Thursday, December 31, 2009

Market Trolley - refashioned

crafting up my market trolley
Market Trolley - refashioned :)

I love how the Christmas holidays finally give me a chance to be creative-for-the-sake-of-it, to do non-work-related crafty stuff. The reality of running Ink & Spindle is that there's not really a lot of creative work in my day to day. It's a lot of admin and management and strategic stuff, with a splash of creativity here and there.

I was actually quite worried about how I'd spend the two weeks break being freshly single and living alone, but have successfully managed to fill the time with friends and family and bike riding and making, with not too many miserable moments.

So anyway, one of the projects that I invented to keep myself busy was crafting up this market trolley! I've seen these trolleys becoming more and more common around town, and ended up finding a black one which I thought was a bit plain and boring. So I decided to crafthance it :)

I took photos to document the process if you want to have a go:

market trolley ready to be enhanced!
Getting started

-Plain market trolley ($15 at Big W or $20 at Safewa- i mean Woolworths)
-Thick red thread of any variety (I used crotchet cotton)
-Design sketched in sketchbook
-Tailor's chalk or anything else that's removable

crafting up my market trolley
Chalk outline of my design and the beginning stitches

I started by sketching some design ideas in my sketchbook and then transferring them onto the bag with tailor's chalk. The chalk comes off really easily though which is good for fixing mistakes in your drawing but it also rubs off as you work. I just went over my lines as they started to fade.

crafting up my market trolley
Stitching away...

I found a nice large needle and started to topstitch the design. The waterproof fabric of the bag is quite thick though so it can be hard to get the needle through and it made my thumbs sore. I just persisted and spaced the work out over a couple of days.

crafting up my market trolley
Almost finished!

crafting up my market trolley
Et Voila! Market Trolley with Kangaroo Paw design

16 comments:

sasha + max studio said...

Wow! what a wonderful transformation from drab to fab - very nice.

yardage girl said...

Nice idea - might "crafthance" my red one!

Thea said...

I love this idea Lara. Have a Happy New Year and enjoy your break!

Bianca said...

Looks awesome! Good way to recognise your trolley too :) Happy Holidays!

Emma said...

Thanks for the tutorial, it's a really good idea.

On a sort of unrelated note, Woolworths will always be Safeway in my mind. Much like Southern Cross station, it'll always be Spencer Street to me.

Purple Paisley Patch said...

From drab to fab, that trolley screams "Lara" now, it's gorgeous!
Glad to see you are settling into your newly single lifestyle without too many down days.
Take it from me, when you're married with kids you'll really appreciate the time you had to yourself in your own pad, relish it!
Hugs, Kelly :-)

Chrissy said...

I really love this, but on a practical note, will it still be waterproof now it has lots holes in it?

Fer said...

Now that's groovey!

Progress lighting said...

So cute, i love it!

Mariama said...

Thats a great idea! and its beautiful!

Yana said...

what a great idea!! looks lovely :)

Michelle Engel Bencsko said...

Much nicer! The other ladies at the market will be jealous.

Jenny said...

Beautiful work, Lara! That's real creativity!!! And there won't be a single one like it anywhere... until we, your readers copy your beautiful design!

Happy new year

Miho said...

What a fantastic idea.

Simple and pretty -I certainly have to try it out myself now!

FairyFaye said...

This looks fun! Simple enough to give it a try myself.. thanks for sharing!

enterrement de vie de jeune fille said...

Excellente idée et en plus c'est très beau...

Julia