Jung Hwa Yoo

Jung Hwa Yoo  ... a knitting/crochet and textile artist  with totally  ingenious and stunning designs, so really this is a keepsake for me. There are a couple of things I would wear and a few I wouldn't dare but love her designs. Which are your favourites?

Knitwear Unhyungung Studio of Oll-llO,
knit Designer & Knit Artist &Textile Artist, Knitting machine Designer, knit-academy, Hand knit(knitting, crochet, afghan), knitting-machine Silver Reed SK-840,DK-7,Lc-580,SRP60N, Oll-llO yarn desings ,fashion knit wedding-dress,textile art.

Homemade Christmas & Homemade Knit Sew Crochet By Ros Badger

I had the great pleasure of meeting Ros Badger when she held a sewing masterclass course, held in the beautiful Château Dumas here in France two years ago. I discovered Ros to have an incredible eye for detail and colour and she had then a seemingly endless amount of patience (I fear I might have used it all up!) plus she has a great sense of humour. I was making a bag and got carried away with the hole punch and tore the material. I went to Ros and she looked at it, smiled, and took the bag from me and said go and do something else and leave this with me! Within 15 minutes she was back and my bag was repaired, she had found a scrap of material that matched the bag and made a label and, well I never, it was perfect.

She told me she learned how to crochet at the age of eight, and has made things all her life, customising clothes, restoring old furniture, growing food, flowers and cooking everything from bread to vegetarian feasts.

In recent years, as well as working as a stylist for magazines and newspapers, including the Telegraph and Sunday Times. Ros also has a mail order business called “Little Badger” which specializes in fashionable hand knitwear and T shirts for children, using logos and imagery previously not associated with children’s wear: Website is currently being updated.

Little Badger's customers are worldwide and have included celebrities from Nicole Kidman to Bono, as well as many figures in the fashion world. Website currently being updated.
An ex-designer for Betty Jackson and Marks & Spencer among others, Ros also did a stint as knitwear expert on the C4 Big Breakfast programme.

Ros also hosts Pop Up Shops under the trade name 'Its LovelinessIncreases'. Scouring markets across the UK and France, she sells vintage finds, from furniture, paintings and textiles to objet d'art and mid century contemporary pieces.

Ros's most recent books, “Christmas & Festive Decorations” and “Knit Sew& Crochet” each book has 25 innovative projects for you to make for yourself or friends, both books will be on sale from the 11^th October 2012 just in time for you to get out your knitting needles, crochet hooks and sewing machines and learn to make something truly original. Ros is sponsoring 4 books and the winners will each receive two craft books which she will personally autograph, doesn't get better than that!

Previous books from Ros include Homemade: “Gorgeous Things to Make with Love” which she co-authored with Elspeth Thompson is published by Harper Collins in the UK and Skyhorse Publishing in the USA.
Ros is also the author of two successful knitting books, Little Badger ContemporaryClassics (Ebury press) and Instant Expert Knitter (Octopus books).

This giveaway is open worldwide and I will be using Rafflecopter again, so good luck and  a huge thanks to Ros for her generosity.

Ros on Twitter

Little Badger Fan

Dates for your diary.....
Daylesford Organics nr Kingham, Gloucestershire, GL56 0YG

5th & 6th November 
Preview Monday 5th  6.00 pm and 9.30 pm
Tuesday 6th  9.30 am and 4.00 pm
CHRISTMAS FAIR in aid of WellChild  5th & 6th November 
10% of sales go to this charity.  www.wellchild.org.uk


Selvedge at Chelsea Town Hall
Selvdedge Winter Fair
November 10th 10am -4pm
Chelsea Town Hall
Kings Road
London SW1

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Featured Guest Blog "Scarf It Up"

I “met” Chrissie on Etsy during one of my foraging episodes for vintage buttons back in 2008. I LOVE vintage buttons! At the time I was seeking large, unusual buttons to embellish felted bags and/or for making funky bead & button jewelry. Our mutual admiration flourished from there. I was further intrigued by her location – in France – since I am a certified francophone (studied in France, taught French for 20+ years, traveled there many times, and have family there!). So naturally, I was very much interested in FRENCH vintage buttons!


