WickiDoodles

  More and more people are bringing their own tote bags when they shop to avoid using plastic, and more and more shops have eliminated plastic shopping bags altogether – you are free to purchase a cloth or non-plastic bag instead for a small fee. A heartening trend. But what happens to the non-plastic tote bags when the holes have become so big, your produce falls right through and rolls down the aisle? Or when the handles are so tattered, you have to carry the bag in your arms while trying to free your hands? Do you just throw those old bags away?  Cruel world. A friend of mine had used her tote bags to such an extent they were ready to be transformed into something completely different. Yes, you got it, a WickiDoodle! These were not your average, monochrome bags – they were indeed worthy of WickiDoodledom. One with black and white print with Japanese motifs and the other with yellow floral design. Very fun to work with, and there's material left over for more. Keep 'em comin...

Sitting cozily on a chair are a pair of WickiDoodles made almost exclusively of upholstery material: the vivid magenta striped material from a sofa a friend had reupholstered after a divorce, the floral pattern a remnant from her sister's chair and the Thai silk also remains of a remodeling project – luxury items! I was afraid that the upholstery fabric would be too thick for my ancient sewing machine but it pulled through. The rest of the items are also remnants, bits and bobs. The legs are from a pair of my favorite trousers. The "hair" below is made from the last bits of  Ebbe's favorite summer shirt  – amazing how even a shortsleeved shirt can keep on giving! The nose is from a remnant of a remnant that seems to live eternally. In fact, this WickiDoodle had quite a journey: it ended up in a Christmas stocking and is now happily residing from whence it came. I received a greeting – all is well: Dear mum Here I am in a very nice house in London. As you can see my En...

  Close friends invited us to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary – obviously, a BIG occasion. They emphasized in the invitation that they didn't want any gifts. After all, most of us in that age group are trying to get rid of stuff. However, it felt strange to arrive empty-handed. Which is why some of the guests brought "a little something": an invitation for a night out at a special restaurant, an outing over the Sound, lingerie. Other guests also figured out alternative ways to show their appreciation for all the years of friendship. We had nothing – as per the instructions we received... After the event it hit me – they are a colorful couple, of course they would be happy to receive a pair of colorful WickiDoodles. Not really a gift, just a gesture. Plus, WickiDoodles don't take up much room. A bed, a book shelf, a chair – WickiDoodles are not fussy about where they are situated, as long as they can perch.  The bride had worn a pink dress at her town hall w...

  I was never keen on having "outfits" – blouses that perfectly matched skirts or trousers were not my thing. To me, it seemed like cheating to purchase a complete set – way too easy! Much more challenging to find a skirt you really liked and then hunt for a blouse that worked. However, right from a very early age, I was taught never to mix one pattern with another and to be very careful about color choice: avoid a clash at all costs! Admiring looks from passers-by was fine – whereas their direct staring with an expression "what was she thinking?!" was to absolutely be avoided. These are important lessons that stay with you for a lifetime 😉 And I could see that I was passing on those lessons to my WickiDoodles, victims without a choice. I realized that I tend to stay within a certain palette and be overly discreet when putting patterns together.  Some time ago, a friend gave  (me the red floral fabric, together with scraps of material she had purchased in South Af...

  Recently, a good friend  – and keen WickiDoodle supporter! – asked whether I was interested in more buttons. Since one of my many mottos is " You can't have too many buttons ", the answer was obvious. We met for coffee and out came her plastic bag filled with smaller plastic bags, each with a set of buttons. As you can see from the photo, quite a variety! My friend hardly knew herself what treasures lay within that bag. The buttons had been harvested decades ago, at a time when her mother worked at a charity shop together with several other women.  Like so many charity shops with second-hand clothing, each donation first had to be tested: keep or discard? Only really worn-out items with no hope of being resold were discarded. The buttons, however, that was another matter. The steadfast volunteers would go through the pile of outcasts and meticulously remove buttons from shirts, dresses, jackets ... A remarkable commitment to recycling, way before it became a trend. A ti...

  I once had a really really bright yellow blouse - sun yellow. I wore it with a really really bright red jacket. That was back in the 80s – I don't do that anymore 😉 For one thing, yellow is not and was probably never "my color". I tend (or rather tended) towards greens, blues, fuchsia, purples - now browns and grays 😊  Colors have a whole vocabulary that I am not versant in. I realized recently, though, that yellow of any shade was absent from the collection of fabric I built up over the years. So when I spied a summer outfit in yellow and pink (to use the generic terms!) at a local flea market, I just had to purchase it as a potential WickiDoodle. What was really great was hearing about the outfit's owner: the five-year-old daughter of someone we knew who had volunteered to be responsible for a booth - all proceeds were going to the community school. He and his wife took it as an opportunity for their three children to shed some of the stuff they had accumulated...