My companion:

Process

I designed a simple body and chose muslin because it would serve as a clean base for my embroidery. I took a more organic approach to the design and let the pattern and flowers evolve as I went along instead of planning out an exact pattern ahead of time. I wanted to give the creature a more interesting, less formal personality–almost as if it has been loved by someone for a long time and its stitches have worn off.

The existing pattern I used for the head is from an aardvark design pattern:

I also weighted the figure with poly pellets to give it a sense of life and be comforting to hold. I filled the feet, belly, hands, and head so it feels like you’re holding something heavy and alive rather than a stuffed toy.

Biggest takeaway? Patterns exist for a reason! This was my first time using a pattern, and because I made my own design for the body and had to connect it to a preexisting pattern, the fabric didn’t line up well and I had to improvise.

I also wasn’t happy with my initial embroidery of the eyes, (I used black and red thread but it looked too harsh) so I backtracked and seam-ripped them out, opting for a rose color. This made tiny holes in the muslin where my needle had gone through, which interestingly looks similar to something I made in clay for another class:

The final creature is wobbly and imperfect, so I named it Wabi as a nod to Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese notion of embracing and honoring imperfection.

I used pink thread for the body’s stitching so that the seams weren’t hidden. The thread along the neck ended up looking like scars, which helped celebrate the seams. I also left some of the knots on the outside of the body.

For me, this project was about making mistakes and ultimately embracing them and the process as organic, beautiful, and human.

This project introduced what I hope to be a lifelong love of creating handmade objects and creatures.

I figured I could play around with the breed of dog and bird that I would combine for my companion, so I chose a Samoyed dog and a tropical bird with pretty colors. I chose these two in particular because I love how free-spirited and playful Samoyed dogs are, and I also miss being able to enjoy beautiful scenery, which is why I chose the tropical bird with vibrant colors. One of the choices I had to make was how to combine these two animals, and I thought it was a clear choice in the beginning: a dog’s head with a bird’s body, the dog’s two feet, and a dog’s tail. Unfortunately, this idea was a bit too difficult in execution, as the only materials I had to bring these animals to life were cutouts for a puppy, with no cutouts available for a bird.

In the end, I decided it’d be better to start on the project and at least try to see where I could take the bird’s attributes and bring them to life on a dog. The way I decided to do this as I was sewing together the dog’s ears, was by incorporating the bird’s colors in a more subtle way. I followed the colors of the dog’s ears, which were pink on the underside, and applied them to one half of the underside of the body, and then applied a light pastel blue to the other half. I then combined them to get a nice pastel purple for the soles of the dog’s feet and tail. By this point I had a full puppy and no other qualities that would distinguish it as a dog-bird. I ran out of white and eggshell-colored felt by the time I finished the head, so I needed to finish up the rest of the white body with muslin. This worked out well, though, because sewing through felt was very rough, especially since I was using a thicker needle and embroidery thread.

To really complete the look, the finishing touches I thought this puppy needed were wings. I improvised the cutouts for the wings and tried to make them resemble bird wings as closely as I could, but by the time I sewed them on, they looked a bit more like butterfly wings. Other improvisations I had to make were the black cutouts for the eyes. The original instructions for making a dog came with materials that included buttons for eyes, but since I didn’t have buttons one me and I thought felt would look cuter anyway, I cut out small black cutouts and used a satin stitch with white embroidery thread to create the whites of the eyes. Then I just used a very small needle to stitch the eyes onto the head. Interestingly enough, I got feedback from my classmates that my finished puppy-bird looked like a fairy dog, and this was completely unintentional, but with the pastel colors and the tiny wings, Otis definitely looks like a mystical creature who’ll be a loyal companion.

For this protector/ companion assignment, the first idea I thought of was combining the camel’s hump and fish’s body since they live in a completely different environment (desert and river). I made some rough sketches before getting into the actual thing, but I disliked how it looked with these two animals combined. The camels humps look similar to fish’s fins so it just looked like a regular fish. So what I ended up doing was making a hybrid of plankton, fish, and flamingo. These three combination makes a food chain: plankton-> fish -> flamingo. And I thought there is a fascinating relationship between them. They all have their own qualities and they eat each one another in order to survive. This hybrid would help all three of them to survive together and not harm each other. I kept the fish’s body (w/ tail fin), flamingo’s head and wings, and used the colorful beads to describe the plankton. The part where I connected the fish’s mouth to the flamingo’s head looks like the fish is swallowing the flamingo which is the opposite of the food chain. Throughout the process, I learned how to use right fabrics with different thickness/ smoothness to create different level of detail. I believe that the outcome is pretty successful because it doesn’t look very weird and looks like an animal that already exists.

