Upcycled Happy Cushions

I love making cushions.  They look pretty, they are EASY to sew and I love using bits of fabric I have collected over the years.

Cushion making makes me HAPPY.  Making 'something pretty' is rewarding enough - accomplishment - but making something out of another thing that is destined to be thrown away or seldom used is even better to me.  Lovely, happy memories and a knowing that you are living more lightly, I guess.

 Even more, I find sewing is an activity that totally engages me - I get measuring, cutting, piecing, sewing and stuffing and time races by.  Research has shown that people who have an activity they get totally engaged in are likely to be happy (read more about it here). My own gut feel is that it is great to get super engaged in activities as a counterbalance to the multitasking we do in other aspects of our lives.  So I prioritise projects that allow me to be a bit creative and learn a new skill while being 'in the zone'.

When I was heavily pregnant with my daughter (waiting, waiting, waiting) I hand sewed 2 cushions- one show-pieced a piece of silk kimono I purchased about 8 years earlier.  The other was made from a summer dress I bought at Hampton Beach about 13 years before! As I sewed the dress I thought of the  fearless, independent and FREE days of travelling.

Since then I have had my Granma's sewing machine serviced and I am slowly getting used to the faster pace.  Last night I was at it again.  This time I had a 'vintage' tea towel and a gorgeous silk furoshiki to play with.

Here you can see 2 of my creations- one from an old sun dress, the other from a tea towel.

(Yes, I have a camping chair in my kitchen.  People wonder why until they sit in it. )

The opshopped tea towel is a souvenir from Tasmania - bright orange, with a map and images of famous places.  Given that it is a tea towel, it will go well in our country kitchen.  And yes, I am looking forward to people admiring my map of Tasmania. (Had to!)

Cushions made from Japanese fabric.

The silk furoshiki was a birthday gift from my awesome mum.  She thought I could do something with it and she was right.  Originally I did use it as a furoshiki, however a lovely member of my household who helps with the washing put the furoshiki into a warm wash and it shrunk.  I was disappointed but quickly realised it was now thicker and perfect for a cushion cover.  (It probably wouldn't have worked so well if it was intentionally shrunk!!)

I have a very adhoc style of sewing - the cushions aren't perfect.  However, I do feel like I am getting better and more confident as a seamstress - one cushion at a time.

What's your happy activity? I would love to know.

Furoshiki: no sew bags and packaging

image: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43287/43287-h/43287-h.htm

I came across furoshiki while I was in Japan, but it wasn't until recently that I got how nifty they actually are.  One piece of cloth has many uses.  Just like other technologies, if we are not in the right place mentally to think about how we can use them, we tend to ignore them and go on as usual.

Furo shiki = bathing cloth.  The Japanese used to put their bathing essentials into the square and tie them into a bag.

I have several gorgeous muslin wraps that were given to us when our daughter was born.  They were great to swaddle our daughter in over summer.  However, more recently they were used mainly as a change table cover.

Furoshiki changed all that.  Examples of use so far:

• bundle up blocks or small toys - the bag doubles as a play mat
• bundle food for a picnic - again, picnic rug is built in!
• separate clothes when travelling- clean/dirty clothes or mum's/daughter's clothes

A link to the best instruction website I have found is below.  I have made the bags and the bottle holder.  I wrapped up a bottle of drink and slung it on the handlebar of my bike when I was going out for dinner recently (It was a short trip and a plastic bottle- a bit of care needed!!).  It is quite fun - origami with material!  Grab a square of cloth and fold along.

furoshiki folding techniques

Next I would like to use furoshiki for gift giving, however I am chotto confused about who keeps the furoshiki.  I would love someone to fill me in!!

Nanna Technology: What do YOU think of the term?

Have you ever been to a public talk where question time was hijacked by statement time?  Apologies in advance, I think I am about to do that.

I came across the term 'Nanna Technology' when I was researching for my master's project.

Check out this cool pdf with explanation and examples

I was on board immediately - I loved the term as it summed up exactly what I was interested in:

Simple, frugal, often daggy solutions to address issues of reducing wastage and resource use in the home.  The solutions might not look as pretty as the store-bought solutions, but they are just as neat.  Also, skills such as vegetable gardening and sewing are include in the broad umbrella of technologies - skills that were once more common.

