Creating a 'Verse

For my latest hoopla artwork I knew I wanted to create something based on one of my favorite television shows- Firefly. I decided to embroider a part of the opening theme song, but I needed the perfect fabric to stitch it on. After searching the local fabric stores, I decided to create my own galaxy fabric!

Starting with a piece of plain black cotton fabric.

Add a little diluted bleach and scrunch the fabric


Dry the fabric


And then proceed to completely cover the bleached parts with paint, so you can't tell you bleached it. When I started painting I wanted to just add highlights and dimension, and I ended up covering everything.


Now the stitching can begin! I was worried about how I would transfer my design to my newly created galaxy print- but luckily I found a pack of colored carbon paper at JoAnn's. You can also see the finished fabric.

Forty hours of satin stitching later and the piece is complete! I used glow in the dark thread for this piece to give it a little punch.


A final close up of the satin stitching. I am not sure I would ever do this much satin stitching with glow in the dark thread again. I had to un-do knots every other stitch.

 I think the end result was totally worth the hassle though!