This is going to be an exciting project, we are going to be looking at some art work and take inspiration from these pieces and create our own.

Bisa Butler she is an American artist known for her quilted portraits and designs celebrating black life.

For this you will need :

1. Old unwanted fabric ( T.shirts, jeans jumpers etc)
2. A big piece of cardboard ( one square from a large delivery box will do)
3. Scissors, PVA/fabric glue/ glue gun and a pencil

For this project we are going to make our own fabric portraits. You can do a portrait of yourself, family, friend or your pet what ever you choose make sure to go big, the bigger the portrait the easier it will be to do the fine details. Now that has all been said lets get creative.

1. Place your big piece of card onto a flat surface and draw your portrait, this does not have to be detailed as it is going to be your outline to help you.
2. Once you are happy with your outline drawing gather up all your materials and start cutting out shapes to fill up your background.
3. Start by filling up the background with large pieces of fabric, once happy glue down.
4. Now cut smaller pieces to fill out you portrait, before you stick fabric pieces down make sure you are happy with where you have placed your pieces of fabric.
5. Happy? if so now stick down. remember to add different layers and textures.
6. Now for the details you can use buttons, zips, hems, stitching you name use your imagination.
7. When you have finished adding the detail take your PVA glue and paint over the background material once covered leave in a safe place to dry.
8. Now dry you have created your own Bisa Butler inspired art piece.

Hope you had as much fun creating your portrait as much as i did. Now you have worked on a big scale why not try making mini versions for your friends and family.

Here are some examples of art work made by using scraps and cuts of fabric.

Have fun and keep staying creative. Send in a photo of your art work and share on our gallery.

Miss Y