about Josef Frank (and his Wikipedia entry is pretty limited), but I like what I see. Reconfirming that I have a weakness for eccentric Scandinavian fabric design...

"Brazil" pattern on the walls (1943-45)

"Terrazzo" Fabric (1944)

"Green Birds" fabric (1944)

I also like what I read about Frank -- this is from ScandinavianDesign.com:

Josef Frank's, life could be wonderfully characterized as on always in motion. Moving with ease from architecture and furniture design to glassware, lighting and metalwork--his was an eclecticism fueled by curiosity. and nothing captures this roaming imagination better than his textiles...celebratory and vibrant, they redefined Swedish modernism.

Read more about Joseph Frank on Huffington Post and Hoo-Hoo House - and  see some more images on Apartment Therapy, Bonluxat and Swedish site Svenskttenn, as well as Google Images.

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Donna Wilson

I have just two words for these pillows by Donna Wilson: FUN and FABULOUS.

Donna Wilson makes a ton of cute things including blankets, ceramics, and softies (Charlie the tall monkey and Cyril the squirrel fox are great!) and more.

She also recently created a maze using thousands of strands of yarn! Now that's a place I'd happily get lost in.

(via Shayo)

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Super Cute... in 20 Minutes or Less!

Molly at the Purl Bee posted a great a tutorial for a 20-minute tote bag. It looks super quick and super cute.

Best of all, her examples are made with the Spring 2010 Echino Ni-Co fabric collection. I am such a sucker for Echino fabric... I adore the pink glasses print, and the bus pattern is pretty darn sweet, too.

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beautiful new fabrics...

New fabric at The Workroom in Toronto! So beautiful. They are truly one of the top five reasons that make me think I could maybe move there. [via]

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Fabric + Letterpress = True Love Always

Two of my favourite things, together in one place! I'm in love.



Can I also mention that I currently have a crush on slab serif fonts? Mmm, yes.

Check out more photos of these ultra-cute save-the-date cards on 100 Layer Cake.

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a special offer for magpie and cake readers from fabric.com

This is kinda last-minute, but the kind folks at Fabric.com are offering Magpie and Cake readers - yes, that's YOU! - a special offer.

If you enter the not-so-secret code "blogmagpie", you'll get $5 off your purchase, from now until Friday, June 19th.

Right now, I'm eyeing up Heather Ross' adorable Mendocino series, as well as Joel Dewberry's faux wood prints.

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I am smitten by this handbag. Orla Kiely fabric does that to me.

But I am even more smitten by the fact that it was made out of an Orla Kiely dishtowel, bought at Target. A dishtowel! Which means that it cost only a few dollars - instead of, say, the $400 to $700 that a real Orla bag would set you back. (If only they had Target in Canada!)

The ruffles on the bag were inspired by this dress, which I also adore. I wonder how many dishtowels it'd take to make that? Hmm...



Read more over on dishtowel > handbag creator, Thimbly Things' blog, including some links to other Orla Kiely dish towel creations.

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PB&J pillows

Although not available in her etsy shop, Diffraction's PB&J pillows are a nice little ray of sunshine for me on a rainy, blustery Monday. If you're having a bad day that needs a restart, she's also got CTRL+ALT+DEL pillows. (You can get a bacon bracelet and a variety of fruit-themed jewelery from her, though.)

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you can fix it

All of a sudden, all of my socks have holes in them. The plastic coating on my headphones is ripped, exposing the wires underneath. The towel rack in the bathroom wrenched itself out of the wall, leaving a gaping hole in the plaster.

Yes, things are falling apart.

Fortunately, Spring is a time of renewal - as well as repair.

Craftzine named March "Mending Month" and has been providing a ton of useful tips on how to out things right.



Some personal faves are:
How to Mend Broken Jewelry (I love the videos!)
How to Mend a Fabric Tear Near a Zipper
How to Crochet Patches
How to Mend a Quilt
How to Hand-Sew a Blind Hem


Here are roundups of all the links from Craftzine's Mending Month:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4


BurdaStyle also has a handy tutorial on how to repair your umbrella. Chances are anyone who lives on the west rainy coast will be needing that soon enough.

What do you have to mend? And what do you keep putting off repairing?

Which reminds me, I still have to mend the torn pockets in my Spring coat - it's been like that since last Spring...

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bedsheet ghosts

Oh yeah, so before I got distracted by cheeseburgers and the chihuahuas standing on them, here's what I really wanted to say about William Hundley's photography: it's brilliant.

I especially love his series of photos of bedsheet ghosts...









There are a TON of them: here, here, here, here, here and here... AND there are even more to admire on his flickr.

I bet those photo shoots would be a lot of fun to do.

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down with wrapping paper

If you're looking for ideas on how to wrap your xmas gifts this year without using wrapping paper, furoshiki is where it's at.

Furoshiki is a Japanese method of tying cloth in various ways to carry anything and everything - from boxes to bottles. It's a little like fabric origami, but with more practical uses.

The Japanese Ministry of the Environment created a helpful sheet on various ways to tie furoshiki, available as an image or a downloadable PDF.

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craft rock friday with state bird

State Bird's video for "I Saw the Light" includes the rockers doin' a bunch of fun and crafty activities. They paint their faces, their paint up some instruments to play, and paint all over the video itself. Then they make sheet ghosts.

And wait, is that the little kid from Full House? I think it is.*




(*I'm not sayin' that Full House references count as craft, I'm just sayin'. Random Olsen twins references!)

This video was first posted over on Laundro Matinee, where you can also find a bunch of awesome videos of studio sessions, including this looooovely series with Bon Iver. Mmm.

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marimekko

Some sad news... Fashion designer Riitta Immonen, co-founder of Marimekko, has died at the age of 90.

Marimekko is one the most interesting and iconic fabric design companies I've encountered. Beautiful, beautiful stuff.

Riitta Immonen started Marimekko with her friend Armi Ratia back in 1951, when she was 33 years old and Armi was 39. And the rest is history. It's pretty inspiring thinking about how people get their starts and what can happen. I wonder if they knew back then that Marimekko would be a an enterprise that continues to grow and inspire people so many years later?

You can read a bit more about Riitta and her co-founder Armi Ratia on wikipedia.

Pictured here are some of the new Marimekko prints for Fall 2008, designed by Teresa Moorhouse, Kristina Isola and Erja Hirvi, respectively.

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