Judy S-Translate a Pattern

To make an article of clothing you have to translate the pattern. What is selvage, grainline, facing, darts, notches, basting, right side, wrong side, seam allowance, and interfacing? I have been sewing since I was a young girl and I grew up with these terms.  When I started teaching adults and kids camp I learned that they had never heard these words. I needed to explain and show them what they meant. Another way to say, “Put right sides together” is “Put the pretty sides together.” I enjoy translating the language of sewing for others. How wonderful it is to take paper and fabric to make a garment that you can say, “I made it myself!”  

Sara's Translate

When I first thought of translation I thought of the conversion of one language to another or from one symbol to another. My next thought was translational symmetry - the movement of an object from one place to the next without rotation. This concept reminded me of a design exercise I did when in a 2d design class when we were given sheets of printed r's and e's and were asked to create a composition-I decided to work with a simple shape. I started out making a freezer paper stencil and using Shive paint sticks on black fabric,That done, I decided that I wanted something with more contrast and I had just finished a workshop with Esterita Austin so I decided to use Mistyfuse on fabric and use fusible appliqué . I cut out 3 sizes of small circles out of the fused fabric using my accuquilt die cutter, I arranged lines of translated red circles and liked the result. I went back in with green circles on an angle to add visual interest.

I decided to quilt this using "matchstick" quilting that I had seen on some modern quilts - closely spaced lines that are roughly but not quite parallel. A 12 inch quilt seems like a much better place to try ou a technique than a larger quilt - especially one that is so time consuming! I'm not sure I like the effect enough to use on an entire quilt but I may use it in some areas of quilting where my overall quilting is fairly dense. I was glad to be able to try it out .

Carol's Translate

Translate

1. To render in another language.

2. To change from one form, function, or state to another; convert or transform

3. To express in another medium.

I used these definitions of the word translate to create a necklace from fabric. I felt that it would be perfect to “translate” one medium into another. 

I started by using my NEW sewing machine and using some fancy-nancy stitches, created a "type" of heirloom background for the necklace.

The “buttons or beads” were made by using circle templates. Circles of different sizes were made and then combined to create each of the fourteen “beads” on my necklace. In between the large beads I used some small flat tourmaline beads that I just happened to have. I enjoyed doing this piece and found that it took on a life of its own that needed me to continue until I was done embellishing them with different glass seed beads.

So my translation is the idea of buttons changed to beads into a necklace out of fabric.