Eliza Pratt – Push/Pull part 1

Process:

For my first time using a sewing machine, I was pleasantly surprised by how my forms came out! It took me several hours at first to figure out how sew a sphere, but starting from such an amateur level left a lot of room for improvement. I did end up getting frustrated with my initial shape and material choices, so I put them away and attempted a simpler muslin cube before getting more complex. Because of this, I think there’s definitely a progression of craft and execution from my first shape to my third. I do wish I had more time to work on these, as I think I could have pushed myself a lot further once I started to understand patterning and using the machine. There are still a lot of techniques that I’ve yet to try out, like darting and sewing holes.

While the whole process was full of discoveries for me, I think the biggest was how much I love fleece. I love how it comes together (and hides my seam lines) and the opportunities for color and fabric combinations. I also have a lot of experience with needle felting, and think this could make for some exciting mixed media!

Shape one:
For this first shape, I tried to go simpler and sewed almost the whole cube before I decided to add the tentacles. If I had more time with it, I think I would’ve added more across more of the cube faces.

  

Shape two:
For the second form, I returned to the sphere I had originally attempted and had the idea to pull apart the two halves. When I started stuffing, I became aware that we wouldn’t have enough for the whole class and became reluctant to stuff it fully (it’s quite large). Instead, I pushed the poly-fil to either end and took in the middle section with ladder stitches and attempted baffling with “button” (I’m not actually sure what it is).

Shape three:
For my final shape, I tessellated a cone pattern with small pieces of felt and sewed them all together.