I have a confession to make: Sewing makes me bitchy
My latest project:
Machine sewn, cloth pancake doll made from scrap cotton fabric and embellished with hand drawn permanent ink.
So I took a huge detour beginning yesterday and decided to do some sewing. This isn’t completely unheard of for me. Once in a while I get the creative urge as I have a sporadic fascination with seeing the people I draw become “real” in the third dimension.
Whenever I begin a sewing project, it never starts with a pattern. It always begins with a pair of scissors , pencil and tracing paper in the spirit of someone who sets out to take a shortcut through a subdivision without first consulting a map… And so I work away, cursing and wishing if only I could be happy purchasing a pattern and following directions.
Ah, but you see, then it wouldn’t be one of my own creations… so I press on until I have sweated out a satisfactory conclusion even if my family wonders who the Medusa is that’s taken over the drafting table in the front room.
Alice, who was sewn on my old Singer 513 sewing machine, is the first doll I’ve made in a few years…
Five years ago:
Iris Monohan
Hand sewn, cloth pancake doll made from scrap wool and cotton fabric, embroidery thread, Fimo and acrylic paint.
Five years ago, I made Iris Monohan. Unlike Alice O’Grady, Iris is entirely hand sewn. She was a project I worked on over the course of several evenings and although she took much longer, sewing by hand was far more relaxing. Her eye, mouth, hands and boots were sculpted in Fimo and then painted.
Judging from Iris’ over all visual effect, one would have thought she’d be the most angst producing.
My daughter was very partial to Iris and insisted on taking her to school in her second grade for show and tell… I dearly hoped Iris didn’t spawn nightmares for some of her classmates.
Aftermath:
Work Area
Me sewing is a messy, explosive business. However, after taking this photo, the table was cleared and is now ready for regular drawing activities to recommence.
Tags: cloth doll, doll, pancake doll, sewing
April 23rd, 2009 at 8:02 am
[...] is prototype number 2 in my pancake doll project. The first was Alice O’Grady. Harold is the father in The Widemans vs the Narrowsmiths (link this) story that I drew three [...]