Vivienne Westwood criticises Britain’s bad dress sense

Of course, as a knitter and knitwear designer, I just had to read this – and found myself nodding my head like one of those nodding dogs, which were so fashionable in the…erm…70s?

Apparently, when speaking during London Fashion Week, the famous designer claimed that the British “have never looked so ugly” when it comes to fashion.

Ouch!

Westwood said ‘conformist’ shoppers and cheap clothes have given society a ‘generic look’.

She then went on to blame the rise of cheap disposable clothes for curbing individuality and elaborating that “Everybody looks like clones and the only people you notice are my age. I don’t notice anybody unless they look great, and every now and again they do, and they are usually 70.”

Westwood suggested the demise of fashion comes from the rise of a new generation of shoppers who look to fast-fashion superstores selling on-trend clothes at cheap prices.

Her best advice to fashion lovers is to take advantage of austerity and use limited resources to buy fewer clothes with long lasting quality.

Lime Sorbet Hat by Christine Harris

Heck yes! As a crafter, I’ve defended the creation of unique pieces against the ‘cheap, cheap, cheap’ attitude of shoppers at local craft fairs, who want everything for a fiver and then lots of the same thing. People seem to have lost any sense of what making clothes really costs, and also the ‘hidden costs’ of child labour and exploitation. They expect a cotton t-shirt to be no more than four quid, and knitwear to go for a song. At the same time, the quality of clothes and fabrics have gone down steadily over the last 20 years. Some of my (now) nearly vintage pieces from the 90s certainly are so much better quality – and they came from the High Street, too. Even if the clothes no longer fit, I keep them for the fabric, which is great to work with even after all those years!

There is comfort for people in looking the same and wearing the same mass-produced outfits, but as an 80s girl who was inspired by Madonna and Cyndi Lauper, I never quite understood this. I never wanted to look like everybody else, except during a short period of conformity after I started my first ‘real’ job. Needless to say, it didn’t last…

Silk scarf, golden swirl on purple by All Things Shiny

I recently read in a humourous book on management (yes, there are those!) that many companies act on the principle, that if an employee has an idea, it’s not good, but if the competition has the same idea, it has to be good and shall be copied. So it seems, we are all looking to other people to get some kind of assurance, to get an official ‘ok’, that we are alright, that we look alright, and that we blend in and not stick out. The price for safety, however, is the loss of our individuality. Nothing wrong with being inspired by trends, but for me they are only guidelines, nothing more, and I tend to ignore a lot of those guidelines…

So we have fashion clones, and clone towns, and Photoshopped faces who all look the same, but luckily, there are still individual designers and crafters, who dare to be different and unique. And there are those cool elders (some of the best dressed ladies in my neighbourhood were born in the first half of the last century) who know the quality when they see it and grab it with both hands. They were young when you didn’t have washing machines, so they were careful what they bought, made sure the pieces fitted well, were long lasting, could be mended and turned in and out, and mixed and matched with the rest of the wardrobe. They still have so much style, and never leave the house in ill-fitting clothes or without their lipstick on (and no, they are not rolling in money either)!

It takes courage to be an individual, but the irony is, if you step out of line, other people feel encouraged to follow – ok, that sounds like copying again, but isn’t quite the same.

I have this lovely poster. It shows a group of white cats with black spots – and right in the middle of them sits a Dalmatian. The poster says…

In a world of copy cats, be an original!

Purls

Growing up in Germany, carnival was an exciting time for a textile lovin’ kid like me – the range of costumes I wore included  ‘a mushroom’, ‘a Hungarian’, ‘a hippie’, ‘a housewife’, ‘a man’ and ‘an old woman’. Apparently, I was very convincing as an old woman, so at least I have nothing to worry about in the future. Although… I once dressed up as a nun at Halloween here, and apparently I was convincingly scary, and that did make me worry…!

