Do ReDo Refashion project: ragged old dress

ragged-dress-with-boatsDo you have a dress that you just loved (wore) to pieces? I’ve worn this dress a lot – A LOT! : -) It has turned to rags… I have a body that often don’t fit in dresses from the rack. Found a super wonderful and talented Swedish designer – Jenny Hellström – and all her dresses fitted me like a glove. AND it was all in my taste – everything! Bought a dress form every season. I’m sad to say her wonderful fashion line went busted! Bankrupt in the finance crisis! OH NO! What to do?
I cut up my absolut favorite dress, altered it a bit (like put a zipper in the side instead of buttons. Widened the skirt in the bottom to get more of an A-line skirt instead of the straight skirt that would have been difficult to walk in when I skipped the side buttons that was functioning as a slit) Used some old plastic mini belt buckles to make cute bows to replace the ribbons & made a belt with a vintage green plastic belt buckle, matching the tiny riding helmet pattern on the fabric (brown background color). new-dress-with-ponyhats.-zoom-boow

new-dress-belt-zoom

Sometimes I can see birds in there

Moly_Php_700

Sometimes I can see birds in there.
I think about all the importence of ”feeding” the artist to be able to give to other people in your life. My art work tend to talk a lot about the struggle to run a life with work, family and being an artist at the same time :) I like the Swedish expression ”Kitchen sink realism” — This is my theme in all the Molys nowadays
The paper-part of this Moly has the programming language Php ”sentence”, a reminder of what I want…
Moly_Php_Pappersdelen_klipp

ihopklipp-molly-okt09_18cm
If you click on this image you can see how the whole textile part of this Moly turned out so far. We continue to send it round the group and everyone is going to contribute with at least one more embroidery. This is a attempt to paste different images together so it’s not perfekt :)

Concept of "RadioVideo"

radioVideo-Ny
Watch a video with subtitles in English and listen to the Swedish voices and original sound. (YouTube)
Pencil & water color
You can download a TV-pod version to you phone /pencil & water color

Sorry I have been gone for such a long time!
I work at the most wonderful and inspirational place nowadays – I’m so sorry I haven’t had the time to craft at all. I still have all this projects going on though – in bags all over the apartment :)
Soon i will post some new Craft stuff – I’m for example working on an embroidered part of the Moly_X_project again. Other embroidered parts of that project here and here .

At the Radio where I work I have a project with Swedish Award wining radio documentaries that we have translated to English. It’s what we call ”RadioVideo”. They are very interesting and amazing You can listen/read to some of them on YouTube or at the Documentary Dept. English web site

I have been working on sketches to explain the concept.

laser_akvarell
Listen to the Swedish podcast with original sound and
simultaneously read an Enlish transcript. /pencil & water color
See you soon!
It’s springtime in Sweden!!
Love
Inger Carina

Lace-Competence/Top skill-Competence – SPETSKOMPETENS

This is Elizabet’s Moly (Japanese Fold sketchbook from Moleskine) . We are a group participateing in the International moleskine sketchbook exchange.
The theme for this book is -Silver, Gold & Lace.
If you want to see what the rest of the group made this month, please visit our blog at http://moleskinex16.blogspot.com.

I have made a simple Flash slideshow with the 7 images. You will need Flashplayer 8 to be able to see it. Download free here Please write in the comments if you have difficulties viewing all images. If this works I want to use it more. But if you don’t like it I won’t use it again :)

Please write in the comments if you have difficulties viewing all images. If this works I want to use it more. But if you don’t like it I won’t use it again :)

21th International Sketchcrawl in Stockholm, January 10, 2009

Yesterday it was the 21th International SketchCrawl. We where a group of 10 ”Crawling” all day at Kulturhuset in Stockholm City . Sketchcrawling means that you meet up and sketch all day with some nice brakes for coffee and lunch. I had a great day! Thank yo all! Next time we meet up at Arlanda Airport sketching my worst nightmare – aeroplanes…think I need a drink first :)

hotorget_ny

Left: Crane on top of a roof at Sergel’s Square, pencil. Drew over the spread….
Right: High-rise ”5th Hötorget building” with sculpture ”Crystal – vertical accent in glass and steel” by Edvin Öhrström in the front at Sergel’s Square, Stockholm City. Pencil & Stabilo marker.
Suddenly two men (or should I say dudes?) stod in my way talking very loud about the demonstration down at the square. First I wanted to ask them to move away a bit but their conversation was so ”crazy-great”…. -”the police violence in the 70’s ..bla bla The Cuba movement bla bla” I don’t think they had been awake since the 70’s actually
:)
My sketch ended up a little crooked because they blocked my view.

