A little bit ago I got a wild hair to make a few items and decorate them with fabric paints. This was in between spring and summer sessions and I guess summer (which for me means camping trips) was certainly on my mind.
By mixing acrylic paint and textile medium (which you can buy at the craft store) I created a palette of colors to apply to fabrics both through freezer paper stencils I made myself and with more painterly techniques.
In addition to a couple of shirts, I had a few ideas in mind for art pouches and planned to paint on fabric before sewing anything together (which turned out to be a great idea and much less problematic than the alternative). I made 3 “Beach Please” bags, one for myself, one for my mother-in-law (who lives at the beach), and one for my sister-in-law (which I somehow forgot to photograph).
My hubby felt a little left out in all this making and requested a pencil pouch of his own – but a “manly” one. As an engineering student he has a lot of special pencils, pens, and accessories (including a giant graphing calculator – not pictured) so I planned out a pouch with a pocket for the later. His pouch is the one on the right below – he picked the fabric so I assume that means this vintage pattern is “manly”. I also made myself a cat-themed bag for my planner stuffs – one can never have too many pouches as an artist and teacher.
Unfortunately, my sewing machine bit the dust on the next project as I began to alter some of my clothing (a necessity after losing 50 lbs this last year) and now I’m feeling withdrawal symptoms. I miss my sewing machine! I generally save a lot of mending and making for breaks because it takes a lot of time and focus but is also relaxing. I think a new machine is in the plans though so I’m hopeful that the itch will be relieved soon.
Until then, there are other fun things to occupy my time. 🙂
Cry The Bird 