It was my privilege to create this mandala for the Girl Scouts of South Carolina Mountains to Midlands from a collection of patches dating from the last decade. Each patch was stitched in place by hand despite the fact that every one of them had heat-activated adhesive on the back. That "glue" provided an easy way to attach the patches by ironing them to another surface (like a Girl Scout sash or another accessory or garment). Basically, today's Girl Scouts really don't have to thread a needle to get their badges and patches in place.
That wasn't how badges were when I was a scout ... and I went from Brownies to Juniors to Seniors ... not quitting until I went to college and had no additional time to participate. (At one point, I was even an Explorer which was a coed part of the Boy Scouts). Back then, badges and patches had to be sewn in place. So despite the gooey underside, I knew exactly what had to be done to make these patches permanent. (Iron-on adhesive isn't quite as permanent as the manufacturers suggest. I couldn't risk these from being "picked off" while on display!)
The first thing I did was to sort through a box of patches to find which ones would work for concentric circles around the center. The center was cut from a Girl Scout tote bag. After designing the rings of patches, I tackled the corners. Finally, the little ones (especially those that had no other patch like it) were placed around the edge. Then, the the stitching started. All the small ones have an average of a dozen stitches. Some of the larger ones needed as many as forty. It took days and days to stitch everything down but it was worth it! The finished mandala looks terrific!
This piece will be delivered to its permanent home next Tuesday! I can't wait!
No comments:
Post a Comment