Push/Pull 1 – Kat Hua

I really enjoyed this project because I got to explore how you can manipulate fabrics with thread to transform into so many different types of shapes. Through pushing and pulling in addition to my choices of fabric color and patterns, I could create create effects that can create feelings of tension versus calmness. Because I am new to sewing, my object was more simple in the first one and became more complex as I moved on to the next ones.

Bō’s Ball

With my first object, I wanted to start of with something that could help me work on my sewing skills while also keeping things from being too complicated. So I decided to make a sphere made up of patchwork. I made the sphere from pentagons, and for each pentagon, I cut it into three parts so it could be made up of three different colors. I found myself having to sew together 36 triangle pieces together. It was challenging to make sure each of the pentagons ended up being equilateral. In the end, my sphere did not come out to be perfectly round, but I kind of like it that way because it makes it unique in itself. I was intending the sphere to be made up of triangles but when I put my two halves of the sphere together, the triangles ended up coming together to form diamond shapes instead. I chose a soft yellow, green, and purple color for this because I like how the pastel colors come together to create a very soothing calming effect. I also like how the the purple really make the yellow and green pop.

The Portal

For my next object, I made a cylinder with a hole through it. I liked the idea that with a hole the audience would feel an invitation push their hands into the shape and interact with it. This goes hand in hand with how I came to choose the colors for this object. On the outside, its a deep navy blue color – and is quite plain. However, when you get to the hole, you see a stark contrast of a white and more intricate wood pattern inside. It’s like it is a hidden world inside that you can only see if you go in. I began with 2 circles and a rectangle cutout to make the cylinder. I only attached one circle to the rectangle and then began working on make the hole in the middle, which essentially was another cylinder but without circle faces. Because I was working with circular round shapes, it was harder to be very accurate while sewing. I had to cut open the space between the edge of the fabric and the sewing line so that I could line up the sewing lines of the two pieces of fabric more accurately. Once I got one end of the middle tube piece sewn on, I sewed on the other cylinder face and hand sewed the middle tube through.

Gemini Cushion

For my last piece, I wanted to make a piece that gave off two different personalities. From one angle, you only see a silky white. From the opposite angle, you see a shiny, scaley, leather cheetah print. This piece was supposed to be a cube except that each face of the cube was replaced with a triangular pyramid. I cut out 12 triangles of the silky white fabric and 12 of the cheetah print fabric to make the baseless square pyramids. Once all the pyramids were sewn, I began connecting them with each other to make the cube with pyramid faces. Upon stuffing it however, I realized that the edges of the pyramids that were supposed to bend inwards wanted to push out when being stuffed. So to prevent them from pushing out, I sewed the corners together inside to pinch them inwards. Then, I pushed the center of the object together to create this zig zag shape you see below. From the side, it resembles a sort of crown shape, but from the top where the object is pulled inwards, it makes up a triangle.