Make a weekend rag rug with Mary Jane

Use your rug to add a splash of crafty colour!

When I approached the Imperial War Museum in Salford about working with local schools in connection with their new Fashion on the Ration exhibition which opens shortly, I was sent a series of quotes from local people about their experiences of making-do and mending during WWII. One man remembered weaving a carpet using old clothes and sheets, and it provided the perfect inspiration for this project. Now, there are lots of rag-rug making methods out there already but not many are suitable for young children. So after consulting Finn, my cousin's nine year old son, we devised this method which I'd like to share with you. I've made the rug above which is 70cm in diameter by doing a couple of rows a night over the last week - but you could easily make this in a weekend - especially if you employ child labour! See below for start-up instructions and cost-cutting ideas. Then take a look at the videos by myself and Fin which will follow next on the blog to help you get started. I'd love to see what you make. Please get in touch if you'd like to do a workshop with the Mobile Makery. We'll travel far and wide! maryjanemillinery@hotmail.co.uk

First you need to gather your supplies. To make your upcycled rug, you'll need LOTS of old clothes, pillowcases, sheets etc. To give you an idea of quantities, the blue jeans stripe in my rug is made out of one pair of old jeans. Don't use anything that you think will fray too much, although some fraying is inevitable. You'll need sharp scissors, a curtain ring, and an old dolly clothes peg. Tape up the end of the clothes peg as shown. It will act as a giant needle.

I love a bit of creative serendipity - and when I realised I needed lots of  old curtain rings for this project - they came from totally unexpected sources. A friend gave me a few that she'd had lying around for ages and then I also enquired at a local charity shop. Hey presto - I was given a huge bag full for a small donation. It's always worth asking! However, worried I'd still not have enough curtain rings for some 150 children another friend Philippe suggested cutting a plastic pipe into slim circles. Et voila! Here he is doing just that. What a star! Obviously only attempt this if you know what you're doing. 

Sand the rings down and you've got yourself a bargain. The pipe only cost £5.75....

So now you need to prepare your fabric. Cut it into strips that are around 3cm wide and no more than a metre long (any longer and the children will get tangled up) and make a small hole at each end so you can thread the strips together. This joining technique will be demonstrated in my first video.

Now it's time to get started - so have a look at the videos which follow next on my blog. Rag Rug School Help 1 & 2. There's also a video of Finn using the technique. I now employ him on a regular basis and pay him in jelly beans!

In a weekend - you'll have made yourself a rug! Good luck! 

We'll see how the schoolchildren do when I work with them next week in Manchester.

Street art or vandalism?

I recentIy had an animated discussion with a friend about Banksy. It was the thorny old question about whether he's a talented artist or simply a vastly overpaid vandal. We talked about art in public spaces and the issues of permission, protest and skill. It was a timely exchange as it seems that graffiti is the 'look du jour'. Everyone's doing it. Liberty of London has erected a graffiti wall in its cosmetics department encouraging shoppers to scrawl their thoughts down for public perusal.

And Somerset House has just finished an exhibition entitled 'Graffiti and the Everyday Utopias of the Street' featuring the genre's emerging names.

I couldn't help but wonder how the curators at Somerset House would have felt if the artists concerned had decided to scrawl on the building's walls rather than in the permissible spaces they were given for the show.

I rather liked the post-it-note 'graffiti wall' which featured in the concurrent exhibition about graphic art....a playful take on what some regard as the threatening cityscapes that graffiti can create.

The thing was, that after all this exposure to graffiti, I kept seeing it everywhere! A stroll along Brick Lane was like a trip to an unofficial gallery....

I rather liked this quiet piece of removable art.....

Not sure what my conclusion is...but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Vintage millinery workshop in Montrose

I was thrilled to finally offer a hat-making workshop in my Mum's hometown Montrose on the North East coast of Scotland where regular readers may know I've been living for the last few months. Bambi (aka The Mobile Makery) is almost ready for summer - but not quite - so I was teaching with all mod cons available in an actual house! A group of six novice milliners set out to make one of the projects from my book The Modern Girl's Guide to Hatmaking - and they did fantastically well.

