The Carousel of Hearts

Introducing the Sweetheart Sistahoodz record breaker. Meet the Carousel of Hearts. Hearts on your sleeve, almost 50 hand sewn all over the coat, Zip front, custom knit heart pockets with retro buttons and a hood as long as the hem and then some.

This was truly a labour of love. Designed to get any wearer through difficult times.

Can be seen in person at Lobelia's Lair, Nanaimo BC Canada where it is currently on display.

Fits a curvy medium to large with busty stretch. 

24 foot hem for festival spinning. 

Catching Up with Four Years of Sistahoodz Shenanigans Part 1 - The Nola Hood

Gonna try to back track a little bit over the past while and bring up some of my endeavours in upcycling sweaters. Enjoy my little trip down memory lane.

Meet the Nolahood... 

The instructions were orange and black and that it be comfortable in the car and playing poker in the cold hall. This coat lives in Sechelt.

I like to do a harlequin design by repurposing sweaters and knits I either knit myself or from upcycled gear and then using quilting techniques to pull together new treasures. Given the mature body of the owner, it had to graze her hips and have give, move with her and not strangle her as she is naturally hot blooded. I took all this into consideration, designing Form meets Function. My fave yet.

Its not bad decorating a bare wall...

Comfortable, with a fit that creates an artistic silhoette, Nola's cardigan is a gold and black diamond crusted unique statement that lets folks know that she's got her lights on.

As it pulled together, it almost became a puzzle that sorted itself out as the developments progressed.

In grim winter, Nola snugs into her hooded cardie and knows that the light is returning. Hugged by what I made her, i hope it helps with  her challenges...

Ring Around the Rosie!

Here is this year's efforts at pulling material culture out of nature and making things that are connected to the land and that can work with your home decor to add a sense of connectedness as well as a lovely look and perfume.

A wrapped crystal allows this to generate energy on multiple levels.

As the art dries, divinely feminine tendrils begin to appear.

Adding a little shell with a touch of gold connects these rosebuds to the oceanside they were collected from...

A failed attempt at a five pointed star makes a small talisman anyways that still smells great.

Picking the buds and making sure there aren't any wormies in them, they will stay in this shape for several days till you can get around to using them to make your project.

Elder switches make a great form for backing your rosebud project, in this case, it became a heart.

Don't worry if the blossoms fall off because what remains is just as dazzling in its own way and adds to the sense of dimension of your rosebud art piece.

Play with the directions you lay your buds in...

Leave enough tying medium, string or whatever you're using, so that you can wrap it onto the item right after you thread the strand. The less you initially touch the buds while mounting them, the more chance you have of making a tough object that will not disintegrate as it hangs. Once your garland has had a chance to dry, those petals won't fall off, but being squeezed at the fresh stage will trigger them to drop the petals in the bud, so be gentle!

They sell well at yard sales, farmer's markets, boot sales, craft sales. They are what I like to call, the Canadian Lei, Aye?

'

The hangings can be dreamcatcherish if you would like.

Pick the buds in a sustainable way so that you are pruning the branch ends and always leave at least one bud on each branch tip so that the plant's energy can go into producing that flower for our pollinators. Pruning buds judiciously ensures the rose bushes keep producing buds and its a win win all around.

I found a long needle that I use for most of my rosebud projects.

Tutorial's coming in the next year... How can you translate the gentle art of rosebud crafting to work in your community?

Please check me out on Facebook by clicking on www.facebook.com/sistahoodz and www.facebook.com/somethingoutofnothing123 for more wonderfulness in the vein of upcycling and creating beauty. Form meets function! Ex Nihilio!

From the bright mind of the Sourceress herself, Chris B (for Budeweit) Critter... Feel free to pin us to your pinterest interests!

The Mojo Ryzon Bruddahood

 A Great Big Ryzon Awesome Sauce Smoocheroony!

Ryzon's Mojo Bruddahood

The Mojo Ryzon Bruddahood
An Adventure Shenaniganhood Creation 
March 2013

When I was approached by someone from my old stomping grounds of Nanaimo, I was thrilled to be designing the perfect adventure garment for a young lad with a uniquely inquisitive streak.


Ryzon's homeschooling mom, De, responded to his wish for a unique, upcycled sweater after seeing what I magicked up out of recycled knits. Before I knew it, I was in a whirlwind of blue/black/ yellow / red sweater bustle.

