New in 2012. Remade by You. Workshops. 01/08/2012

We’ve been asked so often to offer classes at ReMade, we’ve decided that this rather dull January is a great time to start.

In our workshops, you will be encouraged to find new uses for old things, and to create something special from scraps. You’ll learn new skills and meet new people. And eat cake!

To book, email frugalcool@hotmail.co.uk or call/text 07540 089797.

All workshops take place at ReMade 147 North High Street Musselburgh EH21 6AN.

Wed 11 Jan 10am-12 noon Box Shelf Decoupage
Using found materials and wooden wine boxes, we’ll decoupage a unique box shelf.
All materials supplied, refreshments too.
Spaces limited to 6, booking required.
Cost: £8.

Tues 17 Jan 10am-12 noon Odd Ball Knit
Gathering our odd balls of eco yarn together, we’ll be knitting lavender bags. Easy project, suitable for beginners. Learn how to cast on, plain and purl stitches, cast off, finishing.
All materials supplied, refreshments too.
Spaces limited to 6, booking required.
Cost: £8.

Wed 18 Jan 10am-4pm Textile Stash Swap
We all have fabric pieces and odd balls of yarn waiting for inspiration. Why not swap them for something new. Bring up to 15 items to swap – interesting fabrics, ribbons, yarns, buttons, lace, threads, embellishments.
Free event, no booking required.
Refreshments served, 10am-12 noon.

Thurs 19 Jan 6.30-8.30pm Knitting Club
We’ve been asked about knitting classes more than any other craft. Our monthly club will be about you sharing your skills with others, and us helping you with your knitting project.
A social event with cake and tea. All levels.
This first club is free. Future events may be charged at £5 to pay for a professional demonstration of different knitting techniques such as intarsia, cable and knitting without seams.

Coming up in the next few weeks. Noticeboards, button felt hearts, badges, patchwork, jewellery and much more. Children’s events too.

Remade by you | decoupage workshop 01/05/2012

A new season of events, called ReMade by You, begins with one of my favourite crafts … decoupage.

Wednesday 11 January | 10am to 12 noon

Decoupage a  Box Shelf

ReMade 147 North High Street Musselburgh EH21 6AN

Using found materials and wood wine boxes, we’ll tear and paste – artistically, of course – a box shelf, which can be hung or can sit on a desktop. Perfect for ephemera. Or even spices.

Materials will be supplied (including boxes, glue and paper / fabric) but please do bring favourite fabrics or materials if you have a design in mind – magazines, cotton fabric, old paperbacks, wrapping paper, even some wallpapers. Whatever inspires you AND you don’t mind ripping it up.

SIX spaces available so booking is required. Email Nicky at frugalcool@hotmail.co.uk or see you at ReMade.

Cost: £8.00 (payable on day). Includes materials, coffee (or tea) and homemade cake.

Advent Sunday Door Open | Remade Home Returns | Ercol Tweed Midwinter‏ 11/23/2011

Christmas starts in earnest at ReMade this Sunday when our Advent Sunday door will open for a little mince-pie-munching, mulled-punch-swigging, present-finding doo.

And you’re invited!
Beautiful gifts are already available in the shop – remade by hand, vintage and fairtrade, something different, a little quirky and the best prices.

When you buy handmade at ReMade, two thirds of what you pay goes to a local maker.

I’m very excited … Joanna Reid from Blackbird Alley is designing ReMade’s Christmas window. Work starts on Tuesday with a splash of retro paint. Keep watching.

And here’s a sneak peak of something special arriving this week. A classic kitchen dresser from the 1950s, beautifully upcycled by Fiona Robertson at Just Braw.

For photos and the latest news from ReMade, please visit our Facebook. Or come on down.

Come by bus! From Edinburgh, Lothian Buses’ 26 and 44 services (not Eastfield) pass ReMade’s door every 10-15 minutes. Sundays too. Get off at the Brunton Hall and walk back just 50 yards.

People still talk to me about our Remade Home show back in June, I’m delighted that so many of you have such great memories. I loved it too. So next year, ReMade Home returns!

Meantime … the Remade shop is filled with interesting and unusual furnishings for an eco chic home. From upcycled Ercol dining chairs by Just Braw to mono tweed cushions and quilts by Magghi McLean of Puffin Patchworks to a classic Midwinter vintage tea set. By the way, I’m always looking for new remade home products. If you’re a designer and maker, do get in touch.