Anyway, talking about women, the Thursday before Ash Wednesday is Women’s Carnival in Germany. In some towns, women storm the City Hall and take over (unfortunately, that’s only a symbolic take-over, so sadly no Occupy City Hall).  In the Rhineland, women are (unofficially) allowed to cut off the ties of those hapless males who wear one during Women’s Carnival. Pity this tradition doesn’t happen here,  or else David Dimbleby might have lost one of his famous ties during BBC Question Time last night (if only!)

Since we only celebrate Shrove Tuesday with pancakes here, let’s get into the carnival spirit with some fabulous colourful pieces on Fondelifair (click on the image to go to the crafter’s website).

PomPom Earrings by Nadur Designs		Mid-night Owl Suncatcher by Cre8tiveglass
	Carnival
Multicoloured Rainbow Crochet Baby Blanket by Cherryskitschen		Venetian Murano Earrings by Amazing Beads

I shall now disappear behind my mask…or maybe I dig out that nun’s costume…Germany, Holland, France, Venice, New Orleans, Brazil…here I come (in my dreams…!)

Purls

(Do not do this at home )

Chocolate Truffle Ruffle Scarf by the Crafty Cailín

So this made me think of other scenes of crafting in film. I immediately rememberd How to make an American Quilt, which was a feel-good women’s solidarity film. It showed lots of lovely quilting,  which inspired me to start a feeble attempt at a quilted cushion (…it wasn’t supposed to be).

Quilted Baby Ball by Patchworkdelights

I also recall the many TV adaptations of fairy tales, often shown around Christmas, for instance Rumpelstiltskin – spinning straw into gold… (if we could this, can  you imagine how your craft business suddenly would take off…) or Sleeping Beauty (I do not fancy sleeping for 100 years, although I do like my naps).

Wensleydale locks from Woollygathering

And any film or TV series that is worth its Jane Austen salt will usually show the ladies embellishing bonnets or being busy with their embroidery. Just wondering, who did stitch Mr Darcy’s wet shirt…?

But I digress. I wonder what other moments of crafting were shown in films. Can anybody remember any other memorable ones?

Happy watching and crafting

Purls

Large Fabric Bow Brooch in Pink & White by The Bow Makers		Forged Mild Steel Rose by Crea'forge
	Valentine’s Day
Labradorite Cascade by Red Grape Jewellery		Lavender Love Birds by Special Occasions

Even a cynic like me (who thinks that it’s all  a marketing ploy) suddenly gets really girly, although growing up in Germany, Valentine’s Day only happened on Peanuts or in the advertisement for those (yes those) pralines with that cherry (and alcohol).

So, nevertheless, cynics and romantics alike, let yourself be spoilt, spoil somebody – or treat yourself. Any excuse to buy yarn will do for me…

Think Pink, Red, Fluffy, Sparkly or…

Purls

Now all Fondelifair sites have a Pin It on Pinterest button. All you have to do to make sure people can pin your images on Pinterest is when you are writing up your posts you’ll see a new Pin This section, where you can fill in the description and image for Pinterest.

Now you  will have a Pin This button on the bottom of your post. When the button is clicked, your image, text and the link to your site are then automatically sent to Pinterest, giving you another avenue to gain valuable traffic from visitors who are genuinely interested in your content.

Why not try it out and click the Pin It buttom below.

Welcome to a crafter’s mind!

Yellow Daisy Suncatcher by Cre8tiveglass

I’m always a season ahead, or rather, should be. While it’s cold and frosty out there, I have to think of spring knitwear and get my cotton yarn out. As soon as the first blossoms appear, I need to get into the summer mode, imagining hot long nights and sweltering temperatures (if only…). While I am sitting in my garden, enjoying a rare sunny summer’s day, it’s time to plan for falling leaves and Halloween, or even get ready for Christmas. I know a cardmaker who sits in her garden in July, making all her Christmas cards under her parasol. Thinking of Santa and Rudolph in the summer makes me feel funny…

Aaargh!

