a delight to adorn yourself
and others with
♠ handcrafted and re-invented loveliness ♠
Rag Balls – Compelling Decor for Your Home
Rag balls - Are you looking for a quick, hopeful decor project for your home? Something therapeutic to make, but simple and not too time consuming. Make these rag balls from fabric offcuts or recycled clothing. Each one will have its own story to tell. How to...
Paper Pulp Jewellery Craft – Exciting Earrings
Paper Pulp Jewellery The continual quest to see what paper can do for us is a delight to me. These dangle Paper Pulp Jewellery Earrings have been so much fun to create. The designs are very simple triangular or teardrop shapes, and the plain colours are bold and...
Vintage Embroidered Linen Brooch – DIY
This is the ideal handcraft to preserve the essence of sentimental embroidered family heirlooms. The table cloth with a mould stain, or frayed serviettes make ideal material. If you're clearing out and nobody wants Granny's linen - why not make each member of the...
Bright Feather Jackets – Special Project
Creating a trio of Feather Jackets. That was a creative challenge I could not refuse! I belong to Cityhill Church in Hillcrest, and every year we host a large Women's Conference called Flourish. The theme for this year's conference on the 7th and 8th September is...
Tapestry Cushions (Pillows) – Found and Featured
I am always on the lookout for treasures. When I find someone's beautiful handiwork, that has been forgotten or has never had a chance to shine, I am so delighted to give it a moment! Tapestry Cushion Covers These gorgeous tapestries had never been framed when I came...
Twist Dyed Tablecloths with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint – DIY
What a wonderful opportunity for free creative expression. A friend asked me to help her create a number of Twist Dyed tablecloths for a function. Neither of us had tried it before. We put in some research, and were delighted with the result. It was a great...
Create a Waistcoat from a Crochet Tablecloth
A quick fun project with a really rewarding outcome - DIY instructions to convert a circular charity-shop-find tablecloth into a trendy draped-front waistcoat. Rectangular crochet tablecloths are great for reusing as throws or bed covers, but circular ones are a...
Sari Tarpaulin – Simple Event Decor Idea
My passion for collecting saris is no secret. I have a huge collection, neatly coiled into shelves in my studio. I have used saris to make bags, to create furoshiki wrapping, to make necklaces and brooches, tablecloths, cushion covers...
Safety Pin Earrings – A Freshly Found Favourite
These Safety Pin Earrings have been one of the most popular Freshly Found Projects of all Time. Welcome! Safety pins possess good qualities as material for jewellery, being shiny, delicate and easy to come by. In my endeavours to live a more artisanal lifestyle, I...
Up-cycle Jumpers into Classy Cardigans
Today's story - Upcycle sweater - Tutorial Here's how it happened in real life to 2 warm and fluffy pullovers. They have been converted into cardigans - projects perfect for our chilly Southern Hemisphere weather right now. The first is family...
Button Thread Bracelets – DIY
Finally! The tutorials are up for these button bracelets. They are a fun, quick project and a good way to use up a leftover buttons and crochet cottons. I've shown a few variations of colour and techniques. Mostly, I've used crochet cotton like J&P Coats...
Fabric Jewellery Pieces – Batch Satisfaction
There's something immensely satisfying for a handcrafter - to see a huge batch of their handwork all together. This is the feeling I had yesterday just before taking another load of fabric jewellery - vintage brooches to the KZNSA art gallery Buzzart Christmas...
Textile Jewellery Pendants
A new range of textile jewelry pendants have been in the making - Rescued pieces of vintage embroidery have been mounted as pendants and framed and hung with a delicate cord of twisted cotton I love the fact that beautiful handwork on stained or forgotten linen...
Bleach Shibori Shirt – Tie and remove colour
The last in a 3-part series of bleaching experiments. This t-shirt was treated in the same way as the previous experiment, but had quite a different result. It reminded me of the Japanese technique of Shibori dyeing. This is how I created a bleach shibori shirt: I...
Tie Dye Bleaching – Colour Changes
Taking the Colour Away. Reverse dyeing! Welcome to part 2 of a 3-part series of experiments I did using bleach to rescue some items in my wardrobe. Tie Dye Bleaching! This partially smocked T-shirt was a favourite of mine, and I was disappointed when it was...
Kanzashi Necklace – Flower Jewellery
Japanese styled fabric flower necklace created from local vintage sari fabric. Threaded with a hand-twisted cotton cord and finished off with touches of crochet. Kanzashi Necklace - Available as a Boutique Limited Edition option from Freshly Found More colour options...
Azuma Bukuro Bags – Japanese Craft – Sari Fabric
Azuma Bukuro Bags - Quite a mouthful! A clever and simple traditional Japanese style bag. Also called a wrap bag or triangle bag. [I believe Azuma means East and Bukuro means bag or wrapping] It's made from a rectangle of fabric that's cleverly folded and...
Button Bracelets ‘stitched’ with Cotton Thread
I made these button bracelets for myself. I did not want the buttons to be the star of the show, rather the pattern formed by the thread as it dipped in and out of the button holes. I hope to try out some more and document the process. Update -...
