self portrait - design I

i went back school last winter and took a design class...

not interior design, but design in general.

we covered topics including line, rhythm, repetition, etc.

our final project was a self portrait...

we could choose the materials, so of course i went right towards fabric and thread.

honestly i am a bit nervous to share this... totally out of my comfort zone, but here goes.

i took a picture of myself and then went to work of trying to decide how to best create this in fabric. 

this really was an exercise of trial and error.  i tried gridding it out at first and drawing on fabric with a water soluable pen.   the thought was to cover the face with 'flesh' colored fabric and then stitch on the features.

honestly, i thought i looked like michael jackson... my first attempts actually turned into a mask my youngest loved to wear around the house for a while.

 

after more trial and error, i eventually printed my picture onto stabilizer used for embroidery (the tear away kind that you use to embroider onto fabric) and then stitched directly onto the stabilizer.

yes, i know... i don't quite look like myself :)  had i realized, i would worked on my flesh color... maybe next time.  my kids reaction was that i look like Rosa Parks.

 i used scraps of fabric to create a mosaic shirt.  in the background i have random thoughts that were going through my head while i was creating this.

we had to enter one of our pieces from the class into the student art show towards the end of the semester and i chose this one.

i'm happy to say it won the design I category.  i received $100 for the loan of the self portrait to the school.  it was displayed along with the other winning pieces from the student show in the boardroom at the college for about 6 months.  i recently had it returned.

i am in design II this semester - so excited to learn about color theory :)

Back to school... in style!

Believe it or not, two of my kids go back to school next week! I've been promising to make my princess a messenger bag since sometime last year, so the time finally came this week. I couldn't find a pattern I absolutely loved, so i looked at some and then decided to forge ahead and come up with one of my own, with some influence from some I did like.



This is the end result.



It's is hard to see, but I put clear vinyl over the orange fabric on the sides. She usually puts a water bottle in the side pocket and I thought the vinyl would help protect the stuff in the middle of her bag.



This is the first time I tried these. Easy! I love them!



This is the embroidery she wanted.

She picked out the fabrics from my "stash". I LOVE Heather Bailey fabric!

The back...



The inside. Not great pics, but I think you get the idea...





I'll miss her!