EXPLORE | One Thousand Cranes @ O3 Gallery, Oxford

Tucked away in the corner of Oxford’s castle quarter is the O3 Gallery, a stunning contemporary art space which hosts a dynamic variety of displays throughout the year.

I stumbled across the One Thousand Cranes exhibition on a spontaneous visit home for Easter and, having developed an amateur interest in paper cutting, I was curious to discover more about the craft. Showcasing an array of designs from the UK’s leading artists, the exhibit is named after the belief that the folding of one thousand origami cranes bestows eternal good luck on the folder.

Walking around the rustic space, here’s what I found…

Anna Howarth

Anine Bosenberg

Anna Howarth

Su Owen

Anna Howarth

Su Owen

Su Owen

Davy and Kristin McGuire

Astrid Jaekel

Kate Hipkiss

Callum Russell

Sarah Dennis

Brigitte Parusel

I adored the mix of contemporary vision versus fairytale romanticism all exquisitely crafted through the medium of paper. A perfect display of multi-dimensional design, from silhouette films to 3D structures, each piece grasped inspiration from an eclectic array of sources ranging from modern architecture to literary classics.

Thank you to the O3 Gallery and all the artists involved for an enjoyable afternoon losing my imagination amongst paper cranes.  

MAKE | Lace Panelled Shirt

AS PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN FOR THE MARKS & SPENCER SHWOPPING BLOG AND INSPIRED BY ABEAUTIFULMESS.COM

The catwalks have been swamped with subtle injections of lavish fabrics such as lace, velvet and leather adding a hint of glamour to otherwise classic pieces. One such timeless wardrobe essential is the simple shirt, a much-shwopped item found in an array of materials, shapes and colours and inhabiting the wardrobes of most.
It’s quite easy to give this old faithful a new luxury lease of life while creating a versatile look for both day and night. The opportunities are endless with this DIY technique and you can experiment with different materials and colours to really spice up those shirts.

 

YOU WILL NEED...

• One shwopped shirt
• Lace (we used old lace curtains!)
• Sewing Machine
• Pins
• Paper and Pencil (to trace pattern)
• Tape measure
• Scissors

 

STEP ONE
Cut out the back panel of your shirt leaving a ½ inch gap from the seam as you’ll attach your new lace panel to it later.

 

STEP TWO
Using this removed panel as a pattern, pin it to your lace fabric and cut out to create the new back panel. Again, add a ½ inch to the outline to attach it to the shirt with.  You could also trace around the back panel plus ½ inch on paper to make a pattern.

 

STEP THREE
Now the fiddly bit. Turn the shirt inside out and pin in the new lace back panel matching up the ½ inch around the seams.
STEP FOUR
When it’s all even and looking fabulous, carefully sew into place along the shirt’s original seam and hem the bottom edge. If you want to be really precise you can trim around the excess material on the seams so it’s all neat.

STEP FIVE
Sit back in your ‘new’ shirt and bask in the glory of being a DIY fashionista.
To pick up a shwopped shirt, or material, find out where your local Oxfam shop is.

MAKE | Memories Board

AS PREVIOUSLY WRITTEN FOR THE MARKS & SPENCER SHWOPPING BLOG...

This DIY is the perfect way to display those photos, pictures, postcards and letters which are shoved in a shoebox at the back of your wardrobe. This craft can be cheap and easy and bring a unique, colour co-ordinated accessory to any room.

It’s easy to just charity shop by your dress size but don’t neglect pieces which catch your eye for their prints and patterns as there are plenty of ways they can be used in different projects. This craft uses a Shwopped M&S dressing gown with a fantastic, retro print.

YOU WILL NEED…

• AN OLD PILLOW
• ITEM OF CLOTHING WITH A FABULOUS PATTERN
• OLD PINBOARD (or stiff cardboard)
• SPLIT PINS (make sure they are long and strong enough to pierce through the padding)
• LONG STRIPS OF RIBBON
• SCISSORS
• PENCIL
• STAPLER
• DRAWING PINS
• HAMMER
• SMALL TACKS/PINS

1. Lay your chosen item right side down on a flat surface. We’ve used this old M&S dressing gown picked up in Oxfam.

2. Place your pin board on your clothing and draw around it.

3. Cut it out leaving a good few inches around your outline to ensure it will easily cover the board with padding. Put this to one side.

4. Cut open an old pillow and spread the padding over your board evenly, just enough to give it a bit of cushioning.

5. Put your patterned fabric on top of your board and padding. Tuck the edges round the sides of the board, pulling tight, and temporarily secure with pins. Keep adjusting to ensure the fabric is pulled as tight as possible.

6. Turn the board over and staple around the edge of the excess fabric, keeping the fabric as tight as possible and tucking the corners in neatly.