I was demonstrating three main skills on this workshop - two vintage techniques (one pleating ribbon and the other making flowers) plus a simple way of making a birdcage veil. Oh yes - this is where you come to learn the tricks of the trade!

First to be tackled - the pleating technique - which I teach using Petersham ribbon - or grosgrain. It's a great material to use as it takes the pleat well and can be dyed. On this workshop many people elected to use the tea dyed grosgrain which I'd prepared earlier.

Next - we made flowers using cotton organdie (you can see a tutorial for how to make these flowers in an earlier blog entry) which I show people how to colour using pound shop felt tip pens and a wash of water (yes, there's always a chic on a shoestring angle to my work!) Here's a really lovely example of some flowers made by Charlotte - my fabulous chocolate-making friend who also turns out to be a pretty nifty milliner-in-the-making!

Everyone worked really hard - fuelled by homemade soup and a continuous supply of tea and coffee - naturally! 

If you're interested in arranging your own vintage millinery workshop then please get in touch. You too could make something like these ladies. Perfect for those summer weddings and parties! 

Drop me a line: maryjanemillinery@hotmail.co.uk

A special millinery make for Easter & a workshop!

It's time I gave you something pretty to make - just in time for Easter. And no, I'm not talking about an Easter bonnet....they're sooooo two centuries ago! Instead I give you the Spring flower hairpin which you can create in abundance and scatter through your hair however you choose. These flowers are crafted using a vintage technique that I discovered when I purchased a 1930's satin nightdress-case a few years back. The flowers had been worked in pale pink ribbon, but I prefer something more vivid and real looking, so this is my modern take on the technique. I hope you like it. Please share your pics on my Chic on a Shoestring Book Facebook page. I'd love to see the flowers you come up with.

You'll need. Cotton organdie fabric (I get mine from The Cloth House on Berwick Street in London) - 25cm will make lots of flowers. Scissors, needle and thread, felt-tip pins, hairpins, a scrap of felt, and a gluegun. A small paintbrush and some water.

Cut your organdie into strips around 40cm long and 5cm wide. Then fold in half along the length. Use the felt-tip pens to add colour along once side and blend using some water and the paintbrush. Allow to dry.

Use a double thread with a knot on the end and stitch as shown along the raw edge for about 6/7cm then gather up the thread to make a petal. Repeat the process to make a second petal.

Continue all the way along the strip until you have made several petals just like the strip below. Don't worry about it curling up. It will naturally do that.

Arrange the petals in a circle as shown stitching through the centre to hold in place.

Make a little loop of thread and form into a figure of eight as shown.

Stitch into the centre of your flower and chop through the ends of the two loops. This creates stamens. You can scrunch the flower in your hand to give it more of a textured finish. The organdie will hold the shape well.

Use the glue gun to stick each flower to a hairpin and cover with a tiny circle of felt on the back.

Pop in your hair and celebrate the Spring! 

If you'd like to learn lots more about this method and create a unique floral millinery headpiece using other vintage techniques, then sign up for my workshop taking place on Saturday 2nd April at my friends' beautiful Scottish wildflower farm - Scotia Seeds in Farnell (near Montrose in Angus). It costs £55 for the day all in, and there will be homemade soup for lunch and endless tea and coffee! 

For further details please email me: maryjanemillinery@hotmail.co.uk - it would be lovely to see you there. 

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Upsize a leather skirt the MJ way!

Whilst visiting Edinburgh this weekend I picked up a great bargain from one of my favourite vintage shops -  Armstrongs in the Grassmarket. I purchased a red leather thrifted skirt. It cost me just £10.

There was just one problem.

It didn't fit!

Two choices: alter it or diet.

I say NO to diets!

Well, the skirt fitted well on the hips, but the waist was tiny. I just couldn't do it up. It had also obviously been worn by someone a little bigger beforehand, as the waistband was warped. However, it was such a good bargain, I felt I just had to buy it and give it a go. I considered taking it to be altered as it was leather and I wasn't sure I could manage the job myself, and then I thought: 'come on MJ - call yourself a make-do-and-mender? What are you doing? You should absolutely do this job yourself. It's not as if you're run off your feet at the moment - and besides, an alteration will cost twice as much as the skirt itself!'