I took five pairs of old jeans that no longer fit me and I was originally planning on throwing away.

I cut them up into smaller squares and creates four pieces of patchwork

I then traced the outline of another pair of jeans I had and created a template to make the new pair.

After trying them on I realized it fit too loose on the waistband. I then tried cutting and resewing this area. I ended up cutting too much off so I then added a dark blue patch on both sides.

I added switching across it, to make the transition smoother.

These are the final pair.

differing reasons

• fish is stuck in the tank, you have to make the effort to notice it, while dogs follow you around, and demand to be noticed.
• dog’s have more personality, meaning their behavior is noticeably unique to them
• dogs are cuter, in my opinion, than fish

The main difference that sticks out to me is the fact that my fish is limited to a space that is disconnected from the space I tend to take up. I decided to add the legs of a dog to the fish, in order to give it the mobility necessary to connect it more to its owner. My companion now has the ability to walk around and demand attention from its owner.

These were the templates I used. I decided to keep the companion small because it felt cuter and more true to the actual size of the size.

Color choices: The colors I wanted to use were yellow and blue because I liked how these looked next to each other. I also included a yellow-orange and dark blue to complement the primary color choices. I made the legs a different color to create a contrast between the parts that were fish and the parts that were dog.

I then realized I did not like the separation between the blues. So I then added stitching to soften this transition. This also began to resemble scales and added a nice texture to the simple fish.

This is the final walkable fish. I liked how it turned out and will probably add more detailing around the body.

For this project, I wanted to focus on two creatures (animals) that relate to me. The first is a cow, and the second is a whale — an animal used in the logo for a clothing brand that I really admire, vineyard vines. With limited fabric choices, I decided to create my project on muslin, add details by drawing on it — a theme that I have been working with all semester long.

1. 1. 1. Say hello
      2. Look Protector/Companions
      3. Closing

I made this creature using a polar bear body and a basic human face pattern. I wanted the body to look strong and have a presence, and the face to be simplistic. The body is made of muslin and the eyes are silver sequins. Creating this creature was easier than I expected. I suppose I’m not used to basically following an already made pattern rather than one I’ve created.

To me, this creature seems liminal, almost like a spirit. If it were real, you would only interact with it in passing. The flatness and simplicity of the face resemble a mask, but the body and face are the same material. This suggests that the face is a part of the body, and having such a simple face with no discernible emotion gives it an eerie quality. Throughout critique, I think there was a consensus that the animal looks off-putting. It was also said that it looks almost like a child, I think this could be attributed to the large wide-set eyes which often signals youth or “cutenesss”.

I think the way I photographed was also important to its reception. In my photos, I wanted to create the environment you would see this creature in. A place where it would blend in with its environment. I also took the photographs at an angle in order to make it look larger and more intimidating than in actuality. I think in real life it looks a bit goofier because the face is so small in comparison to the body.

By: Elise Delgado

My Protector companion, a hybrid elephant and lion, sours through nature with its powerful patchwork skin and exposed stitches. She has a mane that has the ability to lay flat when calm or pop up when excited or protective with a tail to match!

Process:

Since I wanted to create a companion that felt good to me, I looked for ways to combine animals that would not feel weird or uncomfortable. I had a hard time figuring this out until I thought of the other animal that is also fierce and full of power: the lion. The mane of the lion was very attractive to me as I love hair and movement. It gives a presence to my animal that is unique and tasteful. I chose to do a blanket stitch for the entire animal as it was very meditative to me and gave a particular aesthetic that I enjoyed. I chose the fabrics first within the same color range as a means to be bright and exciting as that is what I needed for my companion to be.

Successes:

I felt successful in the use of hand stitching and the exposure of them to create a “hand-done” look and feel to Elion. I also felt successful in combining the animals to make something look comprehensive and to my liking. I also think the various fabrics and embroidery floss colors used  added to the idea of the animal being pieced together yet unified.

Challenges:

I had challenges with the pattern and cutting fabric on the correct side for when it was sewn together. I had half the elephant backwards and had to recut pieces. Luckily, the elephant is made of up many different fabrics that it did not affect my design. I also had challenges with the legs as one is shorter than the others due to me making the stitch tighter unknowingly. As a solution, I will add cinches under the belly to pull the short leg back a bit and give Elion a sense of walking.