What's in a name?

In 2008 I was studying my A levels, and our final project for Textiles involved creating a shop. Although entirely imaginary, the shop needed a definite theme, aesthetic design, a target audience and then we were to design and make garments with which to stock it.

I chose ShnickShnack as the name for my eco-friendly shop filled with recycled and repurposed items.

My early attempts at a logo

Schnick Schnack is a German expression. It has many meanings and uses, but my favourites are 'stuff and nonsense' or 'bric a brac'. These fit my recycled and salvaged products to a tee so the name stuck.

I made a range of truly random products including a blue PVC snakeskin corset from salvaged material and a fun pixie hat knitted from scraps of wool (long before I'd heard the term stashbusting). I also used men's neckties from charity shops to make different items, like a waistcoat and a washbag.

ShnickShnack won an award for being an innovative and environmentally responsible business idea. I used the prize money to turn my shop idea into reality and started selling at local craft fairs.

Newcastle is home to LePrevo leather, who sell leather scraps and offcuts by weight. I visited this local supplier regularly and began making hand-bound recycled leather books which I sold through an art gallery shop in the centre of Newcastle.

In may 2009 I opened my Etsy shop. I used the tagline 'rubbish reborn' and continued to work with entirely recycled materials.

My original Etsy banner

Life got in the way, I planned a wedding, got married, enjoyed working on my house and did nothing with my shop. I never stopped knitting or making but it had been relegated to just a hobby, something I did on an evening to unwind.

In 2013 my brother asked if I would make him a Tweed bow tie. I ordered a scrap bundle of Tweed remnants and got to work. Right then, when I opened the parcel and saw the beautiful colours and satisfyingly rough woolly texture of the fabric it was love. Wool makes my heart skip in the way even the most attractive cotton print never could.

That first bundle of Tweed scraps

After that first bow tie I just kept making, using Tweed wherever I could. Suddenly my mismatched shop with one-off random items looked messy and disjointed. However since I was using exclusively repurposed Tweed scraps and remnants I felt the name ShnickShnack still fit. I signed up for a handful of craft fairs in November and December 2013 and the bow ties sold out!

I ordered my first ever business cards as a designer/maker. All of a sudden I was taking this seriously. I had a logo designed by Jaisle creative that I absolutely loved. Alyssa is a brilliant designer and her eye for capturing the perfect style for you is uncanny. She came up with three different initial designs and I honestly found it hard to choose.

The final design

It struck me one day that I hadn't used ShnickShnack anywhere on my business cards. Why? Now my shop had a definite style. I had a theme that still allowed me the freedom to create and design a range of products whilst remaining congruous; the name didn't feel so fitting any more. I wasn't selling recycled bric-a-brac any more. I had 'a collection'.

While passing on my details to someone interested in stocking my bow ties, I realised my business name had no relevance to my products and said nothing about what I did or made. I liked that my products had a masculine aesthetic and most of my customers were men. ShnickShnack started to feel cutesy.

So after much thought, I moved on and chose the name TweedFiend as my new moniker.

I designed some new branding with a crisp clean aesthetic

I renamed my website TweedFiend.com

I'm looking forward to seeing where this new name takes me. I hope you'll join me for the journey, I have some exciting projects planned for 2015.

DIY Recovered Office Chair

As you can see, me husband's office chair was looking a bit worse for wear. Since our second bedroom became a nursery, this chair now has to live in the Sitting Room and is the first thing you see as you enter the house. Needless to say I was not a happy 40 weeks pregnant bunny.

I looked on websites like Freecycle and Gumtree hoping vainly that someone would be getting rid of a Tweed office chair that would match our lovely herringbone Tweed sofa. No joy there, I turned to eBay, now willing to pay for a chair that would look like it belonged in my front room. Then I remembered...

About a year ago I found a huge, thick herringbone Tweed coat in a charity shop for only £8. It was a really simple shape, so only side seams and pockets to deal with, and there was metres and metres of fabric on this thing. I snapped it up. Over the months it was going to be a draft excluder, a set of cushions, a nicer coat... the list goes on. Where it actually ended up was in the loft, in a bag. Until today!

I started by removing the pockets.

There was slight difference in colour where the pocket had been but with the herringbone pattern it wasn't really obvious.