I love that there is problem solving involved, asking yourself:

What is going on?
How can I stop that happening?
What do I have that would work?
What do I need to solve this?

Snake draft stoppers are an example of nanna technology.  Older houses especially have large openings that allow cold air in and leak warm air.  Solution? Block the gap.  Use some material offcuts and fill with whatever you have around. Alternatively, roll up some towels and secure with rubber bands.

I like small scale solutions to problems. They can be done immediately or almost immediately and thus get done.  They don't involve 'barriers to participation" like money outlay, specialised knowledge or skills or much time and organisation.  So all can do it- and I guess my interest in sustainability is how we can make it accessible to all.  Not necessarily as it is "good for the environment" or it being the "right thing to do" - just small, doable solutions that make sense for comfort, cost, energy consumption..oh and the environment.  In my experience, and from research too, I know that one positive experience or action begets another.  You have a win with something, you get confidence and you want to learn more.  You make it a priority - or even if not a priority, it is not a chore.  In short, it gets done.

And that's how I want to seek a response to climate change.  Just get it done - without preaching and doom and gloom.  I want to learn heaps about how I can live with less wastage and less resources.

And how interesting that we can learn so much from the past on this - and people who have experienced it themselves.  Living through war rationing and economic depression will do that!

I have some wonderful female "role models" - relatives, friends and co-workers who inspire me in many ways.  Including Gwen and Ellen, my Granma and Nanna.  Both had interesting lives.

Granma was a nurse during WW2 and was stationed at Magnetic Island, just off Townsville.  She taught me how to march around the garden and made clothes for my dolls - she was great on the sewing machine.  She knitted and made dresses - including my Mum's wedding dress.  Jack, my Grandpa, was equally awesome: he was a barber who also enlisted during the war (They met on Magnetic Island, Gwen nursing Jack to health while they fell in love…sigh!).  He kept a vegetable garden.  They had a grey water system back in the early 80s!

Nanna grew up in a large family on a farm.  She married, went to the city and had 6 children.  She was very religious and went to mass most mornings, before feeding, cleaning, washing and shopping for her family.  Nanna is famous for her Ginger sponge.  I never met Arch, my Dad's father.  He died when Dad was still at school.

Suffice to say, I have a lot of respect for my own grandparents and would never use the term "nanna technology" if I felt it was offensive.  Older people have skills we now need - they used them or they were taught by their parents.  We are losing these skills and it WORRIES me we are so passive and dependent on technology and energy.

I want to learn how to look after myself and my family and feel the self esteem that comes with doing it myself.  I also want to spend time with my daughter and my older relatives to learn and teach and do - and while learning get that intangible bonding time that we are missing in modern society.

You know what I mean.

I want to step in to the movie, "How to make an American Quilt".  I want to be adopted by an Italian family for tomato sauce making day.

I'm looking forward to writing about technologies I have already learnt.  Plus my new project that is still in the developmental stages.  Let's just say, "very excited" and "that's what I have been looking for, for at least 5 years" - it will be huge.  But in a small and simple way.

So, the question I would like to ask today is, What do you think of the term, Nanna Technology?  Does it engage you?  Do / did your grandparents have their own technologies?

Welcome to my place on the internet.

Welcome.

Chotto Nanna is the title I have settled on after much thought and tweaking.

'Chotto' is my favourite Japanese word - it means, "a little bit".  It also softens expressions, useful in a country where people are polite and generally not too direct in their communications with each other.  I love a lot about Japan -I lived there for 4 years- and continue to be inspired by their design and principle of "just enough".  I am also fairly moderate in my approach to most things - a little bit of a hippie, a little bit of a travel freak.

'Nanna' refers to my interest in Nanna Technology - not "7" in Japanese, although I do love double meanings. Pass me a knee rug and help me preserve some apricots while we talk about finding simple but ingenious solutions to everyday problems - not at a shop, but within the home.   Why buy something when you have the solution at home?  Save the money for …. an awesome trip somewhere?!? Yes, it is a contraction to be acutely aware of resources at home and then to get on a plane. But, you know, chotto get over it!!

Moderation, mindfulness and an open mind are what you will find here.

I'll put on the kettle, pop your slippers on and relax.

Welcome.