Anatomy of a Project

Paper presentation turned into a gift bag.

How does a project start? It's starts with a dream, our perceived wants and desires, a need to make things better. The Enderby & District Arts Council wanted new table banners with their logo and a new splashy design. For my presentation I cut a large piece of paper from my pattern making roll to the size of the table banners, and sketched in a design with colored pencil, an estimate was written up. After the presentation it was rolled up and tucked into a safe place in my attic workshop. Would I get the project? You know how it goes, it all must fit, time passes and finally yes the call comes, let's go shopping for the fabric! 

Karen Desimone was the project coordinator and had specific ideas as to what should be painted on the banners. Karen is a water color artist and her ideas were on small pieces of water color paper with water color paint. Could I expand  her water color designs and turn them into banners on fabric with fabric paint, two very different mediums. Luckily I love watercolors as much as I love fabric painting and understand how the paints work. Next step pull out the presentation and using the other end I sketched out Karen's design to fit the fabric. Next drawing and cutting the many stencils, I keep all the pieces that are cut out, you never know how they many be of use. After the stencils are cut I get to play with the paints and fabric. Karen came over to see the finished sample which I stenciled twice, she loved it. I had to explain, it isn't the real thing this is just a sample. I was happy knowing it was going to work out. 

The three table banners were painted and sewn, each one with it's own character and colors. After all that work the banners needed a storage bag. A friend had just given me a bag of fabric samples from a furniture store and I have been using them. Cutting in half a long fabric tube I glued on the EDAC logo and instructions as to how to roll the banners onto the tube, all rolled up they fit nicely into the bag. At some point I looked at the sample painting and thought it would make a great bag. 

Karen would soon be leaving EDAC as a director, she spent many years working hard to bring art to our community. I felt the bag should be hers as a reminder of what she has done. I look forward to doing another project together. The sample was rather large at 32" by 27", as our friend Virginia Halper  pointed out you could get a large painting in a bag that size. From the sample I created a bag that could be folded and zipped  from the large size into a bag with five pockets a quarter the size of the big bag, a versatile bag for art projects. 

How it would work was a challenge, challenge should have been my middle name. I seem to have a knack for finding them. My grandmother had many sayings, one of them was "Waste not want not." I wasted very little with this project. The paper I used for the presentation was folded into a gift bag to hold the teddy bear for one of the grand nieces. She carried the bag all around the house and slept with the teddy bear. Now I can relax before starting in on my next project which is patiently waiting in the attic workshop.

One of three painted table banners.

Ready to be hemmed, it looks good hanging over the table.

Karen Desimone's design, the new design on the pamphlets and the many stencils it took to paint the table banners. 

The storage bag to keep the banners safe and keep them from being folded, no creases for these banners.

Thanks for the fabric samples, Karen's new bag all folded and zipped.

The two Karen's with the bag from the sample opened to it's full size. As you can see this can hold a large art piece or fold and zip and it holds many small pieces.