This one is for the ladies! This is a very rough attempt at teaching and learning together via internet meeting software. Marnie Saskin teaches Tanya Murdoch how to make a reusable cloth pad for overnight bleeding. The results are super ugly but it's just a pad! It will get better, and certainly better to both use this instead of tossing those old pjs, and also make something reuseable instead of throwing out those pads.

We are now in Covid 19 social distancing mode, stories of hoarding and the elevation of single use items are part of staying safe but as someone not in the line of fire, it brought on a search for alternatives. A CAVEAT: I am not a medical expert, these are for my own amusement- Tanya
Vinegar: I had already started making this lemon infused vinegar, but that is not in fact effective against viruses (but it does cut grease)... the lemons make it smell nice. Rinds only, for a week or two, then dilute the infused vinegar (sans rinds) with water about 1:1 and spray about.
For later: Two bags of art project ready to go once this is past.
DIY reusable wipes: this actually should work as well as your clorox or lysol, if you have the right material- we used 100% iso propyl alcohol and mixed 3:1 with aloe gel. poured that into a jar full of rags- I coiled them so you can pull them out like wipes. and made this little drawstring bag from a waxed napkin to collect the used rags and throw them in the wash. Again, not for hospitals but for home use...
And finally, masks. these were based on a pattern developed by a surgeon in Taiwan, not the Covid 19 super masks , but equivalent to surgical masks if you line them non woven melt material... like the lining of sanitary pads or diapers or in a pinch, tshirt material. These can be washed and used again. Again, not for hospitals but if you want to wear a mask to the store but feel conflicted, these are prettier. There is a link on our useful info page to the pattern a helpful maker posted online along with an english translation. It involves a lot of ironing and pleats.

Happy International Women's Day everyone! We spent it at our new favourite place, making things from other things at the cheerful Moss Park Market space- helps that it was warm and sunny too.
This workshop lead by the young but very experienced Gabrie (she has her own fashion label FuturisticRuins but makes upcycled things on the side with us.) and supported by Leah and Tanya from Works-in-Progress and our new playmate from Building Roots, Kate. Gabrie walked us through a simple drawstring bag pattern using the natural strengths of jeans and their seams. It was our first time with the full sweatshop setup, sewing machines and cutting boards, everyone had a turn at the pedal and made something beautiful
Cairine sent us a photo of her finished bag with a happy cat- thanks for the show and tell!

What a great Sunday! Got to play with 2 works in Progress artists and use some of what we learned last week at the handwarmer/ burning fabric workshop. The fire to identify tectile material was of course exciting, but the other takeaway was textile construction: most fabrics are either knit or weave (twill is a complex weave)
Sunday morning I (Tanya) worked with WIP artist Ines Scepanovic on an interactive art idea for the CCNM Eco Summit March 14. We learn through working.  Basically, we were making hundreds of fabric strips from old textiles... limited palette of green and blue. the basic difference is weaves tear, knits don't. So we rolled those up and cut them like crepes. We then tied them into 4 strip grouping about 1.5 metres long to be braided together (info on how to do this on our useful info page)
Our textile guru Marnie Saskin paid a visit in the afternoon, and she was working on a project weaving with knits... she made this two sided bag on a simple loom with T-shirt yarn in about 10 minutes!