NamePlate

When planning our Erasmus+ journey to Dublin the students wanted to make/wear something similar which would show to the other people that we are a group. I suggested us to create hand made nameplates. Because especially foreign names are the ones you always forget and find difficult.

Everyone designed their own nameplates and used the technique they wanted. I waited until I knew what they all were making so that I use some other technique none had chosen. That's how I ended up to make mine by tin thread embroidery that is a form of Sámi crafts.

First I designed the pattern, then I transferred it to the iron on backing fabric. Then I did the tin thread embroidery by the 0,25mm tin thread (the finest available) on a piece of wool that was left over from my Sámi costume and FourWindsHat. Then I needed some reindeer leather to finish the nameplate itself.

First I sew the inner edges. I needed Marilla for this and we worked just fine together. Even I don't have the leather presser feet for her.

After sewing together the leather and wool I was able to cut off the extra wool fabric to make it all to the right size.

I needed also something to hang/fasten the nameplate. I had an idea ready for it but it needed a lot of work. If possible, we wanted to show that we are from Finland. That´s why I made these tiny flags of wool: Sámi flag and Finland flag.

The next step was the challenging one. I needed to make it all succeed by one stitching round because the sewing makes holes into the leather. The flag part is very thick so I need to pay a lot of attention when sewing it. Notice that the background leather is bigger at this point that the front side leather.

After sewing it around the outer edges I cut off the extra leather of the background leather. There are two "jump stitches" but I decided to do nothing to them because they are symmetrically on the both sides of the flags. Fixing them would also cause visible signs so I decided not to. In this way you don't notice it if you don't know. 😊

After finishing the nameplate and renewing my passport I was ready for my Erasmus+ journey with my students. 

Very special and very beautiful like all the nameplates the students made.

Dublin 2025

I was again in Dublin. On June 2024 I was there at my Erasmus+ education after which FashionNOW was started. This time I brought 9 of my students to Dublin for Erasmus+ group mobility because of my work. 

We stayed at The Trinity City Hotel. There was me and one student with special diet needs. I must tell this hotel is an excellent place to get your safe special diet. Perhaps you need to wait sometimes for it but that is ok because they know what they are doing. They never turn us away. If I need to choose I will stay in this hotel instead the previous one which neither was bad.

Part of Erasmus+ program is that there is a host with whom you operate. Our host was fabulous Dublin South City Partnership who arranged us this memorable Aran cable knitting workshop. We will never forget them and hopefully we will see them soon again.

The other host was IrelandsEye Knitwear whose factory we were welcomed to visit and participate. It was amazing to be able to see the factory inside that pays a lot of attention on sustainability in clothing business! I do can say that if you need to buy an industrial made jumper IrelandsEye Knitwear is a very good choice. It does its best to follow all the corners of the sustainability in clothing business. They didn't give me or my students any voucher, free gifts or anything. You know me, I don't advert anything, not even for a money. They just allowed us to step in and see all the places and process because of our Erasmus+ education and learning activities. We did learn so many things and appreciate that they provided us this once in a lifetime possibility in learning things like this.

Our main host DSCP (Dublin South City Partnership) arranged learning activities in few places. When going around we saw many places we would have missed in a normal tourist weekend in Dublin. Somehow this reminds me about Copenhagen. 

We had interesting learning activities in non-formal environments like graveyard with DSCP. They are very creative with their learning facilities.

We had nature/environment workshop at a library! I was very exited about that because in Lapland you never think you could have a nature workshop indoors!

After the environment workshop at the library we needed to go hug the trees outside because it all was a bit overwhelming. 

Ireland really is a country of thousands of welcomes. Me and my students experienced it many times in every day! These cute chickens were knit by our Aran cable knitting workshop facilitator for the group as a welcome gift. Each had a chocolate egg inside.

When going home we were amused by the fact that instead of Rovaniemi our flight was going to the North Pole. We didn't know we live quite there.😁

Me and Ireland -we'll meet again, that's for sure. 

TheBooks2

This year I decided to challenge myself to show you what on earth I read. In this blog post I show you which books I've read in March 2025. 