When Chrissie asked me to write for her blog, I was honored and excited – and then stumped! What to write? Although my experience includes teaching languages and working in higher education and private practice as a career counselor, my third career has become entirely focused on creating wearable fiber art in knit, crochet, and felt. I am and have always been a recycler, upcycler, repurposer (or whatever the current term is!), thrift shopper, and enamored of making old into new.

My latest ideas – and they do change frequently! – include the use/reuse of old silk scarves that I’ve worn and collected over MANY years, those of my parents, and others that have been recently generously offered by local friends. I wanted to create small, elegant, evening bags from these scarves, adorned with vintage lace, embellishments from other scarves, and vintage buttons. And although I’ve sewn clothing and home décor for many years, sewing is not my forte or passion, although I do understand the basics of construction.

This project, however, became far more complex than I first imagined – and FAR more strenuous and wearing on the hands (planning my next carpal tunnel surgery in May)! Rather like rug hooking, strips of silk and/or ribbon, yarn, or other textiles are pulled through burlap or monk’s cloth on an embroidery hoop using a crochet hook. I collected scarves with a color theme, tore or rotary-cut them into strips – experimenting all the while with width, design, fibers, etc. And once I filled the 6 or 7” square or circle with pulled silk strips (many hours of intense work), I then was confronted with how to construct the back, lining, pocket, strap, and decoration.

In spite of many years of clothing construction for my children and myself, and even a tailoring class - but MANY years ago – and lots of home sewing, I was stymied by how best to proceed. UGH!!! It was much trial and error, and ultimately probably four days in the making, but I finally produced the first Rug Bud Bag, pictured below.


It is all taupes and neutrals, from silk chiffon, silk gauze, charmeuse scarves, then lined and backed with dupioni silk fabric, embellished with vintage lace, Hanna silk ribbon, and a handcrafted silk bow from a remaining scarf and a vintage button. I added a vintage button closure on the back and finished it with a grosgrain ribbon strap. I had no idea what I was doing!


As owner and sole-designer for Scarf It Up!, I do like to sell my work. But this prototype bag with its valuable components and (too) many hours in construction would have to fetch far too much to make it worth my while.  I loved the bag immediately, but I hated it for being so painful (yes!), time-consuming, labor-intensive, and so damn cute!

Undaunted and with a few days reprieve, I decided (what was I thinking!) to try another – this time ROUND! OMG!!! Really….WHAT was I thinking. I thought I’d try using some bulky yarns in addition to the silk, thinking it would go faster, fill up the space on the hoop in no time at all. It proved to be even more difficult to pull through the monk’s cloth, and the shape made it all the more impossible to back and line. Too much hand sewing, more trial and error, and about FIVE days later, I finally produced this imperfect Rug Bud Bag II.
This one is backed with black velvet, lined with recycled trouser material, and embellished with burgundy tulle, a jewelry finding from another Etsy artist, Premiera Elements, and a crocheted chain strap.

And finally…..I decided to try just one more – and this one I’m thinking of keeping for myself! Actually I may end up keeping them all, because I doubt I can sell them at a price worth my while for the creation process. This one made use of all the animal print scarves I acquired, plus vintage lace and buttons from my stash. The process took a little less time, but I dawdled hugely since my favorite part is NOT the sewing or particularly all the required hand sewing.

I also have another in the making, but I’m really not sure it will ever be completed!

With very sore fingers and hands – and a studio that had materials from one end to another and required hours to organize and clean up, I think I may lay this idea to rest.  What to do with the rest of the scarves – well……not all of them, because many have sentimental value!  The next idea:  silk and ribbon button earrings!  And these – with the proper equipment, which I have since purchased on Etsy and eBay – are a no-brainer.  And quite cute!  What do YOU think?

