TrapperHat No1

I bought a fox fur coat from a friend. It is unpractical design. It is in relatively good shape but demands a huge work to turn out to be something else and useful according to FashionNOW. Now it has lost its 1st sleeve. 

I designed and made trapper hat for Him. It is a traditional design with updates. It do has padding inside but as a lining fabric I have used mulesing-free merino wool. 

Usually you see trappers hat bind up on the top of the head. We use it in this way: bind at back. This way is perfect in the cold climate where you still need to protect your ears but can open the side flaps a  bit.

The front side fabric is 100 % wool and twill woven. Traditionally we use here leather for it. I used these materials to create breathability to the hat. He do has 2 extra warm traditional trappers hat. That's why this is made a bit differently.

I think it looks great and He loves it!

ForestFire

This winter we have had only a little bit of the snow compared to the normal. This March has been warm so far. The snow has started to fade. It has been interesting to go into Forest. The snow can hide many things. Now when the trees are free from snow, we have seen some very old traces of a forest fire. Only few, but they are there. 

How old are the traces? When there was a forest fire that burnt almost it all? The written history doesn't know the forest fires on the area so they must be at least 300-400 yrs old, obviously more. Simply because Forest is full of old trees that don't have the forest fire damages so they were born after the fire.

The oldest trees are very old in the forest. And those trees that hold the traces of the forest fire survived, lived damaged and healed after all as well as they could. Around here the trees don't grow very big and some hundreds of years old trees can be actually only a man size! In the forest is old small trees but also some huge old trees. It depends on their type and growing place. That's why it is difficult to tell their age without hurting them. 

It is a nature reserve area for a good reason and it is amazing to see the diversity it holds. And it is interesting that actually the old name of the Forest location echoes the fire.

SpaceRocket

I designed and made this funny play ground college shirt and pants for toddler's adventures. I used Finnish design Metsola fabric. This design's idea is to inspire a child to  play. It's especially made for a skinny kid who loves to pick up stones and cones and everything inspiring from the nature. Because the child is skinny and stones can be heavy, I placed the pockets on the shirt, not on the pants. Otherwise the pants would easily start to fall down. When the pockets are on the shirt, it all stays on better. Notice how I plaid with the pockets and put one squirrel upside down.

I put elastic bands around the leg openings. First the set will be a bit too big. When there are elastic leg openings the leg parts stay on better and don't slide down under the shoes and heels so easily. I used the elastic band also around the shirt's hem. For the safety: when the child climbs the hem doesn't get attached on anything so easily.

Around the waist of the pants I used the buttonhole elastic band. That's how you make it adjustable. I sew two buttonholes through which the buttonhole elastic band runs. 

For the fastening I used just one sew-on-snap. It's easy to use for everyone. I could have added some buttons just for the decoration but I didn't want to. I think it's cool and simple in this way. 

Reindeers,Squirrels&Bears

If you remember I sew two toddler dresses. This ReindeerDress is my own design. If you take a closer look, you can see I modified the wrist parts after the last post. I prefer it in this way. It is more practical when the toddler wants the sleeves up. These reindeer short leggins are from PaaPii's Pattern Book for Children with my own modification -similar as with the dress' wrists.

I made more leggins with full length by using PaaPii's Pattern Book for Children. For all these toddler clothes you can see in this post, I used Finnish design Metsola fabrics. I love their cute animal prints.

I promised you with Mice&Reindeers to show you an easier way to make the wedges for the dress. And here it is. This is a design from PaaPii's Pattern Book for Children with my own modification. You just make the horizontal cut by the waistline. I made the modification also to the wrist parts with this dress.

Here they are together: a pretty bear set for a toddler. Metsola doesn't sell all the time their fabrics out; only in special campaigns.

I was informed about their campaign this winter by my students. That's how I managed to shop these pretty fabrics. Only negative experience was that they sell them only in 1 m pieces. If you need 2 meters it comes in 2 pieces. Also these leggins are from PaaPii's Pattern Book for Children.

This squirrel dress is my own design. It is very easy but needs more fabric than the reindeer dress pictured above.

I think it is a beautiful set with full of actions. I do like squirrels and find amusing to watch them. They are excellent creatures also in problem solving tasks if the reward is their favorite food!

These aren't only beautiful new clothes. If you take a closer look to the design you notice despite they are at some size, they are actually a design of which the child doesn't grow out fats. Child can use them even they'd be too big size and even the child gets more length, the designs are still usable for playground use. When a child can wear the piece of garment for a longer period of ones life, it brings lower the environmental load of their footprint.

This kind of clothes with animal/nature prints are also educative items to rise up a child level conversation to give them the educative information about the nature, sustainability and biodiversity. A good way for environmental and sustainable education for children is to bring the nature closer to their daily lives. Wild animal and forest themed clothes are one way to bring nature into their lives despite they'd live in the cities. 

In Sámi culture you rise up your children by stories. To a small child you can easily tell if a person throws a piece of a trash on the street or nature, a curious animal can eat it and come very ill, and because it is a wild animal it can't get to the vet or human care easily to feel better. After that the child can choose where to put their own pieces of trashes; take it to a trash bin or throw on the street/nature. To be a supportive adult, carry always something with you where you can keep the trashes until finding a trash bin. 💕

WeavingShawl

I started the shawl some days ago. It is my own design, but following traditional Sámi designing idea. My loom is not so big, but I wanted to do as big shawl as possible. That's why I make it in a bit different way.  I just leave extra loose yarn out of the side edges. That's how I can get 80 x 80 cm shawl. It needs a bit more professional touch and patience also in finishing it all at the end. But I am ready for the job. This is my restorative craft at the moment.