In March 2025 I have read a very interesting book Muinaisjäännöksiä Suomen suvun asumus-aloilta. It is a facsimile edition of the original J.R. Aspelin's publications. The only change is that Aspelin published 5 books separate on 1877-1884 which all was published in 2014 in the same covers. In English the tile means something like "ancient relics from Finnic people's regions." It is my book and I read it in Finnish. It is translated to French in the same covers like the original books. The book included plenty drawings so it is more like a picture book. Very interesting and educative book with its A4 size 399 pages!!!

In March 2025 I've also read Kate Morton's The Lake House (in Finnish). It was published on 2016. It has over 600 pages but full of fascinating occasions. Fascinating story from Britain's countryside. I left my copy actually at The Trinity City Hotel in Dublin, Ireland where I was 22.-29.3.2025 and read this book as my journey story. I always carry a book with me when travelling.

SámiBelt

I designed and made a new Sámi belt for myself. In the belt the symbolism and expression is more free and personal than in the Sámi costume. With the belt you can carry also something that express the things that are important to you. 

These heart figures are common around Finland but also around the Forest Sámi region. But expressed in the way like this in my Sámi belt, it comes from the roots of Him. So, with this belt I tell I am Sámi and married to Him who has roots also in the Southern Ostrobothnian culture and region. This red part is from His belt "helavyö". 

I love the sound it all makes when I walk. That sound chases away off the evil, bad and demons. That sound let me walk safe and sound wherever I go. Also, the shine and bright has the same meaning. Both elements, the sound and shine, fool the evil and hide me behind the dazzle and tinkle. Also, both elements capture the attention of all the danger so that myself will still be safe behind it all. That's how this belt creates safety, sanctuary and protection over me when I am wearing it where ever I go.

For the button of my new Sámi belt I used the other one of those two moose antler buttons I received as a gift from my father-in-law for my birthday on 2022.

In this pic you can see better the running triangle figure the eyelets form out. A triangle or running triangle is an universal geometric design. You can find it also in Forest Sámi decoration and symbolism. In Forest Sámi connection it can stand for the fells, northern lights, "kota" (a traditional house) or a snake.

In this case of my belt the running triangle represents the snake. The snake has opposite meaning in the shamanism than in the Christianity. First, the snakes are welcomed to live under the houses because they eat mice and rats that can spread many diseases. The snakes also represent transformation or ability to transform. When the snake is presented with a point or a hole it express that with the help of a snake noidi (female shaman) or shaman can travel between the worlds where people, gods and dead ones live. 

You can see this is not just a beautiful studded belt. It is not just an object. It has a bigger and greater cultural meaning. To me, as a Forest Sámi, this belt has very powerful meaning to keep me safe no matter in which world I am. 

FeltedSoap3 -tutorial

Previously I blogged about felted soaps I made after receiving one as a gift and more to learn more. This time I made more to try out more but also to write you a tutorial about it. So, here we go.

1. First you need to get the soap. Marseille soap is always mentioned when talking about the wet felting. The 1st thing to know is that the soap doesn't necessarily need to be Marseille soap. The soap should be suitable for wool. Suitable for wool means a gentle soap, which means that it is the one you could use to anyone who has a sensitive skin. Old times the Marseille soap used to be the most gentle one which was available everywhere. That's why Marseille is still always mentioned, but notice it is not something you must have. The only thing with the soap you must have is the gentle soap. That's the point. Your soap should also be plain. And the plain soap in this case means a soap that has no crumbs or anything extra in it because all that is vain in the felted soap, because it all stays inside the felt cover. So, there is no need to waste a special body scrub soap made of herbs for this use.

2. Then you need to wrap the wool around the soap. Do it tight and firm. All around, which means: 

• from right to left and around
• up to down and around
• diagonal from a corner to another and over all around (both ways)
• around the side edges (all 4)
• then again up to down  and all around
• and right to left and all around

Notice: do not use scissors, pull the wool when you need to "cut" it.

Notice: avoid lumps so make the starting points always on a different point/place.

Notice: it all stays on, just press the wool fibers against each other and the soap.

