Wednesday 4 July 2012

Mini camping lantern with tutorial

I volunteer with a lovely young people's organisation called the Woodcraft Folk, and this year was lucky enough to be given a place on a bushcraft course run by the inspiringly titled Great Bear.

Learning how to "rough it" in the outdoors has been a challenge to say the least, but I didn't want the opportunity to be wasted, so after a particularly unsuccessful night getting rained on I decided to re-group. It seemed to me the best thing was to start by looking at the skills I was already confident in, and applying them to bushcraft. I doscovered a particularly interesting forum on making your own gear on the website Backpacking Light, and was particularly taken with a thread on making a super light, super compact lantern. There were lots of interesting suggestions but this idea by John Taylorson (thanks John!) caught my imagination.

Basically, one makes a tiny drawstring bag from white ripstop fabric, which you can use for putting things in during the day. Then, for the night time, add a tiny LED torch which is inserted into the bag so that the bag diffuses the light, thus creating a lantern you can actually read from!

Here's a picture to give you the idea:


And here is how it looks in action!


Well it seemed like about time that I finally shared something, so if you fancy having a go at making one yourself, here's the tutorial. I did this with a sewing machine, but I don't see any reason you couldn't do this by hand.

First, you will need:
  • Rectangle of white ripstop fabric. (I used a piece 30cm by 10cm)
  • LED torch
  • cord lock / spring toggle (the black thing in the picture)
  • your drawstring - I used paracord but anything will work
  • Sewing supplies: needle, thread, pencil, safety pin



Here's a close-up of the torch and toggle in case you're not sure what I meant:

 


Here goes:

1.
Draw a pencil line as a guide, 3cm from each of the short ends of rectangle of ripstop. Fold in each of the four corners of the fabric at rightangles to the line, to make a mitre, and sew them in place with a line of stitches along the diagonal edge. It should look like this:


And a close-up of the corner:



2.      
At each of the short ends of the original rectangle, fold the short end down, forming a lcm seam overlap, and then down again, and sew this seam in pace to form a little tunnel that the cord will eventually go through:





3.
Fold your rectangle in half, short end to short end, with the seam you have just made facing inwards

 


4.
Sew down either side of the bag:

 



5.
If you wish, to make the base of the bag square, you can pinch the corners together, bringing the lower portion of the side seam into contact with the centre of the base, and sew in place. Hopefully this picture will make it clearer:

 


6.
You can then trim odd the little pointy bits which are now surplus, so you are left with something that looks like a noodle box:

 


7.
Turn it inside out:



8.
This exposes the little tunnel, through which you will insert the string. Attach a safety pin to the end you are threading through to make it easier :




The finished bag/lantern. Just add your torch and toggle to secure and you are good to go!



I've never made a tutorial before so please feel free to give feedback or ask questions!
If the method for sewing the corners didn't help, this post by Tibeydo on Craftster explains it much better!

Monday 4 June 2012

Bagulele fun

I have just spent a fab weekend at the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain helping my friend Teeny B sell the handcrafted ukulele bags she has designed: Bag-uleles . Here she is with our new friend Cale.



Along with jamming and seeing uke celebs from around the world perform, we made some great new friends and the bags got great feedback with oodles of sales and orders. 

And here we are having a farewell hot chocolate with Cale, Sarah and Co at the excellent Brew Rooms coffee house.


Thursday 31 May 2012

Lancashire Handicraft Heritage

My Mum's side of the family is from the village of Bacup in Lancashire. Each year on Easter Saturday, a very unusual Morris dancing troupe, called the Britannia Coconutters, make their way around the town performing a clog dance involving beating rhythmically on wooden discs strapped to their hands and knees.

Although Morris has its critics there is something primeval about this pagan custom that I really enjoy, and it is certainly a spectacle. I also love the traditional Northern music played by Stacksteads Brass Band which accompanies the dance.

Here are some videos I took:





This year I really wanted to get back to my heritage and have some traditional folk clogs to wear to watch the "Nutters". Master clogmaker Phil Howard was kind enough to let me visit his home workshop in Stockport to be fitted up for handmade clogs.








I was really delighted that a lady in Bacup stopped in the street to show her little granddaughter the clogs, saying that they are what she used to wear as a child, as did my grandparents . They are beautifully crafted and I hope to try some dance workshops with the City Clickers in October.

Wednesday 30 May 2012

European Train Adventure Part 1

So here is the yarnbomb I left at the Mannequin Pis in Brussels. I love that he made his way into the photos of oblivious tourists! He had a little ribbon at the back with a link to the blog, and I was hoping someone would pay us a visit. . . . .









Monday 23 April 2012

Buen viaje to me!

Very shortly I will be going on a train adventure visiting Brussels, Cologne, Vienna, Salzburg, Munich and Paris. My plan is to yarnbomb each city as I go, and it is just possible that whoever is reading this has found one of my yarnbombs! If that is you - Welcome!!! please leave a comment to introduce yourself. It would be great to find out who has seen my yarnbombs, and why we happened to be passing through the same place.

A crafty birthday part 2: Sylvanian fascinator




Being able to recall and log happy memories is turning out to be one of my favourite things about blogging. I am about to go on a little train adventure (more on that later!) and am taking a moment to think of the friends I will miss while I am gone.Without their encouragement and support I'd never have had the nerve to go, and Ariane deserves a special mention for the generosity, hospitality and inspiration she has offered.


Here are some photos of the wonderfully ridiculous fascinator she made for me to wear at our joint birthday tea party.


xx





Wednesday 28 March 2012

A crafty birthday part 1: The doodle cup

I was really lucky to have some beautiful hand crafted gifts for my birthday this year.


This teacup was painted by my friend Meg, using ceramic paint pens. Meg says she hasn't done anything creative in years. I really love the choice of colours and the stream of consciousness that is Meg's doodle style! Is that a heart? Next to a Catherine wheel, next to a chess board?


Thanks Meg! 


xx