Autumn Leaves Headpiece by Christine Harris

Somehow, it never quite works like that for me anyway. If it’s cold and frosty like now, I want to knit with chunky yarns, not with fine cotton. When the sun is smiling from the blue sky, I love working with cotton-linen and bamboo, not with heavy woollen yarns. Sometimes when there is a wet cold summer (not that unusual here in Ireland), I get the chunky handspun yarn out and start knitting a big wrap, but my seasonal clock works…seasonal, even if Ireland sometimes feels like one rainy season after another and everything smells like wet sheep…

However, a friend of mine came up with a great piece of advice. If you can’t work a season ahead, work a year ahead! So you still knit your chunky scarves during the cold seasons, and your light knitwear in the spring and summer, but you are still ahead and ready when the next season kicks in. I like that idea…as long as I keep remembering what year I am in!!!

Have a happy crafty week this February 2012…

Purls

I, Purls, am your new ‘Finds Curator’ and each week will be looking through Fondelifair with a theme in my head to see what wonderful products I can find. I feel a bit like a mystery shopper, walking around, looking unconspicuous, trying to make notes unnoticed…

The theme for today is…Frosty February (click on the image to go to the crafters’ websites):

Freshwater Pearl Studs by Gayle Coleman Jewellery		Baby Blue Shawlette by Huggleknits
	FROST
Benbulben at Winter by Art Glamour		Mocca Cream handspun yarn by Woolly Gatherings

It’s been a very frosty day, and it seems winter is here to stay!

Groundhog Day has passed, and sadly, Phil saw his shadow, which means – according to tradition – we can expect another 6 weeks (6 weeks!!!) of winter! So wrap yourself up warm, invest in some new knitwear *hint, hint*, stock up on coffee, tea bags, and cocoa powder for plenty of hot drinks, and cook some warming stews. Stay warm and cosy!

Purls

Jacob, the bear model

Now, the title of this article may sound like I have listened to Jacob once too often. For those who don’t know, Jacob is one of my bear models, showing off my knitwear with attitude. And of course bears are known to hibernate for most of the winter, and Jacob is no exception. The big Swede (he does originate from a well-known place called IKEA) has been snoring on my sofa since October, only to be rudely awakened by yours truly to do some knitwear modelling. Often, I rather jealously eyed up the roarin’ snorin’ bear on the couch and thought ‘I’d love to do just that’. But there was knitwear to produce, a shop to run, a head to scratch over php coding, and more freelance work to find. So, no hibernation for me, I was rather hyper than hiber…nating.

Until…

I got THAT flu. Yes, that one that basically floored you after a busy day. One moment you were grumpy but fine, next minute your throat was throbbing and you just wanted to crawl under the duvet never to surface again. Not even the thought of yarn could lure me from under the covers – I was dead to the world for two weeks, and the only outside contact I had were the food bags my friends handed to me – at arm’s length.

Enforced hibernation, or what?

Song in my heart by lilgreenshop

However, the strange thing that happened was that once I was absolutely in no fit state to run around anywhere, I suddenly became calm. It was actually not bad to lie around…apart from feeling sick, of course. I was reading books again – lots of them, and all motivational ones! I drank so much herbal tea that saw more of my bathroom than I wanted to see. I started to get new ideas and made notes. I noticed that my bedroom was anything than restful, so I started to tidy and re-arrange it slowly. Every time I got up and made more herbal tea, I put something away or moved it to the place it belonged. I slept whenever I felt like it, and then some more.

The Heart Chakra by Rainbow Stained Glass

Lying in an increasingly tidy room, I realised how wonderful it was to be healthy, and to be able to hop on my bike whenever I needed to go somewhere. How lovely it was to dance around in my kitchen. To actually be able to crawl out of bed after nearly killing the alarm clock in the morning and making some lovely fresh coffee, before writing or knitting something. So why had I been so grumpy and stressed in the last couple of weeks. So negative and …hyper? As one of the motivational books stated ‘Your health is your wealth’. So right. I am wealthy after all! And I have a great life, even if most of it is happening in my head at the moment (due to lack of funds). I also realised that I should take more periods of hibernation for myself (not of the enforced and fluey kind though) to recharge the batteries and realise what is important.