Although a limited Etsy seller, Scarf It Up!, I sell mostly in three local boutique/galleries in the Wilmington area of southeastern North Carolina: Port City Pottery & Fine Crafts, aMuse Artisanal Finery, and Artful Living Group.  You can find me (Louise Giordano) on Facebook, my blog, and flickr.  Please take a look at my OTHER work – in knit, crochet, and felt.  Maybe I should stick to those!

Thank you so much Louise for sharing your beautiful and such creative work, it has been an absoulute pleasure for me and I had a real challenge in deciding which of your pictures to add as I love them all.

The Day I Dyed and Went To Heaven

On arriving at  Chateau Dumas late Sunday evening turning into the drive I was met with the most spectacular scene of the Chateau ablaze with lights. I was so excited to be finally here and couldn’t wait for the morning to arrive and get started.

The rest of the group were settled and having dinner and I could hear that they were already having a good time. Lizzie (the owner of the Chateau) is such a warm and welcoming person you were instantly made to feel at home.

Last year I did the woad-dyeing course at the chateau and this was an experience that I want to do again and again. When I saw that Lizzie was running a course combining Reinventing French textiles run by Ros Badger and a day woad -dyeing well I just had to go. The course runs for a week but other commitments would only allow me three days, but they were filled to capacity.

9am Monday morning finally came, we all gathered in the studio which is large room with soft greys and white walls and a beautiful hand painted design on the floor, large skylights and the although the day was overcast (the rest of the week was glorious) the room was so light and airy.

A spectacular sight met us with piles of vintage textiles, trimmings, templates, embroidery threads, vintage craft books, a table full of samples made by Ros, and Lizzie, bags made from vintage linen tea towels, covered coat hangers, patchwork hearts to name a few and we all immediately pounced on the table where we could use anything we wanted as Lizzie had provided us with a massive range of vintage pieces to choose from.

I had a rough Idea of what I wanted to do but then my brain went into overdrive and I found my self hopping from one thing to the other, bliss pure bliss. Tuesday, hang on what happened to Monday? The group was producing lots of wonderful items and Ros seemed to flit with ease from person to person offering help and advice if needed, she has an amazing eye for colour combinations. I loved the fact that everyone in the group were also genuinely interested in what other people were making and hints and tips were flying through the room and made the atmosphere really special.

I wanted to make a bag from an old linen skirt and added a beautiful fabric trim to the bottom and decided to line it with the same fabric, I was fiddling about with it and Ros came over and said “ love this bag” I told her this was to be the lining, and with a flash off she went and came back with the most sumptuous piece of green silk and this was added to the top. Ok now I have two bags, but you can never have enough bags, right!!!

Ok Wednesday is here and Denise and Annette are setting up the vats for the woad-dyeing and we are all scurrying about sorting out what we wanted to dip first. She then gave us an interesting talk on the history of woad, which although I heard it last year it was delivered with humour and fascinating facts.

I had a bag at home with lace trimmings, shells, and a few other bits and was furious with myself, yes I had forgotten to bring it with me (well there is always next year) if I am lucky enough!!! So after beating myself up decided just to enjoy watching what everyone else was dyeing, between that and popping back into the studio to make up one or two other things that took my fancy. 6pm came far to fast in my opinion, which meant that my lift back home was due any minute. I bade farewell to my new friends who were still up in the fairy park dyeing with pleasure. I have selected a few pictures and I personally can’t wait to hear what they got up to for their last two days………

I for one had the most fabulous three days, met some lovely people, made a few things that I never knew I could and if your looking for a crafty holiday in the South West of France then I can’t recommend it enough.

http://www.chateaudumas.net/

http://www.bleu-de-lectoure.com/

http://rosbadger.blogspot.com/

And finally Ros will be offering one lucky person the chance to win her handmade book which will be personalised by her own fair hand coming soon on my blog in the next few weeks.