You don't need to use wool yarn or anything else to tie it all up. Just make sure the soap is wrap up firm and tight. If you want to make a figure (a heart for example), design and shape it, and then press it against the soap's woolly surface.

3. Then you need to get it all into a stocking. For me the best way to get it all in with the figure I want, is to wear the stocking over the soap when the stocking is upside down in my hand. 

So, first I wear the stocking upside down over my hand (the toe part seam won't be inside against the soap). I use my free  hand to get the soap on its place on my palm covered by the stocking. I crab the soap with the palm and fingers. Now I have the back side of the soap facing the stocking on my palm. 

Then I use my free hand to stretch the stocking over the soap (the stocking doesn't touch the front side of the soap) to make sure everything stays on it's place. I kind of lift and stretch the stocking. I still don't loose the holding of the soap. When I get it all over, I tighten the stocking package first by my free hand by lifting and stretching. When I tighten, I make sure the stocking doesn't touch the front side of the soap. When it is tight enough, I let the stocking land on the front side of the soap. Then I gently loose the hand holding the soap but still make sure the stocking doesn't get loose over the soap. This is quite fast process so get ready. It is kind of sliding the soap in but more with the help of lifting and stretching the stocking than just dropping the soap in.

If I need to tighten more the stocking (it needs to be tight but not over-strained) I do it by 1st stretching the stocking sideways and then instead of just pulling the mouth of the stocking I kind of lift it tight. I do this all by putting my fingers inside the stocking. Like when you dress up the stockings to your legs. If you just pull it tighter it makes the felt layers move towards the upper part of the soap. That is not what we want. We want the wool stay even around the soap.

And for the last you need to hold it firm and make a knot you can easily open no matter it's wet. Easiest way is to make a knot but don't pull it all through so you get a loop with the knot. When you pull the end the loop runs through the knot and it opens up. If you are not good with the knots, you can use a plastic back closer clip.

Notice: if you have already used all your toe parts you can make the knots to the both ends.

Notice: you can re-use one stocking many times.

Notice: if you have no experience about the stockings you can buy as small size as possible with about 40-60 DEN (it lasts better than 20 DEN), if you are donated bigger sizes for this, you just need to tighten it more around the soap.

Notice: you can do this without a stocking, but then it turns out a bit more challenging because first the wool wants to escape.

4. Then you need warm/hot water and start to felt. There is no need to burn your skin. It just needs to feel warm in your hands, otherwise the felting process doesn't start. Warm water opens the fibers. It doesn't get felt if the fibers are not open. You can put warm water into a bowl and sink the soap in. Squeeze the soap gently until it has got wet. Keep on squeezing despite you now lift the soap up from the water. If you have made a figure, squeeze and tap the figure so that it stays on its place. This should not take more than couple of minutes if your water is warm enough and the soap is all wet. If you have not made a figure or your figure stays on its place you can start to rub the soap in its stocking. The soap foam begins to form out. If needed, change the water so that it will be warm/hot again. If the water is warm enough and you keep on rubbing the soap constantly, this should not take more than 10-12 minutes. 

Notice: you need to take the stocking away in the half way (after 5-6 min) and continue the rubbing without it (otherwise the stocking gets stuck into the soap and when you take it off it pulls the fibers out).

Notice: you are done with this phase when you can pinch/nip a bit the wool without it all comes out.

5. Finally you begin the felting process itself. It is kind of funny because you have been felting all the time already. I rather call this phase as "spooking". You rinse (and rub) the soap under as warm water as you feel comfortable for a moment to make the soap to feel very war. This makes sure the fibers open. Then you put the soap fast into a very cold water and rub it for a moment there. This makes sure the fibers close up. You repeat this all together for 3 times. You start with the hot and end with the cold. This makes the fibers to open and squeeze which makes them to crab and stuck to each others. And that is actually felting. This phase takes just 1-2 minutes with one soap. It is very fast process is a small project like this.

6. Squeeze the extra water gently out of the soap and place it to dry. If you notice it is not proper felted you can do it again: the rubbing and spooking. 

