Okay, we’re stepping away from our regular kitchen redesigns to share a smaller-scale but very impressive project. Calling it “small” might be generous when the project includes 120 hand-drawn monsters, but the result is delightful. Here’s Jen’s description of how she turned her son’s artwork into a one-of-a-kind duvet cover:
My son Daniel is a prolific artist, and I wanted to showcase some of his sketches on a duvet cover. He invents his own creatures, complete with names, types, and evolutions, and he picked those designs for the project. Here are his design sheets:
I photographed each selected sketch. In Photoshop I removed stray marks, used Hue/Saturation to strip most color, converted the images to grayscale, then adjusted brightness and contrast to get clean black-and-white outlines suitable for tracing. After preparing the files I resized each character to print at the size I wanted for the duvet.
I chose the first image to trace, taped the printout to a piece of cardboard, and slid it into the top-left corner of the duvet cover to hold it steady. Then I began tracing the outlines with a fabric marker.
After about four and a half hours of tracing, the pattern was already coming together:
Preparing the digital images took roughly two to three hours, and the tracing itself took around eight hours total. I didn’t do it all at once — I worked in sessions and put the piece away between tracing stints. The final duvet turned out beautifully, and Daniel loves it. I’m so happy with how it turned out! – Jen
How great is that? Daniel now sleeps surrounded by his own imaginative creations, and the duvet is a daily reminder of his mom’s support for his creativity. This technique can work for more than kid drawings — you could transfer a handwritten message, a large illustration, or any collection of sketches onto fabric in the same way. The finished piece handled washing well, so it’s durable as well as personal.
Psst — we also announced this week’s giveaway winner. Check the giveaway post on the site to see if you’re the winner.