Relaxing into my project, the components appeared at my fingertips as if by magic. I puttered into a few wee hours. The hood had to be as long as Ryzon was tall. His mom said that it will help her see how much he's grown. Two pockets for chilly mornings and damp treasures had to have a little bling too. There's a red streak down the front that mimics the red tie of the 'power suit' and this is my translation of Ryzon's power-with his world, instead of a patriarchal power-over sense of entitlement. As he transitions into his manhood, the cables that flow on either side of the front, emulate the wisdom wreathing eternally around everything for eyes open enough to see it.

These seams ruffled as I put the coat together and that was the icing on the cake, giving Ryzon's coat an almost organic feel. Mom says that he is very tactile so I took care to have lovely textures next to his face, hands and busy fingers.

A little felted pocket with Ryzon's name stylized on it found its home on the sweater's shoulder for a super secret treasure that I try to work into every piece I ship out. A few weeks previously, I'd found a 1929 Canadian nickel in my change. I'd looked it up, seeing that it was older than my mom, and found that the collectors valued it from anywhere between $3 to $42.00 depending on its condition. I had a cool 10 year old boy once, and basing my suspicions on my previous experience with my son Daniel, I had a funny feeling that he would enjoy finding this little historical token. I tucked the nickel into a little sweater pouch, snug down into the Ryzon heart.

Later, there was a report that Ryzon's response was a quizzical 'How did she know?'

I'm hoping that when Ryzon reads this, he will leave a few words in the comments. I also hope that he will learn that the hood has other qualities. It's a tube, so treasures can be tucked up from the bottom till there is enough room to knot the end, keeping things safe. As well, if you just knot the hood halfway up, this becomes a backbag now, capable of a short term carrying of a snack/book/cellphone/ water bottle or other assorted young lad adventure treasure.

Wear it and be rough with it. Drag it on the ground and use it as a pillow or blanket. Get it dirty, throw it in the wash in a pillowcase and let it dry naturally, just draped somewhere. It's meant to be given the full outback treatment, but do be careful around blackberries and other prickle bushes as snagage is impossible to avoid. It's not pretty. :P Clip threads as they become apparent and bring back to the Sourceress when the sleeves need to be lengthened in the fall.

Mojo Ryzon is a great spring upcycled sweater destined for big adventures and lots of positive magic, all Ryzon needs as he explores the world that unfolds all around him. Sistahoodz for da brudda, Shenaniganstyle in 2013.

Thanks for the terrific experience, Brudda Ryzon!

♥ GOOD EFFIN NEWS ♥

Sistas on the Facebook Sistahoodz page reflect and radiate the kind of world they want to see. This is quite important as there are a lot of people running around these days yelling how the sky is falling, but they don't have constructive suggestions on what to do about it. I'm all about the role modelling and I'm all about the 'if you do what you already done, you get what you already got' so at the risk of mixing my metaphors, I don't want to be another negative Nelly, adding to the klaxon call of doom that we put up with every day. I'm not about airy fairy, white light, blow smoke up your shorts, new age either. On the contrary, I see the world for what it is and I see clearer by the day what wise women's role will be in the coming times. 

We are midwives, sistas. We are here to assess the situation when surprised with a challenge, to be clear on how much we are prepared to invest ourselves, we ground ourselves, and then we teach tools for coping so that people in crisis can have a chance to shift their trajectory. We midwife them through the coming changes.

Having said this, I wanted to explain why my sign for 1 Billion Rising didn't have some horrid statistic on it. I saw a lot of signs on Thursday, 1,000's of women murdered, raped, abused, 100's of thousands, mollifying statistics... every 7 seconds... it was horrifying. To a PTSD survivor, it was also triggering, and thank Goddess, I have developed some coping skills of my own. I decided to pass them on too. I anticipated the plethora of violent pornographic graffiti on those signs, it wasn't my first women's rally... and how did I counter it? 

By being the rose among the thorns.

How many decades have women held signs bemoaning their miserable lot? What good has it done? It informs but who really reads those signs? The middle school kids? They're just formulating their lives and trying to make sense of the world around them, perhaps a few of them might take the mortality of women into consideration, as their mothers, sisters, aunts, friends but to the rest of us who have experienced this... those signs are powerful reminders of what we've already put up with.

My sign said 'Free Hugs'

1 Billion Rising to me means Rise and Hug. We know the bad news. Let's counter it with some good news. Free Hugs. 

I was hugged by babies and elderly suffragettes from the good old days, by hordes of school age children all in a puppy tumble, and by sobbing women who felt like they'd been broken open in public. I was hugged by hundreds of people. I took in all the energy of all their good hearts and I buzzed on that all day. I could have made a sign that was another representation of what women's inequality has done to our gender, but I just couldn't.

