my sewing machine is the vehicle i use to create so many things that make me happy. but the machine itself with it's boring white plastic and diagrams always kinda bummed me out. for years i've been wanting to pimp out my sewing machine. i've toyed with the idea of using fabric, collage or paint but never had the balls or took the time out until this week.
my inspiration came from listening to a podcast on hello craft by tina seamonster. tina was talking about occupying her time while her kids were in summer camp by doing embroidery in a church. at the end she said something about how when we make our living through what we make and are obsessively checking out etsy store sales and blog stats we forget that the reason we started crafting is because the process, not just the product, deeply moves us. i actually got a little emotional about this.
i have a hard time balancing my passion for the craft with my need to pay the rent. taking time out from the business of crafting to just make something and not care what others will think or if they'll buy it can be difficult. and so, last night, even though there was stack of blazers and tees with appliques waiting to be sewn on, and applications for patchwork indie arts & crafts festival waiting to be weeded through, a new website for craftcation needing to be built, etsy orders to be shipped and a full inbox of emails to be answered...i stopped took a deep breath and grabbed 2 boxes of vintage and retro modern paper and my mod podge and sat down in the living room for some good old "just for me" crafting. i took a vintage copy of one of my favorite books, raymond carver's "will you please be quiet please" that was falling apart and used it as the base, added some collage circles and birds and viola! my sewing machine got it's craft on.
before
after
if you want to pimp out your machine here's how....
what you need:
-mod podge or gloss medium
-paint brushes
-glass of water & paper towels or an old rag
-scissors
-papers for decoupage: an old book to cut up, magazine photos, wrapping paper etc...
-scissors
-exacto knife
-acrylic paint (if you want to outline anything)
-boring old sewing machine
what to do:
1. decide which paper you want to use as your background and cut it into strips and little pieces.
2. paint mod podge on the area you wish to collage, pick a paper that fits in the area. i had to do some trimming especially around round parts, put down the paper then paint mod podge on top. keep collaging until the machine is covered.
3. once you have the whole machine covered you can choose little images to put on top of the background. repeat step 2 for this.
4. use some acrylic paint to outline any images if desired.
*make sure to keep the mod podge out of working parts and little buttons so they don't stick!
