Let Crafty Crafty take you back. Way back to a time when craft was queen and kids were hip. The Crafty Crafty team is proud to present our newest member, taking you on a transcontinental craft trip from our lovely London to New York (or as we like to call it The Big Handmade Apple) with a passion for all things vintage.
Ellen Lindner, our New York craft correspondent joins the Crafty Crafty crew. Bringing vintage, comics and quilts galore with her. She leaves for the city that never stops crafting tomorrow but I managed to catch up with her before the big move.
Name: Ellen Lindner
Craft alias: The Yankee Snipper
City: Somewhere between London, England, and New York, New York.
Website: www.littlewhitebird.com
Crafty Kung Fu master of: A bit of everything. I love sewing, quilting, knitting, even darning...I guess comic book illustration is the craft I've spent the most time on, though.
Theme tune: Like a Prayer, Madonna.
Little known fact: I'm a total Francophile. But I'm so un-chic, no one knows!
Describe yourself in one sentence:
Vintage FREAK: I love wearing, making, sewing, crafting vintage.
(Crafty Ellen fact: Ellen is one of the editors of transatlantic comics anthology The Strumpet and a rerelease of her retro-cool graphic novel Undertow is out in January. She's also immortalised many people in ink from Archduke Franz Ferdinand to Cheryl Cole to Ugly Betty)
Left: The fabulous new cover of Ellen's graphic novel, Undertow.
Earliest craft memory or first thing you made?
I remember reading my mom's old 1960s knitting books, and wondering what a 'dickey' was.
Proudest craft moment?
The wedding quilt I made for my friends Matt and Christian. I collected fabric from all of their friends, and some of my friends, too, and I pieced a charm quilt for them.
There are some funny pictures floating around of my mom and husband helping me finish it. It was a really fun project, and I'm very proud of the finished result.
Below: The famous quilt in all its glory
Most shameful craft fail?
Ha ha, I was once almost hired to make a massive tea cosy to fit on top of a truck. This did not happen.
Three craft heroes and why?
The quilters of Gee's Bend (a historic quilting collective in an American small town), good 'ol Elizabeth 'Use Your Brain While Knitting' Zimmerman, and Ellen Harding Baker, who in 1876 created a quilted map of the solar system to use as a teaching aid. Smart AND crafty.
Current craft project?
My current craft projects are all in limbo because of a transatlantic move. But I am working on a quilt for our new house...it is full of all the fabrics I've accumulated over the last eight years in London, plus stuff from New York, Amsterdam, India...all over. I'm excited to get started on it once more when I'm more settled.
Dream celebrity to craft for and what would you craft? I'd love to make a scarf for Jarvis Cocker.
Craft skills you'd like to learn:
My very occasional work as a film extra has given me the taste for a quality vintage 'do. If I could give myself a good Victory roll, I'd be in heaven.
(Extra Ellen fact: In her extra-ing career Ellen strutted her retro stuff in the recent Captain America film and Bill Murray bought her a doughnut on the set of a yet-to-be released Hyde Park on Hudson)
Above: Ugly Betty is graced with Ellen's comic styling
Craft weapon of choice if zombie apocalypse happens:
Zombies seem to like to congregate under windows, and - coincidentally - I keep my handcrank Singer sewing machine near the window. 'Twould be a pity to shove it on top of a zombie, but if I have to...I will sacrifice the Singer to annihilate the undead.
Anything to add?
Nope...may the craft be with you!
Left: Part of Ellen's Foodie Detective Investigates Bubble Tea for the wonderful Ink + Paper magazine
Ellen's first addition to the Crafty Crafty patchwork will appear tomorrow. Welcome to the crew, scissor-wielding superstar!
You can see more of Ellen's comics and craft over at Little White Bird, follow her blog, grab yourself a copy of The Strumpet, and stalk her on Twitter @ellenlindna and Flickr.
[Images via Ellen Lindner]
