52Frames Fabric

This week’s 52Frames photo challenge is fabric. It was a bit of a conundrum as I am not a professional photographer, not do I set up shots in a studio,  nor do I have a real camera. I use my iPhone 8plus for all of my photos. Since we aren’t in shops and stores or near anything fabric that I could think of, I started out in my closet because I really haven’t been in there all year. All of my clothes are in the same place that they were left in February 2020. So I tried a few images of my blouses from different angles. I wasn’t very impressed. There was a scarf with tassels hanging along the wall, but I didn’t like that either. I found an ethnic Iranian bag but it was more of a textile. Then I thought about the six wrinkled T-shirts that I have been wearing all year. They all have digitalart images of dogs and cats that I painted. I ordered them from Amazon to see what my customers would receive. Those shots were ok, but nothing special. Then I posted the images on Instagram to see which ones got the most impressions. The Persian cat got a lot of interest, and the blouses. But then I noticed 52Frames liked a few of the items, and the cat was not one of them. So this week I posted the blouses in the closet. I’m not particularly impressed with it, but some weeks are just better than others. I’ve been participating in the photo challenge for 24 weeks now. Next week is “ISO 100.”  I didn’t even know what that meant. Some weeks are really hard for an iPhone photographer, but it’s all about the effort. 

JoAnn Fabrics and Couch Repair

It's been about six years since we got a couch from Crate and Barrel. My husband hates the material and I think he secretly put a slice in the fabric as an excuse to get another one - just kidding! But the other day we discovered a very worn area that could quickly rip even more if it wasn't attended to. Unfortunately, the cushions cannot be turned over because fabric is on one side only, and simply hiding it with a pillow wouldn't work. So I researched the Internet to see what the latest in fabric repair was in lieu of taking it to an upholsterer. Luckily I have two swatches of the fabric, so I thought I could at least slip a piece of one underneath the sore spot and go from there. So we headed out to Joann Fabrics and looked for fraying glue and the latex glue for fabric repair. I used to sew when I was younger so I feel somewhat confident with a needle and thread. We also thought an iron on patch might work, but then it might look too obvious. Since I couldn't easily remove the fabric from the cushion (it's a pull out king size bed and has odd cushions that support this feature) I slipped the swatch - after gluing the edges so it wouldn't fray - under the sore spot and started sewing the two pieces together. Unfortunately, I managed to sew in the batting too. Once done, the fabric glue was spread over the eyesore. After it dried, I thought it looked terrible. So I cut away the part of the batting that was sewn to the repaired site, and then dabbed on some of the fray glue to darken up the lightness of the latex glue. It actually turned out "okay," but I know it's there and don't like it. We have been thinking about another couch, and this may expedite that search. But I'm just not convinced yet.