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quilts as memory-keepers

Our friend Linnae recently introduced us to Pat Ludwig, a “self-taught quilter” who blogs all of her projects so you can see the full process of making a quilt start-to-finish. Patwig’s quilts are made exclusively from old fabric scraps, including khaki and denim pants, childhood dresses, curtains, neckties, bedsheets, and even seat cushions. Her two most recent…

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what a plastic bag can become…

Laura Anne Marsden is a textile designer who created a technique for transforming waste plastic bags into lace. She uses a combination of traditional hand-stitch and needle lace-making, along with various processes to change the properties and appearance of the plastic bags (Although her technique remains secret, we imagine cutting the bags into thin strips…

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creative reuse: paint a salvaged table

Constance Old recently sent us a compelling email: “After our comments exchange on your post about “American Pickers” I had a feeling I might see this table again that location agent Andrea Raisfeld plucked from my car and reworked.” And sure enough, the little table appeared completely transformed on Andrea and her husband Bill Abranowicz‘s blog A…

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crispina ffrench’s re-imagined sweaters

Constance Old recently alerted us to Crispina ffrench’s work: “Crispina ffrench is an artist/crafter who makes terrific “improvised’ work. She is author of a recent book called The Sweater Chop Shop: Sewing One-of-a-Kind Creations from Recycled Sweaters which teaches how to cut and felt cast-off sweaters to make them into cool new things: like mufflers,…

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design as resourcefulness and self-reliance

We were hoping that Constance Old would guest curate for ‘the improvised life’…here is her first (great) post: “Emily Campbell works as Director of Design for a British think tank called “RSA” (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) which is committed to research and projects devoted to social progress. (http://www.thersa.org/home) She…

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