Week 3-The Epic Journey to Hobby Lobby

            I, stupidly, braved this weeks winter storm to go home this past weekend.  On Saturday I went to Hobby Lobby in Muncie to get my needed supplies.  I ended up buying these 4 different prints of fabric, all of which happened to be on sale.  I realize they clash horribly and that the only consistency is the theme of green and blue but, as I've said before, I prefer a little chaos.  My friend Bri came with me to do the shopping, and happened to be in a terrible mood.  However, this ended up being to my benefit because she was brutally honest about my choices in fabric.  I had chosen a bright green instead of the circle/square print, but I was given a stern look and a, "that's ugly."  I'm actually glad she said something, because in retrospect...she was right.  It wouldn't have looked good at all.  

             Bri actually needed something from JoAnn Fabrics, which is about two doors down from Muncie's Hobby Lobby.  So we went there next and I purchased the ribbon and some bright green buttons (since there was going to be no bright green fabric involved).

              

           Saturday afternoon was extremely uneventful, so I decided to go ahead with the next step of making this purse--cutting quilt squares.  My mom had a quilt square (used to measure and mark different sizes of squares so they are uniform) which she allowed me to bring back to IU to use for the remainder of the project.  I chose a 2.5 x 2.5 square for the majority of the pieces of the bag.  However, I will use a 1.5 x 1.5 for some extra layered patches on top later on.  Scale wise, this seemed to be the best option for an oversized purse.   Being Superbowl Sunday, I knew I couldn't do my reading for Folklore during the game...so I decided to work on the purse.  I found myself relating to the Gelber article, where women did crafts to make something productive in an otherwise unproductive situation.  This is exactly what I was doing.  Instead of giving up and only watching the game, I crafted while I watched.  The rest of this week, my "now what," is monotonously cutting out all of the needed squares.  Below is a picture of one of the squares to get an idea of the size (compared to my hand).

Week 2-A Primary Drawing & The Supplies

            This week I decided to draw out a rough plan for what I plan on creating.  I used colored pencils in about 5 different shades of blues and greens, as well as "gold" for the metalwork.  You can see that there are some gold stitches connecting the patches in the close-up.  I plan on sewing them together with a traditional needle and thread.  However, I really like the idea of being able to see a dramatized stitch pattern of sorts.  For this I will probably buy gold ribbon and use a large needle to give the appearance that this ribbon, not thread, is keeping the patches together.  I also realized while putting this picture together that zippers in theory are easy to draw, but not so much in reality.  I actually had planned on drawing the interior of the purse in detail, but realized how strange the drawing looked and how far from reality it would be.  The difference in patch size would actually be a lot more noticeable than they appear in the drawing.  I even am considering layering patches for an "extra vintage-y" look.  A problem I ran into was that in my mind, the purse is much more attractive than my picture.  Is this a problem of planning, or an indication of my failure at properly drawing my idea?  We'll find out.  

               Not having a car in Bloomington, I'm looking for some way to get to Hobby Lobby.  I asked my roommate (who's from Bloomington) about the buses and she was spectacle.  I haven't been home in a couple weeks and, after a recent breakup with my boyfriend (who lives in my hometown), I am very hesitant to go home just to make a trip to the local Hobby Lobby there.  So for the next few days I'll be trying to track down a way to get to the store here in Bloomington, which is more difficult than it sounds.  I could walk, but the arm-load of bags would increase my chances of getting hit by a driver whom is annoyed with how slow I would be moving.  My "now what?" would be the journey to get the supplies necessary for the project.  Also, I think I'll try re-drawing a plan with silver metal instead of gold as I've always been more of a silver fan anyway.

               

            

Week 1-Me, My Craft History, And The Plan.

                   I'm a very crafty person in my spare time.  I can't say I've ever tried to sell anything I've made seriously, besides maybe some friendship bracelets when I was 13 or so.  I tend to really like scrap-booking, but I'm such a perfectionist a page in my book is a day-long project.  I do crafts as a distraction.  I do enjoy the colors and clean lines...the aesthetic details.  But I also enjoy knowing I'm creating something I have complete control over and can decide how it will ultimately turn out.  I was excited that this class requires us to endeavor on a craft project.  This way, I have a great excuse to spend my time working on a project instead of reading for another class (or at least have a great study-break activity).  At first, I thought maybe I'd learn how to crochet.  However, I already know how to knit...and, as a result, have my fair share of very questionable looking scarves I have made over the years.  I decided I didn't need anymore mediocre scarves or blankets.  

                    When I want to do something crafty, I never do research of any kind.  I get an idea and run with it without ever really referencing DIY books or someone I know, and improvise when needed.  Because there's really no referencing, I usually get an image of what I want to create in my head and guess at what I need to do it.  My ideas for crafts pop up randomly and are almost always very detailed from the get-go.  For this project, I think I'd really like to do an oversized purse to give to my mom.  She's quite the purse fiend and I've never made anything as useable as a purse before.  I know I want it to be composed of greens, blues, and gold, but from there I need to do more planning.  

                      For next week's post, I plan on sketching some ideas and uploading the various designs I come up with.  Keep posted and let me know which you end up liking the best!