Island Batik July 2019 {Artsy Fartsy}

For our July Island Batik Ambassador projects, we were invited to get fancy with the Aurifil Artsy Fartsy Challenge! Using fabric as our canvas and Aurifil thread as our paint, we were challenged to create a one-of-a-kind art quilt or project with Aurifil thread.

I've been wanting to upcycle a favorite pair or jeans for awhile, and the July challenge presented the perfect opportunity. I've also wanted to try my hand at some visible mending. (Check out the #visiblemending hashtag on Instagram if you're unfamiliar with the fun new trend.)

Summer is always so busy, and this summer has somehow been even busier than usual for me. I knew I was going to spend parts of our Minnesota fishing vacation working on and blogging about my project. Before we left, I cut off the legs of the denim jeans to create fabric panels by using some of my pretty Island Batik Ditty fabric scraps to join the pieces of denim.

I had several Aurifil threads and flosses that coordinated with my fabrics and used them to embellish the fabric panels with various types of machine and hand stitching. I used this handy Aurifil info card to determine what each type of thread and floss was best suited for.

I used white Aurifil Cotton 50WT (those are the threads with the familiar orange spools) for all the piecing and construction of the fabric panels.

I also had Cotton 50WT spools in a pretty pink and two blues, so I added some decorative zigzag stitching.

I used three strands of two different colors of Aurifil cotton floss to patch up the frayed area on the pocket and add some big stitching.

I added various decorative stitching using a double strand of Aurifil Cotton 12WT (cream thread), a quadruple strand of Aurifil Cotton 50WT (peach thread), and three strands of Aurifil Cotton Floss (aqua floss).

There was a hole in what used to be the knee of the jeans, so I tried my hand at visible mending. I used a couple different colors of Aurifil Cotton 50WT thread to stitch a piece of fabric behind the hole and used three strands of Aurifil Cotton Floss to add a decorative stitch around the area. 

My plan is to use my embellished fabric panels to make a tote bag. I had a lot of fun experimenting with the different types of Aurifil threads and flosses, and it was relaxing to sit and do some hand stitching. I'll be sure to post my completed bag here on my blog and on my Instagram page when it's done. Thanks for stopping by!