Let sleeping dogs lie (as rugs)

Published 4 months ago • 2 min read

Thank you for reading Orts. If you enjoy my 5/5 format, consider a paid subscription! As a paid subscriber, you’ll receive this email each week plus quarterly subscriber-only exclusives like a tutorial, pattern, special interview, or something else. (Think of it like Orts Labs.) You'll also receive access to my full archive and paid subscriber-only posts.

5/5 - Vol. 10

Hi, hello! Welcome to another edition of 5/5, where I share five creatively inspiring things and five ways for you to DIY. This week, I've got crochet chicken coasters, quilted signs, and an easy top to sew for spring or summer. Let's get started!

👉 ICYMI, this perfectly patched pair of jeans was the most clicked link in the last 5/5.

✨ 5 creatively inspiring things

1️⃣ Jeffrey Sincich recreated the iconic "thank you" plastic bag through quilting. But, that’s not all. He’s inspired by the built environment—particularly signage. “My work uses quilting and found objects to represent feelings of comfort, tradition and history,” he writes. “Like a handmade quilt, elements of the urban environment offer people a sense of place, belonging and safety.”

2️⃣ I’m in awe of these rugs by Emily O’Leary. These hand-hooked pieces are life-sized sleeping dog portraits. In the right context, they’ll make you do a double-take!

3️⃣ Denim is a beautiful canvas. Julia Carol has put together different shades to create a stitched still-life of oranges in (and outside of) a cellophane bag. The denim, angled just so, along Julia’s exquisite technique, looks like a painting.

4️⃣ This gives a whole new meaning to "hand embroidery." Watch how nail artist myohae transforms a fingernail into tiny stitch-like art. She even recreates French knots on the nail!

5️⃣ It’s shorts weather in Seattle this week. If only I had this pair of embroidered tree shorts by Tessa Perlow. The lyrical design is something you wouldn't expect on jorts. [affiliate]

🪡 5 ways to DIY

1️⃣ Here’s a super cute and relatively easy top you could draft and sew in an afternoon. (I’ve added it to my projects-to-sew list!)

2️⃣ And speaking of sewing clothes, this sewist shows how to upcycle a thrifted shirt to look like a trendy designer piece. She spent $9 for the shirt and made it look like a $295 top!

3️⃣ Stained clothing can be the jumping-off point for something new. Check out how Stephanie of Swoodson Says took a pair of thrifted sweatpants and a stained shirt and turned them into one fun piece.

4️⃣ I’ve never seen this approach to embroidering a leaf! It uses a half-inch card and the couching stitch. Easy and ingenious.

5️⃣ Cute crochet coaster alert! This easy pattern will have you crafting doily-style chickens in no time. [affiliate]