A portrait

Not too long ago I was looking for new inspiration and to that end I decided to join the Cork Textiles Network (CTN). the organisation offers support to all who have an interest in textiles. They also organise exhibitions and have a regular call for work with a certain theme.
My idea was that not only would I be inspired by the diverse work the members create, but I might get inspired to make textiles within a call for an upcoming exhibition.

Of course it wasn't as easy as all that. I played with ideas when a theme was announced, but in the end I made nothing.

Now CTN exists 20 years this year, with some special celebrations being organised. One of those is an extra large exhibition space being made available at the Dublin Knitting and Stitching show. Of course a call came for work for this exhibition: self portraits, all of the same size, to fill an outside wall of the exhibition space. And it was encouraged that EVERY member participated... This could no longer be ignored.

Soon I set to work, never having made a portrait at all, leave alone a self portrait!
And now, here I am:

Appliqué by hand (face) and machine (hair), and many hand stitches to create the face, the clothes, and the leaves in the background.
I started off with a photograph, and printed it full size in black and white. I indicated the dark areas on my background fabric and stitched away.

Lots and lots of seed stitches in a few different threads created the face. It sounds so simple, but I went back numerous time for a few more stitches before I was pleased... Especially the eyes proved tricky!

A few lines of stitching indicated the top of a shirt, and a cardigan with button detail:

And this is a FINISH for the finishalong, I haven't had a finish in a long, long time!

My Finish-A-Long list for Quarter 2 (link) 
Linking up at the Finish-A-Long quarter 2 link-up, which is now open.Don't forget to link up your own finishes!

Sandra