A bit of Orts housekeeping: Last week was the Orts 5/5: five creatives/creative projects and five ways to get creative. I love finding and curating links, but that can take a lot of time. Doing it every week would burn me out. Plus, it doesn’t allow me to dig a little deeper into one topic or person—something I love to do. So the 5/5 format will be around twice a month. In addition to 5/5, I’m starting the One Person, One Project series. This will allow me to dive deeper into one creative person working on one super cool thing.

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For the first One Person, One Project, I'm taking this opportunity to introduce myself a bit more. There’s a chance you might know about me or my work. But if not, here’s a peek into an embroidery project I’ve worked on for the last year: 52 Weeks to Ms. Frizzle.

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The project elevator pitch:

52 Weeks to Ms. Frizzle is a long-haul embroidery project where I am drawing and stitching a new wild animal on the same upcycled dress for every week of a year. I document the creatures on social media sharing my artistic process and fun animal facts.

What was the inspiration for the project?

I’ve always loved long-term projects. I find them deeply satisfying, from the planning to the execution. There's a lot to consider, whether it's working on a project for a week, month, or year. How do you plan for the inevitabilities of life? How do you navigate when the project gets, frankly, boring?

In the latter half of 2022, I created a custom hyena patch for someone who loved hyenas. Before that, I hadn’t stitched a lot of wild animals. But it was so fun embroidering something that wasn’t a cat or a dog, as much as I love them. Around the same time, I was scrolling through the second-hand fashion site Poshmark and saw a denim dress that I liked. The dress was plain but well-made. I bought it, thinking I could stitch on it.

The hyena patch plus the dress are what inspired 52 Weeks to Ms. Frizzle. I decided that every week of 2023 I was going to embroider a new wild animal on the dress and document the whole thing. (Spoiler, that's since changed.)

What materials and methods are you using in making it?

I am using DMC embroidery floss to stitch all the animals on the dress. Before I do that, however, I digitally draw all of the animals on my iPad using the Procreate app and my Apple Pencil.

What obstacles are you facing with the project?

Time has been a big obstacle in this project. When I began, I intended to stitch relatively small embroideries in one color: black thread. I figured that they would be something that could be easily done in a week. Within the first few weeks of the project, however, I felt that the one color of thread wasn’t enough. My drawings were getting more complex, and I needed a light blue thread to help add some dimension to the illustrations.

Since doing this, I feel that I’ve elevated the designs—I’m proud of the work I’ve done—but doing so set me back. A little at first, and then it snowballed into months. Coupled with a busy summer, I fell hopelessly behind. Having 52 animals at the end of 2023 was not going to happen.

But, I didn’t want to give up the project. So, I’ve extended it into 2024. I’m hoping to finish it by July. Right now, I’m about halfway through the 52 weeks. I’m stitching a slow loris for week 25.

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What are you learning from it that will help in future projects?

So many things! I’m getting better at drawing all sorts of animals. I’m learning how to work with a limited palette and that people really like wild animals. (So do I!) I want to do more work like that.

If you'd like to follow along with 52 Weeks to Ms. Frizzle, check out my Instagram and TikTok! I also sell some of the designs as DIY stick-on embroidery patterns available in the Bear&Bean shop.

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Talk to you next week,

Sara Barnes Embroidery illustrator and writer

2206 17th Ave S, Seattle, WA 91844
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