Exploring 3D Form Project #1: Fabric Bowl

Materials

• 2 fat quarters of cotton fabric (one for the inside of the bowl and one for the outside)
• Mod Podge

Tools

• Smooth-surfaced bowl (this will be the form you will make your bowl on)
• Plastic wrap (such as Saran Wrap)
• Sharp scissors that can cut fabric well
• Sponge brush

Instructions

1. Place the bowl upside-down on your work surface. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. If the wrap is too narrow to cover the bowl with one sheet, use two sheets, one horizontal and one vertical.

   

2. Choose which fabric you want for the inside of the bowl. Cut it into strips about one inch wide (doesn’t have to be exact). The length of each strip should be as follows: each strip should reach from the center of the bowl bottom to just a little over the top of the bowl. (Note: These instructions are for a medium size bowl. If using a very large bowl, you might need more fabric than a fat quarter, and you might want to make the strips a bit wider.)
3. Brush some Mod Podge on the bowl, starting in the center bottom and going down to the top edge of the bowl, making the Mod Podge about as wide as a fabric strip. Place a strip in the Mod Podge face down. Brush more Mod Podge over the top of the strip.

   

4. Now add another strip in the same way as the first, next to and slightly overlapping the first strip. Continue adding strips in this fashion until the bowl is completely covered. All these strips should be face down, with the right side of the fabric down, and the wrong side of the fabric up.

   

5. Now take the fabric for the outside and cut it into strips like you did in step #2.
6. Cover the bowl with these strips just like you did in steps #3 and #4, except this time the strips will be face up, with the right side of the fabric up, and the wrong side down.

   

7. Once the bowl is covered, you may at this point add cut fabric decorations to the bowl if you’d like, but this is optional. Brush some Mod Podge where you’d like to put the decoration, place the decoration in the Mod Podge, and brush more Mod Podge over the top. Keep in mind that the bowl is upside-down at this point, so you’ll want to have your decorations upside-down too.

   

8. Let the bowl dry for about one hour, no more and no less.
9. After about an hour, remove the fabric bowl from the bowl you’re using as a form. It will still be quite wet on the inside and somewhat flexible, but mostly holding its shape. You want to remove it from the bowl at this point, rather than having it dry all the way, because if it dries all the way, the plastic wrap will be almost impossible to remove.

   

10. Peel the plastic wrap off the bowl. At this point, optionally, you can add fabric decorations to the inside of the bowl as in step #7.

    

11. Let the bowl dry completely. Once it’s dry, you may want to trim the edges with scissors to make them more even, but only if you think it will look better that way.

    

12. You now have a bowl made out of fabric. You can use it in just about any way you’d use a basket, or you can just display it empty, as a beautiful object to enjoy.

    

Think About: How simple strips can make a 3-dimensional object.