I am going to work on a few fellas before I move on to something else. The first to get finished is this Green Man with an awesome boar hunt toile.
Some face close-ups-
He has foliage and some country house bits on his arms.
Yeah, lots and lots of foliage and branches everywhere!
This is the last merman for now. It has been a big relief to finish some pieces!
Silvery eyes and seaweed hair.
There are 3 of these mermen available and I will be putting them into my etsy shop today.
I am having fun trying out all these different color combinations.
His hair is a dark purple-red cross-hatch. And he has grey-green eyes.
Most of the decorative kanji on his arms runs down along the sides.
He has a fish button- I have had this button forever, like maybe 40 years! I have finally found the perfect use for it.
It’s the same fabric as the Green Merman but this time the fabric is over-dyed blue.
A glass fish bead on his belt.
More African wax print fabric for his tail. His beard fabric looks bubbly to me.
It might not be obvious but the side fins are a dark red-purple.
I am really excited about working with this African wax print fabric. I need to learn more about it. This piece (which was gifted to me) has a slightly shiny surface, even after washing. I will be keeping my eye out for other patterns that would work with my designs.
I REALLY struggled with his hair. I tried out 3 other colors/patterns before settling on this orange-peachy color. And when I say tried, I mean I cut out the hair and beard, sewed up the beard, pinned it all on his head… then decided I didn’t like it! And his hair style-
I wanted to do something with 2 “braids” but it took a lot of fiddling. Of course that is always the way when figuring out something new.
This merman fellow is more blue-green than his friend yesterday. He has stormy sea green eyes.
More ships and a button that looks like sea glass. A port scene on his back and an embroidered rick rack belt.
OMG- I finished something! It is such a relief to finally have something done!
He has lots of sails and ropes and smoke because A BATTLE!
Little variegated embroidered stitches and a star button.
Different watery and fishy fabrics.
Well, I got frustrated with the ornaments and not finishing anything and not enough time sewing and too much computer work and the state of the world… so, I’m taking a break on the ornament patterns. It’ll get done eventually but I need to be in a better/different head space.
Summer seems like the perfect time to make Mermen. I had body parts dyed so I’ve spent this last week putting them together. First, I pulled out a BIG pile of possible Merman colors and prints. Yeah, that’s not the half of it!
Sewing up some fins.
Also- OMG I got my scissors sharpened today- Bliss!!!
The fins, sewed and turned.
A little bit of stuffing before I top-stitch. Everything is organized in zip-lock bags.
All the fins finished.
Then, a Merman sandwich. All pinned up and ready to sew the tail side seams.
A pile, all sewed up. Now is time to clip the seams and turn right side out. I love that part!
And, tada! All the machine sewing is finished and now they are ready to be brought to life. I am really excited about the African wax print textiles I came into recently. As always I am very excited to find out who they will turn out to be.
Here is a pic from my desk- all the thread colors piling up as I was sewing.
Yes, I am all over the place these days. It has been rough . I hope I can get back to posting more because that’ll mean I’m making more so fingers crossed.
Sheesh, I had to put something up since it’s been a month of no posts. What have I been doing? Well, not too terribly much. I’ve been working in the garden quite a bit. Besides that though, nothing that has added up to much. I am working on making patterns for ornaments/little felt creatures. I decided to start with the ornaments I designed for West Elm back at least 5 years ago now? I thought that would be an easy place to start- silly me! Everything takes forever these days. Anyway, this is what I’ve been working on-
I’ve been playing with sizes and adjusting patterns pieces. Slowly I will get them done… There is a boy and girl fox, a boy and girl raccoon, a lady squirrel, a moose fellow, and a bear fellow.
As always, I have been a little more active on Instagram but it has mostly been pics of my garden. I hope you all are stay healthy, safe, and sane.