ScrapHappy September 2022

It was time to turn a pair of hand-me-down straight-legged jeans into flares, and get rid of the bulky pockets at the back which made it look like I was growing two carbuncles on my backside.

I started with this tutorial and changed bits of it as I went along.

The inserts were cut from an old pair of jeans that had seen better days in certain areas, and were obviously never going to get mended while in my possession.

I zigzagged the inside seams because that wasn’t in the tutorial, and I also topstitched after ironing flat. Then I added a few random stitches in perle embroidery cotton. Different on each side. Because why not? I suppose I should have machined-stitched the hem in a light colour to match the original hem, but I was getting close to the end of the project and needed to finish it before running out of steam.

The horrible back pockets got ripped off and replaced with new ones from a pile of denim samples someone once gave me. I’ve been hoarding those samples for far too long and it’s time to use them up. I see now that I didn’t align the pockets when sewing – but finished is finished and it’s good enough for me.

I enjoyed doing this when I finally got around to it, especially when it came to putting a big tick next to “flare jeans” on the to-do list.

It’s only Kate’s ScrapHappy initiative that inspires me to write a blog post these days; I’m hoping to get some more creative energy flowing again soon. In the meantime, here’s a list of crafty people who also participate in ScrapHappy once a month:

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue,Lynda,
Birthe,Turid,Susan,Cathy,  Tracy,
Jill, Jan, Moira,Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Sunny,Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Carol,
Preeti, Debbierose, Nóilin and Viv

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ScrapHappy June 2022

Another jeans-to-skirt ScrapHappy project – or to be accurate, a denim mini skirt that I’d picked up at a thrift shop and never worn. With my legs (and, let’s be frank, at my age) mini skirts aren’t a good idea. But it was in a R10-box of bargains and who in their right mind can pass up a bargain? So I chopped off the hem and added stuff plus a bit of stitching. It’s shorter than the first one I made, just reaches my knees, but looks great with tights and boots.

Battled to get a decent photo in artificial light (Cape Town winter too dark and wet and plain bloody miserable to be outside) so these are the best I can do.

The first half of this year has been full of hurdles so far, many of which I saw coming so attempted to gird my loins, but wasn’t in sufficiently good shape to handle the unexpected ones at the same time. I’m trying to reserve what little energy I have for work-related things, for obvious reasons, and the rest is just a bit of a blur. Perhaps some clarity is on the horizon.

Here are the links for everyone who joins the ScrapHappy initiative from time to time. If you also love using up scraps, contact Kate or Gun (the first two in the list below) and they’ll add you to the group.

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill,
Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys,
Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera,
Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol,
Preeti, Edith, Debbierose and Viv

ScrapHappy February 2022

I’ve meandered into making wire jewellery, mainly rings. Not quite sure how my interest swivelled from working with needles and/or hooks to pliers and mandrels, but I’m just going with the flow for now.

I needed some sort of ring display for the Spier Craft Art market and didn’t want to spend any substantial amount of cash. Solution: go to Pinterest and see what ideas clever people have already come up with. I found this.

So I made this, using old corks from – well, not hard to guess, since the market is situated on a wine farm! – and the thin wooden drawer that came from a jewellery box made by my grandfather. I use the box for other things now so the two separate levels weren’t needed anyway.

I’m busy getting stock ready for a local market in Rondebosch on Saturday, so have been up later than usual at night making more rings. They will be displayed in an old wooden box with a glass lid that I fitted out with dense foam and sprayed copper. Not as artisanal-looking as the corks but fine for a day.
I try to post regularly on instagram and facebook, you can find me there if you’re interested in seeing more of what I get up to.

Gratuitous information: Cape Town has been jolly hot lately, which is normal for this time of year but still something I’ve always battled to get used to. The temperature in Stellenbosch the other day hit 40 deg. It’s a three-quick-showers-a-day time of year. I dream of autumn days…

I’ve been inspired to write this ScrapHappy post by Kate at Tall Tales from Chiconia. On the fifteenth of every month lots of people often publish a ScrapHappy post: Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Tracy, Claire, Jan,  Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon, Hayley, Dawn, Gwen, Bekki, Sue L, Sunny, Kjerstin, Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2 , Bear, Noreen, Preeti, Edith and Jule

If you fancy joining, contact Kate and she’ll add you to the list. Any use of any type of scrap material is welcome.

ScrapHappy December 2021

Tassel time! I caught a glimpse of someone making tassels with bits of old saris on instagram but I haven’t been able to find it again so I can’t share the link. It stuck with me, though, so I had a squizz on youtube and there are loads of similar DIYs.

I’ve made two so far and have no doubt more will appear (as if by magic). With the first one I used only strips of cotton, so I’ve found that the lighter, filmier fabric in the second works better.

I have some ideas about how to use them, and think some smaller ones would work well on earrings. Bigger ones in Christmassy colours might be fun on a tree or strung across a mantelpiece as a change from the usual decorations.

ScrapHappy is open to anyone using up scraps of anything – no new materials. It can be a quilt block, pincushion, bag or hat, socks or a sculpture. Anything made of genuine scraps is eligible. If your scrap collection is out of control and you’d like to turn them into something beautiful or useful instead of leaving them to collect dust in the cupboard, why not join us on the 15th of each month? Email Kate at Tall Tales of Chiconia at the address on her Contact Me page, or you can also contact Gun via her blog to join.

Those listed below try to post a ScrapHappy make every month, I love seeing what everyone else gets up to!

Kate, Gun, Eva, Sue, Lynn, Lynda, Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy,  Tracy, Jill, Claire, Jan, Moira, Sandra, Chris, Alys, Claire, Jean, Jon, Dawn, Jule, Gwen,
Bekki, Sunny, Kjerstin, Sue L, Vera, Nanette, Ann, Dawn 2, Bear, Carol,
Preeti, Edith, and Debbierose

ScrapHappy September 2021

I recently bought a motley collection of old beads and findings from someone on Facebook who was selling off her late gran’s bits and bobs (for the ridiculously give-away price of R150). I like that kind of thing – you often get a few fabulous surprises. To my amazement there was, in fact, a broken string of beads that looked suspiciously like garnets. I took them to a friend who used to work in a jeweller’s shop and she confirmed that they were indeed the real thing. I phoned the young woman I’d bought the beads from to let her know about the “valuables” but she said she didn’t want them and I was welcome to make them into something and wear it. I still haven’t decided what to do with them, but how lucky was I with that score!?

I thought I’d use some of the other stuff from granny to make something for this month’s ScrapHappy. There were a lot of little glass beads on wire and some pretty varnished shells with holes in them. I decided to turn it all into a scrappy boot wrap.

I’ll probably give this one to Karen. I started making the wraps with just two strands of beads to go round the ankle but I prefer the look of three (or more). She already has one of the first ones I made so she can add this to her collection. I’ve managed to list a few on etsy, will see if anyone finds them appealing!

Here are the links for everyone who joins ScrapHappy from time to time (they may not post every month but their blogs are still worth looking at): Kate, Gun, Titti, Heléne, Eva, Sue, Nanette, Lynn,  Lynda,
Birthe, Turid, Susan, Cathy, Debbierose, Tracy, Claire, Jan, Karen,
Moira, Sandra, Linda, Chris, Nancy, Alys, Kerry, Claire, Jean, Jon, Hayley and Jule.