textiles

Weaving These Isles: The Trickery of Craft and Market

Eloïse Sentito of These Isles travels the Celtic Crescent in a converted motorhome/workshop weaving the landscapes into woollen garments and campaigning for a greener and fairer economics. She blogs for No Serial Number on the challenges of running a sustainable craft business. She’s currently in the Outer Hebrides. My weaving business, ‘These Isles’, is now in its fourth year. It is my livelihood, but it is still tiny, and 2018 trade has been worryingly slow. (Previously over a third of [...]

Makership as an Act of Resistance

By Eloïse Sentito, nomadic handweaver of These Isles I’m a handweaver, an occupation I chose as marginally more feasible and achievable than the musical one that my heart would wish. And I was always bound to a certain type of landscape. This was Dartmoor’s rugged torscape when I first went into business, and then an unavoidable uprooting made me reconsider the identities of both self and business as I took us both a-travelling these isles. In an old converted motorhome, I [...]

Exploring Wabi Sabi with Louise O’Hara

Kate Stuart is an artist, craftswoman and writer based in the North east of England. She interviewed Louise O’Hara for the Winter Edition of No Serial Number Magazine. The full article can be found at www.noserialnumber.org, and via digital download here. When I first started following Louise O’Hara on Facebook, she still called her page Drawn to Stitch, and I would marvel at the tactile landscapes that took me away to my heart’s home in the Highlands of Scotland. Marrying [...]

What Is Ethical Anyway?

By Holly by Heart One of my favourite shops is H&M. Most of my clothes are from charity shops but when I do buy new, it’s from H&M. The reason? It’s cheap and cheerful, and quick and easy. It is the one shop that I’m going to miss when buying ethically. Well, that’s what I though until I stumbled in their ‘conscious’ range. I was completely taken back when I spotted eco certified deodorant, cardigans made with recycled polyester, [...]

Eve Studd: Natural Dyer, Eco Printer, Tutor, Horticulturalist, Textile Artist

I am a natural dyer and eco printer, growing almost all the plants I use in my wildlife friendly garden on the border between England and Scotland. The colours of the local landscape are my inspiration – rock, sea and sky – I have a lot of those up here! The local geology is very varied, influencing the soils and plants and some of the different characteristics can be easily seen on the coastline. Ancient and traditional dyeplants grow [...]

Experimenting With Natural Dyes in Fashion Textile

Throughout our lives, fabric, cloth, textiles and fashion dominate. We use clothes to cover ourselves, to express our personality and identity, along with it being a vital part of our comfort and sense of belonging. This is why it is important we understand fabrics, what they are made of, what they are dyed with, and how our bodies react to these elements. With the increasing use of polyester and man made fibres on the high street it is now [...]

Upcycled Keepsakes and Vintage Buttons: Preserving Family Traditions

Guest Article by Amanda Chapman When did it all start my love and passion for up-cycling and vintage? I could say almost 2 years ago after I created myself a keepsake from leftover lace form my wedding dress and some of my late Grandma’s buttons – but actually these passions started long before that. My Grandma’s were both very resourceful women, but for different reasons; one Grandma had to be, where as my other Grandma was very much made from the [...]

Risonanze Lab: Loving Ancient Textile Traditions

After growing her fabric printing skills for over a decade within a social cooperative in Riccione, Italy, Simona Campagna decided it was time to express herself in a renewed way. A way that would allow her own sense of beauty and style to emerge, a path inspired by oriental patterns. Following this personal desire, Risonanze Lab was born, gathering Simona two passions: textile printing tradition of Romagna and woodworking. Simona mostly produces furnishing fabrics and accessories, objects to be used, touched and lived [...]

Adriana Santanocito: Research, Fashion and Passion for Sicily

“Behind every innovative product that wants to go to market, there needs to be an awareness of how industrial logic and economics work.” An enthusiast for fashion, an entrepreneur, a creator, a forward-thinker. This is how Adriana Santanocito, founder of Orange Fiber, could be described. Orange Fiber is one of those amazing startups that makes you believe in the power of creative thinking. The company aims to use the byproducts from the citrus juice industry – currently valuing 700.000 tonnes just [...]

Tutorial: How to Make Your Own Memory Basket from Old Clothes  Guest Post by Nancy Shafee

Nancy Shafee never can throw anything away! She has been collecting fabrics since she was about twelve years old and now makes ‘memory baskets’ for people from their own hoarded fabrics, no-longer-worn clothing or saved children’s dresses, so they have a useful item that still holds all the memories and saves their favourite fabrics at the same time! You can do this yourself too – here she gives you the instructions for an oval basket, as this is easier to [...]

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