It's that time of the month again - and not in the way you think!! It's time to reveal and discuss this months ReFabrication Challenge which is a project that started with the seed of an idea by Tracy, and like all seeds, you plant them and they grow. We started off the year, just the two of us doing this challenge and now we are delighted to have quite a number of others who have joined in on the fun - from local creators and designers, seamstresses by trade, and people like myself and a few others who craft for fun and create for a living part time.

Since we were being joined by others, we opted to do the same challenge that we did in January - the mission was to source 5 items from the thrift stores and revamp them into something new. Those five items had to come from specific sections, something from ladies wear, something from mens, something from linens, an accessory and the favorite of all, a random bag of crap! And I went into this one with a bit of a goal in mind.....and I ended up with a big ol' blood clot of a stinker! I'm not sure what demons possessed me to try and do something Valentines Day related since the challenge started on Feb 1st and that left me with just 13 days really to do what I had in mind. Honestly it seemed like a good idea at the time and I had mentally figured out what I wanted to do, got the supplies.....and then disliked it the minute I got started. I selected a really lovely woman's A line skirt, a mens plaid shirt, a scarf, some curtain valances from linens and a bag of Hello Kitty hair ties that had some plastic floral dooflinkies. In my imagination, it was fabulous but it became evident as time went on that I was destined to make something that looked like a year 7 high school project.

And you know what? Thats OKAY! After I'd washed everything, cut the items up and set them in our office area, I'd walk past, give it all a baleful look, growl a little and pretend that I was too busy with other things to tackle it. Granted I WAS kind of busy at the start but mostly, I knew I wasn't going to like it and couldn't somehow wrap my head around the idea of something else. So what the heck, I decided to commit and sat down the other day to get er' done.

To break it down pretty quickly, I cut the scarf up and used that to sew a belt. I hacked into the mens shirt and the curtain valance to make the hearts, sewed them onto the hem area of the skirt (yes I used a machine) and then attached the little plastic flower doo dahs as an embellishment by sewing them on, using the buttons from the mens shirt to secure them. And then I sighed, cringed a little and called it for what it was. A stinker. And trust me, there are a variety of reasons this is a stinker - from the poor choice of fabric which frays and sprinkles little threads all over like glitter to the fact that who in their right mind would want a skirt with little plastic flower bits that would likely leave indentations in your skin if you sat down?

Now I know this all sounds a bit Negative Nelly but really, I'd rather be honest about it and with myself and learn what I can from this as opposed to acting like I created something that would make the spirit of Dior smile. I'm a realist and know that my skill and calling in life is as a photographer and an artist - not as a seamstress. And I'm cool with that. I love to create things and now look at the things I did learn from this stunning blood clot of a project. I learnt that I'm best suited to create something using my strengths (fabric manipulation and dyeing), I should create something that reflects who I am and what my tastes are instead of going "cutesy" - and NEVER try to make something seasonal with only 13 full days to do so. A wise friend said herself at the start of this challenge that she was only going to make things that she herself would use and have a purpose for. And that's something I'm taking to heart (thanks Jo!) and remembering for next time.

So now it's over and I "YEEEEEEEEEEETED" that finished project into a place where I'll no longer see it. And I'm oddly happy to have leftover scraps of the curtain valance at least since I have plans for that! And I can call this one a wrap - a blood clot wrap - and get ready for the next challenge which starts on March 1st. Tracy and I will be off to source our supplies for that one on Friday and it's really a fun challenge this time, something a little different and exciting so please do check back here for the information on that and what is to come. I'm going into it with a very open mind, I have no plan or idea of what I will create - this time I'm going to let the materials speak to me and guide me in the right direction and hopefully I'll create something that I can be proud of.

Well that's it for now. I hope that your days are filled with creative fun and if you'd like to join us on this challenge journey, just contact me and I'll fill you in.

Cheers,

Sam.