A decorificationized journal cover

“Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”
John Green

The exacompta is officially decked out.

The experimental edge of fabric stitched onto the cover of the exacompta didn't break the needle, yay!

Here's the contraption I improvised to hold the journal while I stitched. Without it, the weight of the book pulled it off center and the stitches are crooked. I was going to leave it clean and crisp with the black polka dots but no......the fabric tempted me.

So I added more strips... and more on the inside.

I was looking at the box of cotton yarn we got for Crochet School at Crafty Minx. I've been watching the videos for the {free} fabulous class and they are just fabulous. When my daughter prepares the first and second rows for me, I can do two of the stitches. But I am having a hell of a time stitching into the original chain. Like I cannot do it. Dana assures us that if we can get that second row stitched, we can do anything! So I will continue to practice. That's a major tangent. So the point is that this yarn is on the table and on my mind. My daughter (12) is crocheting her third scarf and is a stitching madwoman.

Anyhow yarn + sewing machine + journal = aedm went through my twisted mind. This was my first stitched page in the exacompta, and it went off center because I was trying to hold the book in one hand and keep it straight while simultaneously pushing the reverse button with my third hand.

This is the inside of the back cover, gessoed, painted, photo-inserted and stitched.

Didja make up any words in your journal? Do tell {story here}!

Yes. That wraps up 5/30ths of Art Every Day Month at Creative Every Day. Are you playing along?

Comments

[MistY]

Love this!

[Sam]

Lovely cover, and clever idea for supporting the journal while stitching!

With crochet, have you tried doing the foundation chain in a hook that's a couple of sizes bigger, and then using the smaller hook for the first row. You might be able to see what you're doing better!

[madronewood]

Glad you found a solution. I, too, have a Janome with a darn reverse button! My husband bought me the machine few years ago and I HATE this "feature". Whatever happened to just switching it to reverse and reverse sewing?? Is this a safety feature? Do all newer sewing machines have this problem?

If anyone has tips on how to sew in reverse on projects that you need to hold with two hands, I would love to hear them!!

Thanks in advance.