7. Hammer a tack or pin into the side edge at each corner of the board or wherever you would like your ribbons to begin from.

8. Cut several lengths of ribbon long enough to stretch over diagonally across the board.

9. Knot the ribbon around the tack at one corner and pull it down tightly to the diagonal opposite corner and tie to that tack. Repeat this on the opposite corners. We are using wrapping ribbon which will split if punctured but if using fabric ribbon you could just tack through it to hold it in place.

10. Take a split pin and push it through the centre point formed by your crossing ribbons. Use a pin to create an initial hole if necessary and hammering it can help force it through the pin board. When it punctures through the other side be sure to bend it flat so it doesn’t catch or scratch.

11. Repeat this process for the amount of ribbons you want on your board. Insert split pins at every ribbon cross point and tuck the ribbon around the head.

12. To hang the board you need to cut and attach another length of ribbon or string to the back of the board.  We stapled ours. Hang your new memories board pride of place and use to display your favourite photos, letters, pictures or knick knacks.

TOP TIP 1: You can paint the golden heads of the split pins in complimentary or contrasting colours using paint or even nail varnish. You could also glue buttons on top of them for a quirky, crafty look.

TOP TIP 2: Cut your pinboard into a shape or letter for a really individual creation.

MAKE | Easter DIY - Lace Bunny Ears

AS PREVIOUSLY POSTED ON THE OXFAM FASHION BLOG...

Inspired by the famous lace Maison Michel rabbit ears, this is a stylish Easter dress-up craft. I've upcycled using an old pair of net curtains but it would also work well with a light, floral material.



YOU WILL NEED
Thin wire
Lace/Material
Headband
Needle & thread
Scissors
Pliers


STEP ONE
Cut your wire to two equal lengths and bend into your rabbit ear shape. Twist the end of each wire leaving a small length to attach to the headband.

STEP TWO
Lay your wire on your material and cut four rectangular pieces big enough to cover each ear. It's easiest to cut as a rectangle, stitch and then trim around the ear shape after the next step.

STEP THREE
Sandwich your rabbit ear between the two pieces of material and stitch round the wire shape. Put your needle in, under the wire and out again then loop back in over the wire frame and repeat. For a more flexible finished shape simply running stitch around the shape using the wire as a guide.

STEP FOUR
Trim the excess material away from your ear shapes leaving up to half a cm gap from the stitches.

STEP FIVE
Attach ears to the headband by securely wrapping the wire end of your ears around the band. Make sure the ears are centered and evenly space.

STEP SIX
Using a long strip of your material, wrap this around your headband and stitch securely at each end.

MAKE | Heart Elbow Patch

AS SEEN PREVIOUSLY ON THE OXFAM FASHION BLOG...

 
Wear your heart on your sleeve, literally with this simple craft. Visit the Oxfam Online Shop for a selection of jumpers, shirts, sweaters and cardigans to customise. 

YOU WILL NEED:

A shirt, sweater or cardigan
Scrap material (big enough to cut two heart patches from)
Pencil
Scissors
Pins
Needle
Thread (either in matching or contrasting colour to your fabric)
Tape
Heart template (we drew around a heart cookie cutter but you could use a paper template)

STEP ONE
Draw around the heart template onto your scrap of material twice to outline your patches.

STEP TWO
Carefully cut out the two lovely heart shapes.

STEP THREE
Now you need to put on your chosen item so you can work out the positioning of your patches. This can be a bit fiddly but we've found it's helpful to bend your elbows then mark where they sit in your item with a piece of tape. It can be handy to grab an extra pair of hands to help with this.

STEP FOUR
Pin your patches where your tape markers are. Try your item on again to check the positioning and shift around where necessary.

STEP FIVE
When your patches are in the right place, blanket stitch (see below) around the edges of your heart to secure it in place.

STEP SIX
Repeat on the other patch and voila, you have a unique item made with love.

HANDY HINTS: THE BLANKET STITCH

- Anchor your thread by doing a couple of stitches underneath the patch and near where you're going to begin stitching.
- Push the needle through the garment and your patch approximately ½ - 1cm in from its edge.
- Pull thread through tight and push needle back through over the edge of the patch, back through the garment.
- Bring needle back through right next to where you just exited the last stitch.
- Approx ½-1cm along from and level with where the first stitch began, enter back through the patch and garment but don't pull the thread too tight so it leaves loop.
- Keeping it vertically in line with the entry hole, bring the needle back though the garment at the edge of the patch making sure you pass it through the loop of thread and pull tight. 
- Enter back through the patch and garment at ½-1cm along from the previous stitch, leaving a loop, and then bring back though at the edge of the patch again passing through the loop. Continue this pattern all along the edge of the patch.