Enchantment by Handmade by A'mor

Here I am now after my hibernation with a new crafty impulse to make this year the best year for Purls of Colour yet! I decided not to worry about money to the point of distraction and not to run around, arms flapping, trying to do 10 things at the same time. As long as I don’t get another flu or anything else, I am fine. I have my knitting needles, my bike – and so much more!

Irish Forest by ArtGlamour

Today – St Bridget’s Day – is the beginning of the Celtic spring. So here’s to new beginnings! Now let me poke that bear to get off the sofa

Happy crafting

Purls

Today’s quick tip is how to get your images, straight from your camera, ready for the internet. Now the quality of the images that you take with your camera are print quality, as we are going to show these off on the internet we don’t need nearly the same quality.

So the first thing you need is a good tool for photo-editing. Now if you have photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or indeed GIMP, you probably already know this, but if you just want something to quickly get your photos ready for use online, a easy to use and free tool is IrfanView. You can download it here.

Save that file to your hard drive, and once it is saved click run, it will now install on your computer. It will ask about extensions, please selected pictures only.

Now one the application is launched, you can follow these instructions to make your images ready for the internet.

1. Open a file that you want to edit.
2. Look down in the bottom right corner. You can see how big the file is. This is a massive windows bitmap image, 1.62Mb in size. If you see “Mb”(Megabytes) down there then your file’s definitely too big for the web! 
3. So first off we can change the size of the image. Just go to Resize/Resample Image (Ctrl+R) and set the width (if “Preserve aspect ratio” is ticked). 300-400 is more than enough if it’s gonna be in a blog. Use the ‘slowest’ filter. It’s still virtually instantaneous. 
4. Now that you have the image resized, you may also want to go ahead and reduce the file size. If you’ve got a photo, or something without big blocks of the same colour, then you should select “JPG – JPEG Files”. Otherwise, use “GIF – Compuserve GIF”.
5. The “Save quality” slider is where it all happens. Most times you can leave this on full, but in the case of the image above, you can turn it down quite a lot and still have the image look the same.
6. Choose where to put the file, name it and save it.
7. Look at the difference! From 1.62Mb (1620KB) to 47KB! That’s about 3% of the size and it still looks the same!
8. Try to get the file as small as possible without losing too much quality by re-saving with lower “Save quality” settings.

Now if you follow this method with all your images, you will be able to make the most of the storage on your Fondelifair site.

Here is a run down of the storage available for different membership levels:

Free: 5MM

Elite Blogger: 50MB

Elite Merchant: 100MB

Pro merchant: 250MB

Also for 2012 we will be working on making Fondelifair as easy to use as possible for those non-teckie types, if you haven’t already check out the Easy Admin, which hides all the additional clutter in your dashboard that you may not want to see.

We have also added new levels of membership. So we have Elite Blogger, which is a total blog package, Elite Merchant which comes with everything that the Elite Blogger has with an addition of a store. But the very exciting levels are Pro Merchant and Pro Merchant Plus, which come with much more professional looking themes, Events, Newsletters and an incredible 250MB storage. You can check out all the levels here: Features

Some beautiful sites that have been created with Pro Merchant are:
Clare’s Crafty Creations
 Studio C Workshop
Purls of Colour

Also from February 2012 we will be making the blog on Fondelifair a much more interesting and active place, with regular blog posts, including, Quick Tips, Features, and most excitingly of all we have a new writer on the Fondelifair panel. Purls from Purls of Colour will be blogging on Fondelifair from February.

So a huge welcome to Purls, and please drop by and see what she has to say, I am sure it will be interesting.

Finally, a special promotion for Fondelifair members and non-members.

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