LACK OF BALLS

In 2010 South Africa will host the world cup..which is ironic as there is a shortage of footballs in Africa for schools villages and anyone who wants to play ball......the ingenious solutions to this problem have involved making balls out of rubbish and scraps of materials bound together and wrapped in plastic bags.
Although these home-made balls look beautiful and are an amazingly creative way of getting around a serious problem, there not much good to practice your skills on.....
This problem was highlighted by the charity www.dreamfieldprojects.org which ran an advert in the major papers in South Africa...putting this plastic bag inside the paper.... www.aliveandkicking.org.uk is another charity dealing with the problems of lack of sports equipment by sorting out the supply chain and setting up small factories in Africa making repairable hand stitched footballs with health messages printed on the sides...by setting up factories they provide work for people and insure that the sports equipment is not made by child labour.....which is an ongoing problem in India and Pakistan where a large proportion of the worlds footballs are made.

BOW IDEAS STORE

RUNNING WITH THE GOLDEN YEARS.

We had a marvelous morning challenging our perceptions of sportswear branding with the Golden Years Club at Bethnal Green Library today. 

After having a good giggle and discussion around our 'History of Sportswear' lecture, we put our mugs aside and got busy.

Edna stitched an initial on a vest for her grandson's girlfriend Sarah who works in a gym in Newcastle.  The other ladies had fun with our embroidery transfers and stitched stars and argile patterns on t-shirts, and someone stitched over the 'Un' from 'Really Un-Happy' which was splattered across the front of an otherwise quite jolly t-shirt. 

Well done everyone!

The Golden Years meet at Bethnal Green Library ever Tuesday morning at 10.30 and get up to all sorts of interesting things.

FORGET WASHING.

Tired of endlessly washing your track suit?

Scientists have invented a fabric which you never have to wash! It repels dirt and sweat with chemicals attatched to nano- particles.

Here are my copied diagrams of how self cleaning fabric is made.

1. Nano-particles are attatched to clothing fibres using microwaves.

2. Chemicals that repel water, oil, and kill bacteria, but can not be directly applied to the fabric are bound to the nano particles.

ADIDAS COMMERCIAL 2007.

RUN-D.M.C. MY ADIDAS.

CONVERT A SHIRT.

Check out this cool sports dress! It was designed for tennis, but you could wear it for any sport, and guess what?  It is made from a standard classic open necked man's shirt! 

He'll never notice - choose a shirt you like from his laundry pile and find a sewing machine.

The open neckline, loose waist and front buttons are preserved from the original design. 

For greater freedom of movement the sleeves are eliminated and the arm holes scooped even deeper- before being faced with the same fabric as the dress.  A new band of fabric over the buttonholes strengthens the fastening and adds decoration with it's zig-zag top stitching. And deep side pockets sensibly backed with a dark coloured fabric, providing a handy place for tennis balls, stop watches, and locker keys. 

This dress will still need some extra fabric. Re-use the sleeves for facings, but also try to find scraps for pocket linings. We have more detailed instructions at Prick Your Finger, and I am determined to make this, so I'll keep you posted on the progress.