The idea for this came many months ago, after seeing the neat things Cauchy and others were doing with words and cross stitch. I was rewatching Season 1 of Arrested Development at the time, and the idea of memorializing my love of the show with a collection of my favorite quotations, in fabric and thread, seemed perfect.
It took some time to make the design (using MacStitch, for those who want to know). I started with a list of quotes, and then found typefaces for each one. I used alphabets from books, magazines, and the internet; there are a ton of free typefaces floating around. After that came the laborious (although not as laborious as I expected) task of trying to fit them all together. I was left with a hole in the lower middle, so what better motif than a little banana? (Curtesy of Erin Turowski.)
Then came the stitching. I made a lot of mistakes, more than I usually make -- sometimes because the typeface was quirkier than I expected, sometimes because I wasn't paying enough attention to the chart (I think stitching words lulls me into complacency), and once because of an embarrassing misspelling. In some cases, the mistakes led to a redesign of the chart, making the entire thing better. In other cases, I had to rip out stitches and try again; I hate that. And in at least one case, I caught the mistake too late to do anything about it; fortunately the error is not noticeable to those who don't know what the design was supposed to be.
I debated what color to use for quite a while, even considering the orange that is in the show's logo. But that would be a lot of orange, and a not particularly pretty shade at that, so I settled for black (using a bit more than an entire skein of DMC floss). The yellow banana adds a nice bit of contrast.
I now have a tested and improved chart. Will I make another, error-free piece? HA!
ETA: You can buy a pdf of the pattern here.
Love this after seeing it on Feeling stichy.I shall be investigating that program now lol. Thankyou for sharing your wonderful work x
ReplyDeleteoh, this is super sweet! i love AD and i love samplers. great job!
ReplyDeleteLove this! I'm a huge fan, too. Please tell me you will be offering the design for sale.
ReplyDeleteI'm a new follower looking forward to seeing all I've missed and your new creations!
Thanks, guys. Baye, I've never sold a pattern before, but I'll look into it.
ReplyDeleteThat is completely brilliant.
ReplyDeleteTotally sweet!!! Came over from Feeling Stitchy blog to check it out!
ReplyDeleteWonderful work, Janalyn! Wow!!!
ReplyDeleteTotally love this - and would defo buy it if you did put the pattern up for sale :) Have included it in a round-up of my fave things this week... http://www.matinlapin.com/2013/06/my-favourite-things-this-week-69.html
ReplyDeleteVixie x
Thanks again, everybody! You can find the pattern for sale here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/154919012/arrested-development-sampler-pattern?ref=shop_home_active
ReplyDelete