Felted soaps are lovely hand made gifts which you can make budget also. For about 5-10% of the soap fades away during the process but that amount will be replaced by the felt. I had 100 g soap bar and roughly estimated 5-10 g wool. After the felting process the weight is about the same as the soap's original weight. I used Marseille soaps and I calculated that one soap cost 1,50 € with the wool. My working time doesn't count here, but I made these 5 soaps in 1½ hours when I include all the work.

Notice my Sámi colors and their symbols: 

• yellow for the sun
• red for the fire and warmth
• green for the forest and earth
• blue for the water

FeltedSoap2

I did more felted soaps.

Seeking for the method that works best for me and my hands. That's what the crafts is all about at the end. There is no right, wrong or the only way. 

That's one reason why the craft making is good for you mental health also.

Butterfly

Today I started new bobbin lace project. It is Irma Sedej & Maja Svetlik design butterfly. It is Idrija lace. Instead of 60/2 thread I use DMC Mouliné Embroidery Thread. For the butterfly body I use DMC variegated six-strand thread no 115. I learnt this method of using embroidery thread instead the traditional ones in Valamo Monastery last summer in my bobbin lace course. And yes, I will participate again next summer. 

BobbinLacePillow -tutorial

Do you remember my bobbin lace base? It is made of Finnfoam frost insulation sheet. I have found it a bit too hard and thin in the use. Also, the white cover has turn out to be an bit too bright and white. That's why I have made some improvements to it.

I used an old YogaMat to create some more height to it. I used hot glue to fasten the YogaMat sheets under the Finnfoam. Just a little bit around the edges.

On the top I placed 1 cm foam mattress to create a bit softness. This was my only left over piece so I needed some jig saw puzzle method to complete it. But that is just ok be cause it comes so close the edge that it doesn't actually matter. I used again hot glue to fasten the foam. I pinned the edges to make sure the foam stays on until the glue dries up.

Then I cut much bigger round piece out of jersey. I sew the single fold and left it open for 2 cm to be able to take the elastic band in and trough it. Then I just tighten it all up and made a knot to the elastic band.

Ta-dah. Now I have self-made updated bobbin lace pillow and a cover for it. I saved about 120€. But I saved also the nature resources because all the other materials except the jersey fabric were recycled. This is FashionNOW.

FeltedSoap1

One of my very special and great 50th birthday gifts was felted soap bar. I've seen ones few times but never tested it. Now I have used the one I received as a gift and had great experiences with it. It was a surprise that the felt cover shrunk with the soap. My expectation was it gets loose little by little when the soap shrunk. But only at the end the felt was loose! Wow!

Because it was such a great experience I decided to have a new one. I  made my 1st ever felted soap bar. This soap bar is first wet felted. Then I continued the process with needle felting. You can't push the needle straight down because the soap bar is inside. But you can use the needle "sideways". Just testing how it works best. Felted soap bar is an excellent for full body wash and scrub. I used Marseille soap and Finnsheep wool. Usually they use merino wool for the felted soap bars. I do have a lot of Finnsheep wool so I use it. Its more rough and harsh but perfect also for this body scrub soap!

TheBooks1

This year I decided to challenge myself to show you what on earth I read. In this blog post I show you which books I've read in January and February 2025. This Finnish needlebinding book has been in a hard use. I have a one day course coming up in May 2025. I do have learnt the method but I have needed this book and been reading it a lot because of educational issues. I know many people have bought this excellent book of Mervi Pasanen but still have not been able to learn needlebinding. I have made notes on the book on the parts I find the pedagogical approach needs a bit extra. This books includes also designs so it is a very good shop but it is available only in Finnish. This copy is mine but available also at the libraries in Finland. It is published on 2015 but you can't get it second hand. It is so popular that every new small edition is sold out quite soon so keep your eyes open.

This book is Finnish version of German Kerstin Balk's SoxxBook Family & Friends by Stine & Stitch. It was published on 2019 so I found it on sale. I need books for my professional library so I regularly browse through the sale items. This book turn out a great item with its several new and fresh designs and proper illustrated step by step pictures to complete the heels. Also this books needs some pedagogical notes but it really is something I can use at work. I have The socks and heels -course coming up on the next autumn! This item is mine and in Finnish but available at least in German too.

