Thursday 28 February 2013

the sophies - from photo, to print gocco, to machine embroidery


As well as a real, live, kicking and screaming Sophie, we have many other Sophies around the house, courtesy of my Print Gocco.  This is a home screen printing kit for smaller print runs.  I bought it a few years ago as eventually we'd like to produce transfers on it to put on to Joe's pots.  The pots, unfortunately, as still non-existent as we wait for a break in our budget to purchase a small electric kiln -  one day!  In the meantime, I've used the screens to print fabric for cushions, dinosaur softies... and Sophies!
This picture - a rare, still moment of my girl over four years ago - was traced over, then photocopied on to paper using a laser printer.  This contains carbon, which you need to produce the Print Gocco screen.
As you'll notice, this Sophie's pointing in the other direction to the original photo.  I must have had the screen upside down when I did this one!  Yesterday, to get the outline for my machine embroidery, I stuck this to the window...
...  then traced it on to a piece of recycled white linen (thanks for your old trousers mum!)...
... made an outline in black then slowly, but surely, worked the sewing machine to embroider the detail.  Much of this was done by winding the machine on by hand, as some of the details were so small.  I wondered whether it would have been quicker to just sew the whole thing by hand, but I've been wanting to do something like this on my sewing machine (Bernina Activa 220) for a long time.  I then sewed on the bias - very wonky, but lovingly handmade.

I stuck it up on Sophie's wall, but I don't consider it finished yet.  I would like to keep going with a cushion top perhaps, or something else.  I had to stop yesterday to do the school run (or walk, as we do!), so it was a swift tidy up.  It was such a lovely afternoon though - some self-imposed creativity to have a break from the list of 100 million things to do!

PS Walking in to Sophie's room this morning, I found this piece upside down - she knows it's not facing the right way, but hasn't worked out the image is reversed rather facing up rather than down...  I will have to explain it when she gets home!

2 comments:

  1. A lovely explanation and end result. Clever Sophie to realise it was the wrong way round and fixed it in her mind! Two clever girls! Love Mrs A

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    1. Glad it's clear now!! I've explained the reverse vs upside down to Soph and she seems to have left it alone now!

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