• Edd Wellesley-Davies has taken over the much of the gallery space at ReMade once more with his fabulous Winter 2011 collection of film inspired posters. A limited edition giclee print (35x50cm) is £35 (also smaller prints £15). Check out the collection on Edd’s Facebook.
• With the Christmas party season just around the corner, and most of us counting the pennies, a brand new party frock might not be an option this year. The Sewing Room at ReMade is already helping customers to create a new look with party clothes already in their wardrobe. With a few simple alterations – such as reshaping, hemline shortening or replacing buttons – your much-loved LBD can be given a new lease of life, and a better or more modern fit. And it’s both frugal and green. So pop in to see Laura Fleming, Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4pm. Don’t forget to bring your party shoes too!
• If you were captivated by Heather Potten’s exhibition of felting scarves earlier this year, and would like to have a go yourself, she’s running a Nuno felt scarf workshop on 26 November. There’s more information on her website.
• Musselburgh is taking first steps towards sustainability, and it feels like the town is determined to be recognised as a place where people want to visit, and aspire to live. One initiative is the Transition group, and in the next six months, they’ll be recruiting local people who are interesting in locally grown food. Follow the group’s progress on Facebook (you don’t have to be signed up) and do join in. Or ask me about the latest news when you visit the shop.

Advent Sunday. The First {Green} Day of Christmas. 11/11/2011

Christmas doesn’t really start at ReMade until Sunday 27 November when ReMade’s Advent Sunday Door will open for a little mince-pie and mulled punch inspired present buying.

Beautiful gifts are already available in the shop – remade by hand, vintage and fairtrade – and you’ll always something different, ethical and just a little quirky at the very best prices.

Coming by bus? From Edinburgh, Lothian Buses’ 26 and 44 services (not Eastfield) pass ReMade’s door every 10-15 minutes. Sundays too. Get off at the Brunton Hall and walk back just 50 yards.

Don’t Spend. Mend. 11/11/2011

With the Christmas party season just around the corner, and most of us counting the pennies, a brand new party frock might not be an option this year.

The Sewing Room at ReMade is already helping customers to create a new look with party clothes already in their wardrobe. With a few simple alterations – such as reshaping, hemline shortening or replacing buttons – your much-loved LBD can be given a new lease of life, and a better or more modern fit.

And it’s both frugal and green.

So pop in to see Laura Fleming at ReMade, Tuesday to Friday 10am to 4pm and Saturday 10am to 1pm.

Don’t forget to bring your party shoes too!

Think independent this Christmas 10/17/2011

As I work every Saturday, one of the nicest of times is a leisurely Sunday breakfast – cappuccino, toast and Scotland on Sunday. I start with AtHome, where there are always plenty of WOW inspirations as well an occasional hmm, I definitely wouldn’t have done that! moment. This Sunday, there was an OMG though. The last paragraph on the last page rather prickled. Style Doctor was asked about a useful gift for a daughter’s first flat, “something a little different”. The suggestion was a re-issued Sunburst Clock by George Nelson (£223.20, online). It’s a beautiful thing. Is it really different, though?

In Scotland, we’re blessed with independent shops offering something truly different. They risk all in difficult times to fill their emporiums with handmade, quality and locally-made designs. £223.20 could buy an upcycled coffee table, an investment piece. £223.20 might commission an heirloom quilt, which would last a lifetime and beyond. £223.20 would be a red-letter-day sale for me at ReMade.

Please visit your local independent shops this year. I’m certain you’ll be giving something more than a little different, more than a little special this year.

ReMade’s Christmas starts on Thursday 3 November with our Christmas Party Night, 4pm to 8.30pm. Festive refreshments, prizes and the first chance to glimpse our remade, Fairtrade and vintage gift inspirations. “Not just a shop … it’s a place to be inspired.” It would be lovely to see you.

Exhibition | A Journey in Patchwork 10/10/2011

Magghi McLean makes beautiful, heirloom quilts. Any size, any colour, but all made in 100% cotton from materials collected along the way.

Nine small quilts, just 40cm x 40cm, make up a vibrant exhibition of patchwork, Poetry in Colour. Described by Magghi as her “indulgence”, this group of quilts is the result of her experimenting with design, colour and pattern. Each quilt represents a place, important to Magghi and her family. Each represents a colour – black, purple, pink, red, orange, yellow, blue, green and white, hand-stitched in variations of the Cathedral Window design.

