Towards the end of last year, I set up my sewing machine station. It was a very small table space. In fact, the sewing machine’s butt hung off the table. It is not the ultimate sewing station, but it was dedicated all to sewing and that was perfect enough. I believed setting up a small place just to sew would help me to finally make a set of hand painted kitchen towels I dreamt for a (embarrassingly) long time, which was part of my top five 2013 resolutions. I even put a small pot of plant and taped my mock-up kitchen towel pieces on the wall. I was motivated and ready to go.

One of several spreads of flag sketches
Lots of pinning for sewing curves

The truth is I managed to sew up just one and a half kitchen towels before I got distracted. I don’t know how and why, but I became obsessed with flags. I was looking at old vintage flags and nautical flags. I thought it’d be nice if everyone has his own flag to represent his home. I filled several spreads of my sketchbook with variations of bold minimalistic shapes. After selecting six designs, each went through a process of creating a pattern, cutting the fabric, hand-dyeing individual pieces and sewing them together.

All this may sound like I’m an expert at sewing, but I must confess that I don’t sew frequently or closer to never. I only know the basics of sewing machine, which I picked up from my dad when I was young. I’d love to learn it properly one day from a grandma who can sew up a storm. But that day hasn’t arrived yet, so I had to improvise every step of the way from making a pattern to pinning to sewing. Through it all, I got pretty good at sewing the curves ; ) It might not be the right way or the easiest way, but I have a way.

Only few trimmings left to do, I got occupied with other things and left them hanging for several weeks. And why is it always so difficult to go back to your old projects! But finally yesterday, I got back on my sewing machine and finished the last few trimmings needed to finish the project.

So here are the finished flags.

You might ask what I would do with them now. Well, I started the project without thinking about what I would do with them. I simply wanted to make them. Now that they are done, it’d be nice to show them. In few weeks, my boyfriend and I are joining forces to create a website to showcase our art pieces, including this project. But besides the web, I hope I could show them in a physical space. And ultimately, it’d be nice if they find permanent homes. If you got any other ideas, I’d love to hear! Please share them in the comment section.

Now that I’m done with the flags, I must go back to my kitchen towel. Hopefully this time, I won’t be distracted : )

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A little update (June 30, 2014)

The website, which showcases these flags and other art pieces, has arrived!
Come by and have a look: www.a-m-a-t-e-u-r-s.org
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