Outcome

Sample Book

1st Sampler -- Hand Sewing: Practicing Basic Stitches

• Running Stitch
  
• Smaller Running Stitch
  
• Back Stitch
  
• Whip Stitch
  
• Appliqué of yellow heart with Running and Whip Stitches 

2nd Sampler -- Machine Sewing: Practicing straight Lines

3rd Sampler -- Machine Sewing: Practicing continuous straight lines

4th Sampler -- Machine Sewing: Practicing continuous curved lines

5th Sampler -- Machine Sewing: 9 Square Sampler with Star in the middle! 

• To practice sewing parts together and more straight lines. Was undecided about adding an Appliqué yellow star on top...

6th Sampler -- Soft Circuits: LED Flower

• The electrical thread makes up the stem and leaves of the flower, with a thicker, black thread to make up the petals and details on the leaves. Thought the LED would turn yellow, but white is a nice contrast. If I had more time I would possibly fill in the background embroidery style. 
  

7th Sampler -- Crocheting

• Made a hat-like object that fits my finger, and an amorphous piece as well. The thread had a nice silver/gold hint, which attracted me to it, but maybe it would've helped to start off with a bigger thread. 
  

8th Sampler -- Felting

• Made a "3" with purple and white. They did not seem to "fuse" together, rather the purple sits on top so it seems there are two layers. 
  

9th Sampler: Laser Cutting

• Made a couple Scotty Dog motifs!
  

10th Sampler -- Forming Shapes: Front & Back

11th Sampler -- Digital Cutting Plotter Iron-On Sampler

• A picture of Snoopy and Woodstock riding a Vespa! The top part of Snoopy's helmet cut off :( but now it looks like a buzz cut :)
  

Intention

My intentions in taking this class were to re-familiarize myself with a few skills I already had (hand sewing and knitting), and to learn new skills and to be able to apply them to make a project I could find useful and creative.  

I love being able to put my creative side to the test, and I think I was able to express it adequately through my samplers. :)

Process

My approaches to my projects were to create a simplistic, aesthetically pleasing  samplers that would showcase my progress and skills. I tried to come up with symbols or motifs that I liked, such as nature (flowers and stars), cartoons (Scotty Dog, Snoopy, and Woodstock), or other ("3", and a Vespa)... things that I thought best represented me in some way. 

Challenges included getting everything right, being able to get it done on time (due to the above issue), and trying to find the best material for the job. In the end though, everything worked great!

Reflection

I was really glad I took this course, as it served as a refresher for some things I had learned previously (hand sewing and knitting), but also introduced me to a whole world of things I found out that you could do with textiles (had no idea that electronics could be implemented with fabric, and only knew about 1% of the history of the techniques of sewing!). 

I learned that fabrics are always evolving and that soft fabrication is a very dynamic area, which is very exciting, since new technologies can be implemented (something I didn't give a thought to)! I enjoyed everything I made; however if I were to change anything I would try to do a bigger project implementing everything I learned, or explore an area that was talked about in lecture but not covered with a sampler demo.