I wore my outrageous big Czarina coat and I stood like a big German mother goddess with my free hugs sign. I waited and people filled my arms. 

I am part of the solution I told them. 'If you can read it', I said, pointing to the sign, 'You need it'. And they came and brought their friends.

I so appreciate the efforts of the women who put the event together, the women who participated by rehearsing for a month in advance, and for all the people who turned out. I appreciate the signs I saw, triggering, for sure, but it was expected and I had my armour and my solution.

I am a midwife for the coming changes and Susan Ayres, Lillian Sly, the midwives who helped me birth my daughter Grace, taught me well. That birth was a metaphor for what I see happening now and I will role model what I learned. Be loving. Be generous. Be genuine. Be a part of the Good News. Be someone who shows the way to do things so that new coping skills take the place of what's no longer working.

Free Hugs.

I am wearing that sign all summer.

Come get one.

~Sourceress Christina

p.s. If you were at the Saltspring Island 1 Billion Rising event with a camera on Valentine's Day and got a photo of me that is interesting, I would love to post it here with full credit. Thanks to Jen Maclellan for her awesome shots of the Sourceress at play... Also to www.kyleheebphotography.ca  for the big pic of the sign with me waiting for my hugs to start, muchas gracias!

Witness the SSI contingent here: Your authoress is upper left at the 1:23 mark! Thanks BananaJssi! 

Listen and watch the 1 Billion Rising video to BREAK THE CHAIN here: We are beautiful creatures! 

www.facebook.com/sistahoodz is an online Facebook comoonity that gives the wise women who are the midwives of the present a safe, welcoming place to hold space, get inspired, have conversations and to find support, moral or otherwise. Come see what the cackling is all about.

The Donyahood - Forest Elf Version

This is the latest of my creations, a green forest themed elf length Sistahoodz coat that spins and flows and keeps the wearer magically cozy.

Designed to be a sweater that will shake up the corporate workspace, while depicting all things noncorporate, the hood will enable access to the car in a downpour, the pockets for coffee break cash and a cell phone... and when they blast the air conditioning in November for no known reason, it will offer protection from the insanity that comes from head office running things.

The coat is full for a buxom figure, with a cashmere button front and flowing bell sleeves that flare and ruffle without being pretentious.

Never let it be said that the owner is stuffy or boring. This coat is a stunning example of outspoken originality and hutzpah and warns oncomers that whoever dares don it, is full of beans...

Sistahoodz has a facebook page. Check it out.One way is to just click here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sistahoodz/307025545993610 Another way if you're telling a friend,  just put Sistahoodz Clothing in the FB search field... and you're there... like me for lots of fun counterculture goodies as well as updates about the latest outrageous birthing from the Deconfessional.

Send me a message if you're interested in initiating a custom project of your own with Sistahoodz! I love it when you do.

Sistahoodz Emerald City Coat/dress

 This gorgeous conglomeration of light knits combines greens of all hues and puts them together in a swinging coat that zips up, has great stretch, shows off the girls to their best advantage and is just a fun festival coat for those cool evenings before the dancing starts.

 The full hem allows for spinning that shows the coat to its best advantage.

 Enough spinning for now, the model (my daughter Grace) is getting dizzier than she usually gets...

 Hanging out with your pals or just chillin with a groovy tree, this is one sweet counter culture item that stretches as you do with lots of groovy give.

 Long and graceful sleeves dust the knuckles, the dress zips closed and also has a nice tie at the waist as well as at the cleavage.

 Not hard to be happy when you're framed by the lushest counterculture gear to be had. Upcycling is the way to go if you're not one of the Wallyworld sheeple.

 Grace suggests that bodacious tah tahs would love this coat, for their ability to be showcased so luxuriously.

 This one of a kind bit of Sistahoodz luv is still available and is on sale for $250 which includes shipping anywhere in Canada or the US. Please venture over to Facebook and msg Christina Budeweit for our easy payment procedure.

Sistahoodz has a facebook page. Check it out.One way is to just click here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sistahoodz/307025545993610 Another way if you're telling a friend,  just put Sistahoodz Clothing in the FB search field... and you're there... like me for lots of fun counterculture goodies as well as updates about the latest outrageous birthing from the Deconfessional.

Send me a message if you're interested in initiating a custom project of your own with Sistahoodz! I love it when you do.