Mixed Media Apron

Editors Note:  The Rose Dyeing reveal scheduled for today will actually be posted tomorrow (hopefully) as I cannot find the fabric to photograph now that I have neatly arranged everything in my studio!  See this post.

The Utah Surface Design Group is hosting an art show next month at The Michael Berry Gallery in downtown Salt Lake.   I am new to the group and am a little hesitant about entering anything into the show until the group announced that they would also have an Apron exhibit.  Certainly I could make an apron to show.  I debated whether to go traditional or all out quilted or mixed media.  I pondered and debated what I would do for two months and then suddenly the apron was due in two days!  It was time to get to work!

I finally decided to go mixed media.  The apron would not be useable but instead be a piece of art.  I started by creating my fabric from the pages of a couple of old cookbooks I picked up at a local thrift store.  The pages seemed a bit plain so I put some of the cookbook pages through the laser printer.  I printed images on them I had acquired through The Graphics Fairy.  I LOVE the images she posts and they are all copyright free so I can use them without a worry.
 I then painted a wash over the top of the images (which is actually difficult to see in the photo below but it's a light purply pink) and then I proceeded to draw flowers and vines on top. 
A little paint was added to the flowers and vines.

 And then I had a completed piece of "fabric".
 Once the fabric was made it was time to make the apron.    
 (oops - forgot to flip that photo - you can turn your head sideways right?)
 I enveloped each piece with a cotton fabric and batting before quilting the 3 individual pieces and putting the apron all together.  (Piece on left is quilted yet as I contemplated not quilting the entire piece - I decided that was a bad idea and quilted everything.)
I added a fabric waistband and painted it a bit to blend in with the apron.  I was pleased with the results and it received some very nice reviews at the USDG as well.
A close up of one of the five or six images I printed out from

My apron, along with a number of other aprons, and a lot of great art work from the group will be on display (and for sale) from April 20th thru June 8th.

Comments

JBW said…
Lisa I LOVE it! It's beautiful and unique.

Popular posts from this blog

Gelli Plate Tutorial with Leaves

Autumn is for the Birds

Give Away Day