Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Altered Sweatshirt...Day 3

Filling in the second half of the front of the sweatshirt and adding some more detail is starting to pull it all together for me.

I don't want the look to be "folksy" but I'm not going for an "artsy" effect either. Really I am just responding to the fall season...and the great leaves and flowers that are still among us.

Dahlias! They put on such a great show in October around here, a flaming good-bye to summer right up until frost. These grow along a protected side of my house where they get lots of afternoon sun...I may have them into November. I hope so!


This sweatshirt front is getting there...the felting on the back is pretty wild and will be my next focus.

If you click on the picture above, you can see the bead-like knots I made at the base of each spiral.

I used a fat needle and some wide rayon ribbon that my friend Freda Butler sent to me.

So if you don't have the right size and color of bead that you want, you can make a pretty good substitute!

The sweatshirt has a boxy fit that I am not crazy about (and which my sister said I should never wear...sisters know these things better than we do.) I'm going to play with making some alterations to the fit after the embellishment is done....

10 comments :

Anonymous said...

This is coming along nicely. Did you start with a plan or are you making it up as you go along? either way it is working well.

Heaven said...

Thanks so much for posting all of your projects, I love to watch the progress.

Possibilities, Etc. said...

This is certainly wild and wonderful! Can't wait for pictures of you wearing it - from all angles.

Susan Elliott said...

Those dahlias!!! Looking forward to seeing how you adjust the boxy sweatshirt -- I have the same problem with mine.

Debra Dixon said...

My take on the whole sweatshirt remake idea is that you would have been better off starting from scratch and doing it right the first time. That's the lesson I learned last year with mine and I also decided that the amount of work was more worthy than sweatshirt fabric. But, it was fun and we only know when we can learn for ourselves.

Anonymous said...

Looks like you are having way too much fun there! The colors of your felt are glorious. Don't you just love it when the piece takes on a life of its own.

Summerset said...

Wow, those dahlias are something. I do have a art garment idea based on those, too. It's in my list of garments to make. Some shaping would really make your sweatshirt, less boxy and much more worthy of the beauty you're putting on it. You can always baste in any changes before you commit!

tamdoll said...

I love the hand stitching along the petals.

Judy S. said...

You've been pretty busy these past ten days, Allie! We just got back from Chicago where it was starting to get kinda chilly but I thought of you when we visited the botanical gardens there...never have I seen such beautiful chrysanthemums....somehow they even got them to work on a trellis!Love the finished peace sign, and the sweatshirt looks great!

Susan said...

You are just always on a different kind of project! This is looking beautiful. It doesn't matter if the style is right for you. Everyone will be looking at the beautiful embellishments and never even notice!