This is a handmade multi-media tapestry is a conversation starter for any space. It illustrates how our clothing choices impact the environment, specifically the pathways of microplastic fibers from clothing into the mouths of ocean wildlife.
 
With my thrifted hot pink fuzzy socks and yellow rubber raincoat in hand, I try to make visible the invisible journey of microplastic fibers, exploring the environmental effects of what we wear and how we throw it away.
 
Read more about the inspiration and construction of this tapestry over on the blog. 
 
This tapestry is entirely handmade by me, using a combination of thrown-away garments, personal clothing, and natural-fiber fabrics that I dyed by hand using pigments from plants.
 
Size: This piece is 42.5" long x 32.5" wide
 
The top portion - Synthetic Fiber Clothing, Quilted
Cut from various thrifted/found, used garments that were originally made from plastic fibers such as polyester, nylon, or acrylic. In person, you'll be able to quickly identify the texture of a pair of hot pink fuzzy socks from Dollar Tree, blue Victoria's Secret underwear, an orange GAP sweater, yellow Old Navy raincoat, navy Walmart t-shirt, coral "Baby Phat" purse, pink Kohl's scarf, rainbow Walmart swimsuit, and a pair of Kohl's burgundy pants, among a few others.
 
The middle portion - Tangled Fibers
Cut from the same old garments above, with the addition of several more polyester yarns, threads, and fabric remnants.  Unlike tiers 1 and 3, this middle portion exposes the space between the fibers, so you can see gaps and holes that show the wall/living space behind it (similar to a spider web).
 
The final, bottom portion - Naturally dyed and hand-appliqued seascape
Cut from all natural fibers, primarily linen, cotton, and a cotton-linen blend, that I hand-dyed using pigments from plants. The dye materials included acorns (grey), indigo (blue), black beans (bluish-purple), onion skins (yellows and burnt oranges), logwood (purple), black tea (grey). The wave pattern in the water was hand stitched using cotton embroidery thread, and the fish were pieced together and sewn on using a hybrid of machine and hand sewing. Waves of plastic fibers from tier 2 were mindfully pulled into tier 3, and hand stitched into place.
 
Hanging - Plastic Clothes Hanger
The tapestry has a sleeve at the top that encases a wooden rod with a small eye-hook on each end that can hang onto nails or picture hangers. The pink plastic clothes hanger is not attached, (because insync with the metaphor of this tapestry, it is made so cheaply that it cannot bear any weight!), so you could secure it behind the quilt top as it was placed in the photos, or choose to disclude it from the hanging (when placed the way it was for the photos, it adds an additional 8" to the total length of the piece).