Mensen die een bijzondere plaats innemen in ons leven verdienen ook een bijzondere wenskaart. Naar die mensen stuur je niet zomaar een e-card of een berichtje. Voor hen probeer je iets persoonlijks te maken waaruit je liefde en waardering blijkt. Door de jaren heen hebben we heel wat van die kaarten ontworpen. 

In deze blogpost lees je hoe je de Alabama Chanin techniek kunt toepassen bij het upcyclen. 

Sometimes unfavorable circumstances happen in life that you have no control over, either to you or someone close to you. At those moments your life stands still for a while, but not for long. After all, all you want is to be there to comfort, to encourage.

In this post I’ll show you some tote bags made from fabric scraps and upcycled fabric. Tote bags are strong and durable bags, you will enjoy them for a long time. By using them you avoid the use of throw away plastic bags. The nice thing about it is that you can make them in your own style with the colors, shapes or letters… that you like. 

Who doesn’t want to give an unique gift when a new baby arrives or when a toddler, dear to you, has its birthday!  We all know that the gifts we make ourselves are the most precious ones.  With this consideration in mind, I made this storybook.

Alicia Petresc on unsplash

When I discovered the School of Making, Alabama Chanin books and online classes of Natalie Chanin, I was so inspired! "Natalie Chanin strives to achieve complete sustainability at every stage of the manufacturing process - from materials and processes, to cultural sustainability in the form of preserving hand-sewing skills." (Ref.) 

My greataunts were twins. Two tiny ladies who never married and were loved by all the children.  They were special, their names were Emerence and Prudence, French names. When I went to visit, they always had to touch my clothes and comment on the fabric. If I wore a short skirt, they would pull it down a bit while touching the fabric. They told me that in their youth and adult years, they asked a seamstress to make their coats and dresses.  They had a new coat  every 10 years.  You can imagine how they cherished their wardrobe! Few clothes were hanging there, but handled with delicate care! That’s the happy life they knew, a mindset of contentment.

Photo: Alice Pasqual on Unsplash

Baby clothes are cute, fun to make but quick to be discarded since babies grow so fast. So when asked to make a handmade gift for a baby, I prefered to make something that lasts, like a baby quilt!

Some time ago I went to the  attic to get warmer bed coverings.  I opened the attic wardrobe and an old baby blanket caught my attention.  It was given to me, a long time ago, by my mother-in-law.  ‘A perfect item to use in my next zero waste coat!’ I thought.

My grandmother used to tell me proudly how she mastered the skill of darning to the point that nobody could tell where the hole had been.  She had knitted a dark orange sweater for my father to wear in college.  One day one elbow got a hole in it.  They weren’t rich, yarn was expensive so she sat herself to darn, as she had done for years.  She had some orange yarn left.  With her whole heart and love she mended the hole.   A smile came on her face when she showed it to my father.  It was perfect again.