“Home Is Where We Eat”
My first assigned project for my Intro to Fibers class was called “The Encoded Cloth.” It was an open-ended assignment; our only requirement was to make a cloth structure with a profound meaning. Simple, right? It would have been, except I spent many hours thinking of what I could do but was stuck on nothing.
At that time, spending a second semester away from my family proved difficult. I was extremely homesick. I missed my comfortable home, home-cooked meals, family dinners, pets, and everything else. I finally decided to channel these emotions into the concept for this project. With that in mind, I created a tablecloth symbolizing my homesickness and missing family dinners.
The Design
When designing the tablecloth, I envisioned five sections, each representing a family member’s “seat” at the table. I color-coordinated the sections to reflect each person's personality best. I had the most fun creating my dad’s section. Although it was strictly white fabric, I used coffee to stain it and add texture, as an homage to his favorite hobby.
Cyanotype
I included letters from my family about their favorite family dinner memories and pictures of us cooking or enjoying meals together. To capture their unique handwriting, I used a process called “Cyanotype” to print their letters directly onto scrap muslin.
One requirement for this project was to incorporate hand-dyeing techniques into the cloth. I had dyed some fabric during a workshop earlier that semester, so I saved some of the Fuschia-colored fabric and over-dyed it into shades of orange, red, and purple.
Quilting
I practiced quilting by layering a recycled tablecloth, batting in the middle, and patchwork recycled fabric on top to assemble the final piece. The original tablecloth had beautiful frilly sides, which I incorporated into the sides of my project so they would drape down the table.
Embroidery
For the final touches, I hand-embroidered X’s to border each family member’s “seat.” I used red embroidery thread as a symbolic way to represent connection.
This project pushed me to think outside traditional 2D media and work with 3D materials. The most interesting, but most obvious, aspect of the final product is that it moves. Working with various 3D fiber mediums creates a different process than my usual watercolor. The tablecloth isn’t stuck to one specific paper surface but is meant to be touched, folded, and spread out. I am very satisfied with the final result and learned so much from making it.
