The Dressmaker Collage is Framed!

I am so pleased with how the entire final project turned out.

My Dad does nice woodworking don't you think?

My creative process is rather unorthodox.  At least I've never read or heard of anyone else that goes through my same process.  I  hardly ever have a finished product in mind.  My process goes like this:

I see an object that I want to put into fabric.  In this case it's a dressmaker form...and I want it to be paper pieced.  So I trace a form shape I like, then change it into a paper piecing pattern, then give it a test run with fabric and sewing machine.

Ah, I like how it turned out! Ok, so that's the end of the plan.  It gets laid aside with other project beginnings and I wait until it speaks to me or until I get inspired in some other way of what I'd like to do with it.  

In this case, I was looking through some ephemera and collage downloads I have purchased and came across the assorted measuring tapes and the sheet of advertisements.  I thought somehow I could work them into whatever it was going to be with the dressmakers form.  I printed them to fabric, cut some out, and started arranging them around the dress form. 

Then I started thinking about all the sewing notions I'm surrounded with that go back as far as my grandmother.  Now we're talking antiques!  And since everything else began looking aged, a collage of antique sewing emerged into this piece that was so fun to create.

I knew right away that I wanted to frame it.  My 84 year old father likes to dabble with wood.  I gave him the inside opening measurement, said not too ornate or busy design-wise because the collage was already very busy.  This is what he came up with and I think it works perfectly!

Crazy process, eh?  But it works for me and always has.  Lots of flickr contacts said to frame it in an antique frame.   But, Dad's frame means so much more to me...especially with the other small connections to my mother and grandmother within the collage.

Thanks so much for spending some of your day with me today!

Annie