Jean

I began by splashing and soaking four pairs of old jeans in/with bleach to achieve various shades of denim. I then cut the jeans into even squares and arranged them by color. (lightest to darkest)

I then made a digital sketch of an abstracted body by tracing, distorting, and combining reference photos of myself griping and pulling at my skin.

Then I planned out the shape of this piece. I laid out the denim squares in order of shade as best I could to create a gradient. (light to dark)

Next I turned the digital sketch into a grid that matched my layout. I numbered each square of fabric and each square of the grid. Then I screen printed each square individually. I chose to print before sewing because I wouldn’t be able to print evenly over the bumpy seams. I didn’t want to risk having the print not turn out since I only had one chance to get it right. This bit was very tedious!

I kept everything in order as I went.

I then sewed the squares together, creating long strips. I made sure to add a one-inch seam allowance around the perimeter of each square when translating the sketch to a screen. This made it so everything lined up perfectly.

Finally, I sewed the long strips together.

The back—