Fractal Pants

Well here I am, sitting in front of the Puta screen, launching into this blog thingy. I decided to get started today because I'm working on a pair of pants for my partner Dean and they are becoming quite a process.
For ages my work has been inspired by fractal art, but I never thought that I would be able to figure out how to represent this in fabrics. It always seemed to me that all the detail would be absolutely impossible to recreate. It is!

Then I found a series of art quilts on line by a woman called Rose Rushmore that she had based on fractals. Her art showed me that I didn't need to exactly copy a fractal, that using different fabrics and simplifying the forms I could create a representation that was beautiful in it's own right.

'Skating on thin ice' by Rose Rushmore

So that was one thread on this creative journey I'm on. Another thread is the story of Dean, his birthdays and the pants I make for everyone but him.
Not long ago I made the most beautiful pair of pants for my friend Rick. They were fabulous, the best I have ever made. Lovely colors and embellished with random cellular shapes of hand dyed cotton that was free machine embroidered with various sized circles of multi-colored thread. I'll try and score a picture from Rick so I can upload it later. Dean loved them! (guilt)
So I decided it was time to get started on those birthday pants I've been promising him for the last three years. Thats when the trouble began, every fabric I pulled out from my stash was not right,evry piece I brought raised a skeptical eyebrow and my confidence sunk lower and lower. In the meantime the market got stupid busy, and newyears at Canaan Downs and Luminate festival were drawing closer. Massive stock sewing began. Argh, man was I happy to get my butt up that beautiful hill to join the tribe again!

Dean in the tribal zone at Canaan(new years)

Fast forward>>>>Deans birthday was three weeks ago and I've finally started his pants!!
I've never felts so freaked out about making anything before. The applique I'm doing is well and truly the hardest I have ever tackled and Dean is my harshest critic and most fussy 'client'.
Well I have begun, fighting my insecurity and hoping that he loves them. I'll keep you updated as the fractal pants progress.

So far so good