The quilts are for sale, £25 each.

Patchwork is a wonderful traditional craft, and we think you’ll feel inspired to pick up a needle, thread and some fat quarters this Autumn. Get started with Magghi’s beginner kits, £4.

Magghi McLean will be at ReMade on Wednesday 19 October, 10am to 4pm. She’d love to see your patchwork in progress, and is happy to help with problems.

You can find more information about Magghi’s exhibiton at Frugal Cool, or visit her Puffin Patchworks shop. Magghi accepts accepts commissions for heirloom quilts and cushions.

12 Months On 09/22/2011

Frugal Cool celebrates an important event soon. Next month, our Musselburgh design shop ReMade will be one year old. The last 12 months have been both joyous and challenging.
The joy lies in the magnificent creativity of 61 local designer-makers, whose work I marvel at and love to offer for sale. And in the friendship of my customers – yes, I do know I talk too much!
I’ve paid over £13,000 for local remade design since last October. As you know, local sustainability lies at the heart of my design business, and so to create a just little local wealth in challenging times is good news. Next year, I hope the investment in creative Musselburgh will grow and ever more customers will recognise how vital their local shops are to our community.
Meantime, a BIG thank you to all our customers. You are quite amazing. And if you’ve had a good experience at ReMade, please tell your friends. Introduce a friend to ReMade and you could both be getting 5% off.

Follow me @frugalcool

PS. It would be lovely to see you on Friday 30 September for Frugal Cool’s Coffee Morning in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. View Ali Ferguson’s exhibition, Environmentals and you could win a handstitched driftwood artwork in our free prize draw. 10am to 12 noon. ReMade, 147 North High Street, Musselburgh. RSVP

Gift Vouchers! 09/20/2011

We know how difficult it can be to choose just the right present for a friend or relative, and quite frankly, we don’t make it any easier here at Frugal Cool’s ReMade.

The Musselburgh shop is always overflowing with the unique, the quirky and the simply gorgeous. We know our customers take such time and care to browse and consider their gifts, and sometimes the choice is too much.

Vouchers might be the answer! The gift recipient will receive a present that they love – because they’ll choose it themselves. AND we’ll give them an additional 10% off any handmade or vintage product*.

Vouchers are available from £10, and are available from ReMade 147 North High Street Musselburgh or by emailing frugalcool@hotmail.co.uk.

The small print. Frugal Cool vouchers – and unused portions of vouchers – are valid for 12 months from the date of purchase (hand-written on each voucher), and have no cash redemption value and are not transferable or assignable. They are not currently redeemable online.

*10% discount not available on fairtrade products.

Exhibition : Environmentals by Ali Ferguson 09/20/2011

Environmentals by Ali Ferguson is an exhibition of hand stitched driftwood pieces inspired by the natural environment.

ReMade 147 North High Street Musselburgh

The starting point for Environmentals is the driftwood that Ali Ferguson has collected from East Lothian beaches – some of the pieces are beautifully shaped natural wood and others can be pieces of old packing crates – whatever the sea gives up and catches her eye.

After the wood has been cleaned and dried, Ali starts assembling. This is very organic – she uses different materials, found objects, old maps – whatever calls out to her for each individual piece. She transfers images from her own photographs, mostly from the East Lothian Coast and Roslin Glen, onto the wood and then starts stitching.

Each piece grows in its own way. Ali loves the combination of the materials that she is using and the question of where all they have all come from – even the thread that she is using is vintage linen thread from beautiful wooden reels. She likes to leave a needle attached to each piece as a mark of her own input with the hand stitching – a little bit of her own history is left behind too.

As each piece is finished, the question it asks is “What Stories Could I Tell?”

Ali Ferguson trained in Textile Design at the Scottish College Of Textiles, before running her own knitwear design business for several years, producing two collections a year of women’s & children’s knitwear, many of which were sold in London.

“I love using materials and objects with a bit of history as I believe that this brings an extra dimension to the piece. I choose materials for the stories that they can tell – old letters, vintage fabrics, photographs and personal objects for example. I often build my pieces in layers – reflecting how our lives are a series of layers with everything that has gone before affecting everything that happens after. I like to think that I am “stitching stories” where each final piece has several layers of meaning.”