A Guide to Translating a Photo into a Fabric Portrait

Sample of a fabric portrait. Relevant to the text.

Head and shoulders fabric portrait

What steps are needed to create a fabric portrait?

Think of it as capturing character in fabric, as you can translate the unique character of a person from a photo into a fabric portrait.

So whether you are creating a portrait of a loved one or as a memory from a trip you can follow this series of steps.

The steps to creating a fabric portrait are the same no matter what technique you use.

1. Choosing a good quality photograph for your fabric portrait.

It is critical to have a good clear photograph to use so that making your portrait is as easy as possible. Preferably one with only one person in it as this usually means it will enlarge well.

2. Using photo software to bring out the values (posterizing).

Posterizing brings out the values (light, medium, and dark) in your photo and aids in creating the pattern. There are a variety of photo programs that can do this for you.

3. Enlarging the photograph to a workable size.

You want to resize your photo so that the head is about 9″ high. This makes the fabric pieces a workable size.

The head size determines the final size of the whole portrait. For example, if the head is 3″ high in the photo you will need to enlarge the photo by 300% (3 x 3 =9).

4. Creating a pattern from the photo.

You will create a pattern by again focusing on the values in the photo. No drawing required!

5. Choosing fabrics for your portrait.

Select fabrics based on the values that you saw in your posterized photograph.

You will need to decide whether you want to try and do realistic skin tones or whether you want to choose another colou eg. green!

6. Placing the fabrics according to your pattern.

Based again on the values you selected you will place the fabric pieces accordingly. Different techniques will layer the fabrics in a different order.