We dismantled the chair with relative ease and removed the cover material from the foam cushions. The cover wasn't stapled on; it had just been gathered and tied so we didn't even have to faff on removing previous staples or nails. Once we had all the pieces apart I lay out the coat and used the cover fabric as a pattern. 

There was no centre back seam on the coat, so we used the back panel for the seat cushion where a seam would have been a potential weak point over time. I pinned the cover to the coat and cut around it leaving a generous seam allowance that I knew I'd be trimming away later.

The next step was to stretch the Tweed over the cushion and staple it in place. This definitely needs two people two stop the material from moving. Some staples needed a tap with the hammer afterwards to make sure they were securely in place.

We tried to keep the bulk down on the corners by folding evenly before stapling. Then I trimmed off the excess and we screwed the plastic panel back on.

I was hoping this would be a no-sew project but there wasn't quite enough material to do the second cushion in one piece. Instead I made the back cushion in two halves using the two front panels of the coat and sewed a reinforced seam that would run down the centre of the chair.

sorry about the blurry photo!

 Same again, we stretched, stapled and trimmed. Then we reassembled the chair. All finished!

If you fancy giving this a go and want a more detailed step-by-step guide, we found this tutorial really helpful before starting our project.

Nesting on Cloud Nine

The hubby and I are expecting our first child in August. As the weeks fly by I've been channelling my excitement into planning how I'll decorate the nursery. Pinterest is such a great place for inspiration and I've collected together a few of my favourites from my Baby board for you here.

We're having a little girl, but I'm not the pink frilly type so when it came to colours this calm, cool colour palette from design-seeds.com was exactly what I was looking for. The site by Jessica Colaluca has the most stunning colour palettes, and each one has the HEX codes provided so you can find the exact shade that you're in love with. For me, it was the beautiful pastel blue on this chart. 'Mint Macaroon' by Dulux was a great colour match. In the end we painted the feature wall of the nursery with 'Blue Ground' by Farrow and Ball and used their off-white shade 'Wimborne White' for the other walls and ceiling.

I found this print by Eloise Renouf on Etsy really inspiring. I plan to stencil on my feature wall using similar textures and patterns.

Etsy is a wonderful place to find unique and handmade treasures. Below are a few of my favourite mobiles found on Etsy

Clockwise from top right Gold Star Mobile by BabyJivesCo, Grey Cloud mobile no longer available, Felt Clouds with Raindrops by ShopKiddo, Cloud Garland by youngheartslove, Hot Air Balloon Mobile by TinyLuck 

I am thinking about adding a few pops of yellow to brighten up the room

Clockwise from top right Pendant Lamp from IKEA, You are My Sunshine Sign by GoJumpInTheLake, Hello Sunshine Cushion by FreyaArt, Yellow Raindrops Quilt by IndigoRocket

And perhaps some creative shelving

House Shelving by RH baby and child, Cloud Shelf by ShopLittles

With 6 weeks to go, I think I'd better get a move on!

Candy Cables

A bright pop of colour is just what I needed to get me feeling ready for Summer. It wouldn't be me if my knitting needles weren't busy, and its no exception when the sun is out. 

These cable jumpers (or sweaters if you're over the pond) are made from a beautiful blend of cotton, silk and cashmere. They are super soft and, even better, the cotton fibre means that they will be just right on a mild summer night but can also keep you really cosy in the real winter chill.

The colours are so complimentary, ranging from deep French Navy and Peony to delicate Lilac, Rose and Sky Blue. 

Each jumper is finished with three buttons, sewn on by hand using carefully colour-matched thread.

I've thoroughly enjoyed working the cables on the fronts. The pattern is made up of a complex mix of traditional cables combined with more modern geometric repeats.

The backs and sleeves are worked in a 4-stitch offset pattern that creates a beautiful background texture.

With a care label sewn in, they are finished and ready to go.

(Machine washable too! could I love this yarn more!?)

This little family of jumpers is making its way to America. 

Bon Voyage!

Snap Happy

Back in December, I had some product photos taken by local photographer Claudia Rowley. 

She did a fantastic job of capturing the textures of the wool and the tweeds. I used my brother and sister-in-law to model some of my winter items and Claudia knew just how to put them at ease and get them to relax into the shoot.

You can see more of Claudia's work on her Facebook page

Here are a few of my favourite pictures: