Focus on craft

In Bangkok, buying T-shirts is a bit like breathing - you don't really notice you're doing it, it just happens somehow. T-shirt vendors line the more touristy streets and the designs are so good (and the prices so low) you can't help but buy a few every couple of days. OK, hours. I visit Thailand every year or so and have amassed a huge collection of T-shirts, but not all of them fit. Sometimes I donate those ones to charity, other times I turn em into MONSTERS! This little guy was made from a T-shirt printed with a pattern of cool retro cameras. I used part of the shirt to make the flap part of a courier-style bag (I called it my camera bag, geddit?) and used the remnants to create Mr Cameraman here. Sometimes he goes by the name Papa Razzi. You can read more about him here.

Rabbiting on about critters

This week I made a rabbit for a workmate, Megan, who's having a baby. I guess I should say I made it for the baby but secretly, I am hoping she keeps the rabbit for herself - come on, he's a pretty cute rabbit, she deserves to have him all to herself.

I'm really pleased with his cute expression and his jumper. I don't usually make clothes for critters - I'd rather leave that to the experts like Cat-Rabbit, softie-maker extraordinare.
But Megan has a penchant for stripey tops so I thought her critter (er, I mean, her baby's critter) better have a stripey top, too. I made the rabbit's jumper from some bias binding and the sleeve of, er, a jumper. Yep, it seems that particular jumper is destined always to be a jumper of some sort.

The rabbit was made from a grey jumper. Now there's a jumper that knows how to be transformed into other things. This monster is the first thing I made from that jumper about a year ago. I kept the scraps, of course, partly because I knew one day I'd want to use them for another project - like the rabbit - and partly because I am a hoarder. Look, you can't just wake up one day and discover your whole house has been filled with fabric scraps, you have to work on it.

I also made Mr Bunny from the same grey jumper. He's pictured here in a patch of rocket with his buddy the be-jumpered rabbit. I have no idea why that photo has loaded on that angle, but I'll pretend it is because I am an avant garde artiste making a statement about...um... my inability to get it to load correctly.

I still have a few scraps from that jumper. It just keeps on giving. If only chocolate lasted that long!