All of these materials have been dyed naturally (not on this day, though). Some blackberry, indigo, woad, tansy, onion skins …

Check out more photos on my flickr feed.

Learn more in Karen Barbe’s excellent tutorial.

It’s got me thinking about some other creative mending tutorials that I’ve come across. This next one is on how to re-vamp an old cardigan, via Thimbly Things:

And I’m a sucker for darning via Et Lain

Check out more mending techniques that myself and some friends have posted in my wiki!

I recently came across Cambria Bold’s post on knowing your DIY limits, and I can’t help but relate to her sentiments. She used expensive fabric to re-upholster a chair that now has more problems than she had started: lumpiness, a sagging front area, and a ripped side. I know exactly the feeling of completing a project, only to realize that the project’s just begun: The amount of upkeep to keep that project together far surpasses how much work it was to put it together in the first place. I completely understand the frustration, and wonder if all of these failed DIY projects result in more wasted materials in the long run than if it were taken to a professional that knew what they were doing. It’s easy to fall in to that cycle and stop trusting your abilities, but I tend to think that these failed DIY attempts are what make the movement so invigorating – and motivate me to keep trying.

This clip is from about a year or so ago, but I read a similar article that he wrote about DIY failures, and it really helped me cope with some of the more challenging projects that I had taken on – and to realize that I wasn’t alone in the feeling.  Check out the video below with these words of wisdom from Mark Frauenfelder:

Frauenfelder claims that making mistakes becomes part of your life when you starting DIY’ing.

on mistakes:

You should try not to make mistakes on purpose, but you shouldn’t equate mistakes with failure, or punish yourself about them. Basically in school, mistakes = bad grades. So they’re conditioning in the real world that you don’t want to make mistakes because you don’t want to be punished, and therefore avoid risks. So, just accept mistakes as a way to learn, and come up with new, creative ways of doing things.

(image: Apartment Therapy ; Amazon)

More Out-Takes … photo bomb!

inside:  weaving!

finis!

freshly dyed (with oak leaves) – soy silk, alpaca, blue leicester

spinning! (soy silk)