It didn't look an easy job. As well as having a fair few seams, the skirt was lined and had a fitted waistband with a button. I measured my waist and the skirt waistband. Ahem. There was a good 3.5 inches difference. There was no way I would find enough leather at the bottom of the skirt to add to the waistband, and besides, with the number of seams, and the zip, it would be far too complicated.

And so...I decided to remove the waistband altogether, and see if there was some way of expanding the waist without it. I used a stitch unpicker, and in fact, it came away really easily.

I realised that without the waistband, the leather was actually quite stretchy, held firmly by the lining. I decided to undo the lining from the top of the skirt, trim it down slightly, fold over the top edge and tack it down. Then I would be able to slip the tacked lining back underneath the leather edge of the skirt, turn the leather back on itself by half an inch and hopefully stitch it all down again whilst skimming the top of the zip. That would certainly make the waistband bigger, but would it be enough? It's not easy to pin leather but I had a go, and by doing so was able to try the skirt on. And it seemed to fit pretty well.

Using a leather needle on the sewing machine and by taking it very slowly, I managed to stitch around the top edge fairly neatly. The leather stuck a bit to the plate beneath the machine needle so I had to guide it through carefully, especially over the bulky seams.

I then added a hook and eye at the top of the zip to stop it from coming undone.

Here you can see the inside. It's not perhaps a couture finish, but dear reader, it works!

Here you can see just how much bigger the skirt is now.

And by George - it fits pretty well!

Tah dah! Fitted leather skirt £10. Leather needles £1.20. Hook and eye around 10p. Total cost £11.30. Plus I feel really pleased that I managed to do it myself. Satisfaction guaranteed.

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Beachcomber Grotto Pot

I'm currently living up in the town of Montrose on the North East coast of Scotland. There is a beautiful beach here and when the tide is out, you can walk for miles. I'm always on the look-out for interesting things brought in by the waves - shells, pebbles and driftwood for instance. Last week when I was feeling particularly low, the sea gave me a really generous present. Washed up on the sand were lots of broken plates and bits of crockery. I didn't have a bag with me, but nonetheless, I gathered them all up, grateful for the unexpected gift. 

It's the one and only time I've seen this sort of stuff washed up in Montrose, but elsewhere I've been luckier. A few years ago I stayed on Tanera in the Summer Isles on the West coast of Scotland, and was always finding broken bits of china and sea glass along the shoreline. I remember making a mosaic mirror frame with the pieces I found, and I decided to do something along the same lines again.

Once home, I washed and dried the crockery, and laid out lots of old newspaper. Then I  wrapped the ceramic in an old tea towel so that I could smash the pieces up one by one. Very theraputic. I also used tile nippers to give more shape to the pieces as I worked and to remove the sharpest points. ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES when smashing up and shaping your bits of china. You might also want to wear protective gloves. When you've finished breaking up the bits put them onto a clean bit of newspaper and carefully wrap and throw away anything you don't want in the old tea towel. Clean any surfaces with damp kitchen towel.

As well as the china I found on the beach, I added in a couple of charity shop plates bought locally for a couple of pounds. I needed a bit of brightness for the mosaic.

For my base I used a cheap terracotta flower pot and then bought a tub of all-in-one tile adhesive and grout. Using half an old clothes peg as a spatula, I stuck the broken pieces onto the pot one by one. I probably used a bit too much adhesive/grout to start with. It's better just to blob and stick the bits on one by one I think. As I worked, I also added in a few little ceramic favours or fèves that I found at brocantes in France during my Mobile Makery trip in the summer. These little figures come in all sorts of different designs and are hidden inside the Galette des Rois - a traditional cake brought out to celebrate the Epiphany. The person who finds the favour inside his or her slice of cake gets to wear a crown and make a wish!

As you can see, the pot looked a little rough and ready after the first 24 hours of drying - a bit like a crazy Christmas cake with too much icing! But then I grouted it carefully using a damp sponge, gently scraping back some of my over-enthusiastic gluing. I'm really pleased with the final result below, and it's a lovely momento of my walks along the beach in Montrose. A great idea for your own holidays.

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