This book is one of my very special 50yrs birthday gifts on 2025. I was quite thrilled when it arrived up to the north via snail mail and I had no idea about it. It is published in 2024 and was so fresh that I didn't even know it to exist despite I just love Gilmore girls. This is a great gift to every knitwear lovers even if they would not knit. It is a very beautiful book (in English) with full of the same spirit the famous series bring. This book really proves I do R-E-A-D craft books. I have read also this one for several times. I just don't see the pics, I read it all. Crazy? Might be. But on the other hand I bet people read also recipe and fitness books even they would not cook or exercise on that very specific moment. Tanis Gray has been able to create a very special book for all Gilmore girls. I must tell few pre-orders for the Christmas 2025 have arrived already and marked on the pages by someone else than me! 

TheMagazines1

This year I decided to challenge myself to show you what on earth I read. In this blog post I show you the magazines I read. I read Kodin Pellervo. It is a Finnish lifestyle publication. Some people -who obviously have not read any issue- classify it as a political publication but it doesn't include the politics at all. I like it because it includes articles that interests me. It also includes a lot of recipes and craft instructions but only a little bit of commercial advertisement. It's more full of the real topic than advertisement. I share this magazine always with my mother. At the end I keep the craft instructions because of my work as a craft teacher and she keeps the rest. This is 100 % Finnish magazine, not international concept.

I read Taito magazine. It is published by Taito Organization which is The Finnish Crafts Organization. I read it because it includes all the fresh news on crafts field in Finland. It interests me because of my work and personal reasons. This magazine I don't share with anyone but keep myself and use at work. This is 100 % Finnish magazine, not international concept.

Daphne's Diary magazine is my personal environmental crime. For my defense I must tell I buy it only seldom and only then when I am visiting Turku because this magazine is not available in my home town Kemi. In nine years I have bought 6 issues and they are my treasures in my library. I like this lifestyle magazine because of its articles and craft instruction but also because a lot of the material it includes which I can't get locally.

Dutch Heel No3 (var.)

I have designed and knit one more pair of socks. This is a variation of traditional Dutch Heel No1 (trad.) woollen sock. I use this style especially for the hard use woollen socks. The difference is the sole part. The stronger knitting continues from the heel to the toes. It makes the sole warmer and more durable. I used different shades of Novita 7 veljestä yarn (75 % wool, 25% polyamide) (100g = 200m) also for this pair.

ValmarinniemiTabletWeavingBand

I just realized I have not shown you the picture of the finished tablet weaving band reconstructed from Valmarinniemi excavation. It is a very beautiful and special tablet weaving design.

It really is not a design for the beginners. But believe me, it is a worth of weaving! I really love this historical design. 

HardangerPillowCase

Decades ago -yes, it's really decades ago- I received this beautiful Hardanger pillow as a gift from my childhood friend. I like it a lot and so does my grand daughter. It is her pillow now at granny's. That's why in the past 12 months the pillow has faced life more than it did during the past decades as a home decoration item. And that's why it needed proper washing and updating the back side. 

The original design had not the opening for the case. Also, the back side fabric was worn out. That's why I unravel the edges to get off the back side fabric. I made the easy opening by using velcro. So, in the future it will be much easier for me to wash this pillow case. I assume it will face a lot of life because it is the exact size for the toddler.

This is FashionNOW at its best. The squared fabric is from an old dress of mine. I received this hand made dress over a decade ago from a student of mine. It belonged to her daughter who died in cancer before the middle age. In this way the memory of her keeps going on while we also save the planet earth.

Fabrics and crafts can hold so much emotions. We don't even understand it until it hits at our face. For my student it was very important to share the beautiful pieces of her daughter's clothes after her passing away. She donated many to me because I was as small as she was during her past years. I have used her shoes and clothes. This is the final piece left. I didn't fit in so well anymore but had kept the dress because the fabric is still prefect. It just waited for the moment to be needed again. And here is the moment. Here we need the memory of her. And in this way it will keep on bringing the joy to the life as a part of the pillow case of a small child who loves it. With a gift from my childhood friend.