Terrarium

I have embellished secondhand clothing for years focusing on botanical imagery and still life. I love breathing life back into worn and discarded clothing. In this piece, I decided to deconstruct a denim jacket and piece it back together to create a tapestry wall hanging. This piece is an ode to femininity. The flowers are beautiful. The colors are dramatic. The style is detailed. The materials are strong and resilient.

Before I started sewing, I made a terrarium to then use as my template. Closed terrariums are mini-ecosystems that in theory can last indefinitely. The orchid and fern need a special balance of humidity and drainage. While mold is inevitable with the decay of plant life. My goal was to learn from the process of creating an ecosystem and sewing my results. This piece is a merging embroidery stitches and techniques including thread painting and three dimensional stitching for texture.

A deconstructed denim jacket, pieced back together to create a tapestry wall hanging. The hand sewing was inspired by the process of creating a terrarium and watching the life cycle of the mini-ecosystem.

Materials used: Second hand denim jacket and cotton thread

My goal was to learn from the process of creating an ecosystem and sewing my results.

This piece is a merging embroidery stitches and techniques including thread painting and three dimensional stitching for texture.

I have embellished secondhand clothing for years focusing on botanical imagery and still life.