You can see the others sketches at the Sketchcrawl forum soon.

Happy new Craftyear 2009! Ending this year with my flea market find from the Christmas trip up north.

Must say that I would have liked to craft more this year – It began okay the first 6 months when I still was on maternity leave and had time on my hands :) Unfortunately, after I began working again I didn’t have the same possibility to craft. – I hate not having a craft project on my mind. This new year of 2009 I have to make a plan to be able to craft more again. Maybe I can book a meeting with my self in my calendar and write ”Craft-meeting with Carina 6 hours” :)
It’s a good idea actually. More meetings with your own creativity – taking it seriously.
I wish you all a
HAPPY HAPPY CRAFTING NEW 2009!

And thanks for all your encourageing comments and all your own inspiring work on all your great blogs!

rodaSkor1 copy

Flea market find à la 65 Swedish kronor (approx. $8,4 or 6€)….mmmm….. red shoes MY FAVORITE.
This makes me want to do leather crafting – have all the tools but it was such a long time ago I workt with leather. Hm, maybe a project for 2009 :)
Big hugs and lots of love

Inger Carina

My new re-upholstered heart-chocolate rococo dream sofa!

Rockoccoooo

Couldn’t wait until I got the chance to take a picture in daylight! I just had to post these rather yellow images of my newly re-upholstered sofa! I’m so excited. I had the fabric for several years and the rococo sofa was in really poor state – the fabric was torn and the stuffing was starting to spread in the apartment. I could never have dreamt that it would turn out this fabulous. I just screamed when I first saw it. It’s so yummy. Like a big Christmas candy in our livingroom.
I left it with a proper re-upholsterer and I would never had been able to save that old wreck on my own. Money well spent. They found stamps inside that said that it was made in Sweden 1700-late-something and that it was made for export. I only know that my grandparents got it sent from the Swedish embassy in Moscow in the 50th.

(The latitude of Stockolm makes it dark when I leave for work in the morning and dark when I come home – in the summertime it’s the opposite though which is nice)

Dress project – cuckoo clocks & chicken pox prints

EgnaTygMonsterLeft: It actually looks exactly like them – the cartoon kids :) Right: Cuckoo-clock parade

I guess you all know about Spoonflower by now. But if you don’t – you have to visit them and start making your own prints! They have started their print-on-demand shop now and it’s open for everyone. I was one of the lucky to be in the test group so I have already ordered two of my prints. I’m so excited because I have a lot of DREAM PRINTS in my head that I will never find in the shops and now I can make them!
My next Fashion project will be two dresses out of my prints. The beige one is a sketch of my girls when the had chicken pox. It’s fun because if you see the print from a distance it looks like a kind of floral striped pattern – when you come closer you see the chicken-pox-girls :)
The Cuckoo clock fabric has always been a dream print for me but I have never found something like it anywhere – until now. (it’s the same clock from the dress embroidery)
Can’t wait to put the scissors in it. Unfortunately I have to start making the pattern for the dresses – pattern making is a bit time consuming… but it’s more fun if you get EXACT the dress you want.

One year blog-birthday

bloggaversery
Today is my blogs 1 year birthday!
(and my 41 year birthday)
Last year I started this blog on my 40Th birthday with thoughts about turning the big 4 0.
Thank you all for visiting me, leaving your comments and inspiring me during this fun craft year
:)
/Inger Carina

Fall craft theme is Clothes ~ Make & Remake

SvampDress1

Dear friends!
I have had a longer blog-brake due to too much work. I’ve got a new job with a project at a wonderful place with super creative and talented people. This was decided very fast so I had to work nights finishing all my freelance work (& I have two kids….)
Have been thinking every day about crafting though :)
And now I’m back. This fall I’m going to concentrate on clothing because I really love clothes and I fancy some new fun garments to wear! My plans are to both sew new stuff from scratch and remaking old and boring new clothes to wearable garments.
Started off with a little ”fixing the boring new dress”-crafting with embroidery. Drew some mushroom with bows (kitsch ), a cuckoo clock & a dear. Traced them with white tracing paper to the fabric of the plane button-down black dress from H&M – satin stitch with DMC thread.
SvampDress2
A couple of mushrooms down the top and a couple more plus the cuckoo clock and the deer beside the buttons at the bottom of the skirt.
Didn’t manage to take any photos of the whole dress, It’s barely daylight here when I come home from work :)
Feels good to be back Crafting!
See you soon.
/Inger Carina