Upon first reading this challenge, I immediately thought of my childhood hero, Martha Stewart. As a toddler, I would watch Martha Stewart for hours instead of cartoons. So, to pay homage to Mrs. Stewart, I made a W.W.M.D. (What Would Martha Do) tote bag.
I started off with a photo of Martha, tweaked it on paint, and traced I onto a screen. I then used the drawing fluid method of screen printing found in the Speedball fabric printing kit. This was my first time screenprinting with this method and I think it turned out well.
I printed Martha on some fabric, then sew’d it into a lined tote bag with two inside pockets and a magnetic snap closure. The “I recycle” button on the front is my art-smart way of covering a flaw in the fabric.
For some reason, I took a bunch of picture of the screen printing process and none of the sewing process (You’ll have to leave those to your imagination
. )
My Original design, as printed from my computer.
First step of screen printing, trace image onto screen and fill in positive space with drawing fluid. Let dry.
Second step, cover entired screen with screen filler on same side. Let Dry.
With high pressure water (aka a hose or in my case, a shower head) rinse screen throughly, dissolving drawing fluid and leaving a space for the ink to seep through.
Place screen on fabric, silk side down. Glob a generous amount of fabric ink onto the top of the screen. Using a squeegee and a firm grip, pull squeegee across the screen with a good amount of force. Lift screen and admire your work. (sorry if this doesn’t make sense. It’s my first attempt at a tutorial.)
Fast-Forward through all of the sewing steps and voila! The W.W.M.D. Tote-bag.
Front View:
My Mom Modeling:
View of inside with magnetic snap closed:
Inside Pockets (sorry, they're kinda hard to see):
Close up of Martha:
Overall I think its a "good thing!"
Oh, amd I forgot to mention, the bag itself was created with a self-made pattern.
Thanks for looking & I hope you enjoyed. Please leave comments and questions!
