Freezer Paper Stenciling on Shirts

  My friend, Ashley, over at There is No Place Like Homemade has a great tutorial for using freezer paper stencils to paint on shirts.  I loved the way her Star Wars shirts turned out and wanted to give it a shot with shirts for my own kids.

    I think they turned out pretty decent!  Still have to heat-fix the paint in place, but this is how they looked this morning after peeling off the freezer paper stencil.

     Still have a little more work to do in order to finish them up, but I'd say that this was probably one of my favorite projects I've done recently!  Scarlett's birthday is coming up, so the Tinkerbell shirt will be for her party.  Going to hot-fix some rhinestones on there to "bling" it up for her.  Also, have to make one more shirt for Kai (aside from his ninja and dino shirt seen here), and two more for Cam (who got the Harry Potter shirt).  One quick word of advice.... when picking out a shirt, keep in mind that dark colors = a lot more coats of paint needed.  That Harry Potter shirt took about 5 coats of paint.  Also, the intricate wording of the Harry Potter shirt meant that I had to be super careful to make sure that every little crevice was not forgotten. 

     I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut out the freezer paper stencils, which helped reduce cutting time and allowed me to get a lot of painting done in a short amount of time.  The Tinkerbell silhouette had to be completely reworked in the Silhoutte software and was probably my biggest holdup.  Even with the Tinkerbell issues, it was still a super-fun project and I highly recommend it!

Trick or Treat!- Mime Costume Complete

Okay, so I didn't mean to rhyme the title, but once it was up I just decided to leave it.

I have very few personal titles, but one that has held true through the years is "World's Worst Procrastinator".  I am horrible about it.  That's why my going to school online is like a circus at the end of the semester (rushing to cram everything in), and why Halloween costumes sometimes aren't finished until Halloween.

This year, Kai wanted to be a Mexican Wrestler after seeing the cover of "Nacho Libre".  No problem.... done.  Cam wanted to come up with his own Harry Potter costume... got it.  Scarlett, however, was going to be a mime.

Do you know how hard it is to find a black and white striped shirt for a little girl?  One that is plain without Minnie Mouse, some kind of heart, or cutesy saying?  Impossible.  Impossible unless you are willing to pay designer prices and special order something that you've never even seen.  Call me thrifty, call me cheap, I just decided that rather than deal with that funk... I'd just make it myself.

Ordered the knit striped fabric from Etsy, got some sparkly red sequined elastic trim from Joann's, and pulled out some tulle from my stash.

The end result?

I can't believe I didn't take more pictures, but I do have some videos (if I can figure out how to post one, I will). 

The shirt was completely my own pattern.  I LOVE how it came out.  I don't know how to describe it other than a semi-cowlneck/mock turtleneck.  I plan on buying more knit fabric and recreating it for a tutorial. 

The tutu was made out of 3/4" elastic that was 1" shorter than her waist measurement and the ends sewn together.  After that, I made the tutu the same way that I did on my "Ribbon Tutu-rial".  (See Tutorial section above for link.)  Alternated the colors for a cute stripe-like effect.

The suspenders were the trim material that I talked about above.  I got grumpy about not being able to locate clips that were affordable, until I came across some ironing board cover clips.  PERFECT!  I got a package of 6 for the same cost as a pack of 2 at Joann's.  (Both are at Joann's.)  Cut the elastic off the ironing board clips and sewed the elastic trim on.  Used an "o" keyring at the "y" joint in the suspenders.  Thank goodness that elastic suspenders are super forgiving.  I only had to measure and sew once.  Yay!

The black leggings were purchased at Old Navy.  And her gloves were a set of $1 cheap-o winter gloves.  So funny trying to watch her put candy into her bag.  Poor girl needed help every time.

Oh, and the hairbows were made out of felt.  I used this tutorial from "C.I.N.O."

Hope you all had a happy and safe Halloween!

"Ol' Red" Silhouette Shirt

I've had this project in mind for a few weeks now.  I've always loved the song, "Ol' Red" by Blake Shelton and wanted to create a project inspired by it. 

I finally came up with this:

Front

Back

Close-up of "tracking party"

Close-up of "puppy love"

   To make this shirt, I used Simplicity Pattern P2027 (Size A), which I found at Wal-Mart for $0.99.  All of my fabric was pre-washed  and then ironed before doing anything.

I modified the bottom of it by adding a 1 1/2" border of green to simulate grass.  To make the border, I cut a 4 x 20" strip (The size I made the pattern in was a size 2, so adjust the length and width of your strip accordingly... it should be the same length as the bottom of the pattern piece, though).  I folded this strip in half and pressed it.  Then, I folded each long raw edge down 1/2" towards the wrong side and pressed again... like a huge piece of bias tape.  Once your pattern pieces are all cut and before you sew anything, first sew the border onto the bottom of the main front and back pieces, right sides together, down the 1/2" crease you had pressed.  Then, just treat the piece as if it were a whole piece of the original main part and continue with the pattern.
  
     Follow the pattern and finish the main part of the shirt.  Then, you'll start embellishing.

Shirt ready to be embellished.

     To get the silhouettes, I did a lot of image Googling.  The extent of my drawing ability is limited to stick people, so if the person wasn't in the right position, I didn't even attempt to alter it.  I searched high and low for law enforcement photos, running people, etc.  Some were pictures of actual people, others were free vector images.  Once I found the images I wanted, I scaled them to size and printed them off.  It may take a few tries.  You should see the number of "wardens" that I had to print.  It was ridiculous.  Also, the only law enforcement guy I found in the "holding the leash" position was insanely large so I had to give him an Xacto tummy tuck or you wouldn't have seen his hand.

    Once you've got your silhouette images, cut them out using a Fiskars swivel knife.  For some reason, the PX didn't have a regular Xacto knife, but this is like a miniature version and it worked okay on the paper.  I cut out the silhouettes, making slight modifications as needed.

Paper silhouettes

Now it was time for the Steam-a-Seam (S.A.S.).  I used the sticky-back stuff to keep the fabric in place while I cut it.

I cut a strip of the S.A.S., then pulled off the paper, leaving the sticky side up on the ironing board.  Very carefully, I placed the black fabric on top and smoothed it out.  Then, one by one, I pinned the silhouettes to the fabric and cut them out.  I tried using the Fiskars knife on the fabric, but it just pulled it and made it all crazy.  Instead, I had to use my small fabric scissors to cut them out very carefully.  In the end, I had my silhouettes all cut out.  One of each, except for the standing dog, which I cut two of... one a mirror image.  (Just flip the paper silhouette over.)

    Then, I used more S.A.S. and put a scrap of green fabric on, the same way that I did with the black fabric.  I freehand cut some grass and set those aside as well.

    Now comes the fun part.  Laying it all out on your shirt and moving the pieces around.  Find positions that you like and then seal it in place by ironing it.  Read the back of your S.A.S for specific instructions.  I pressed the front about 15 seconds, let it cool a tad, and then pressed through the back.  Those suckers are STUCK.

     Once you've got your silhouettes in place, you can add buttons and do your hand embroidery.  I hand embroidered the collar and leash (adding a metal bead on each of "Ol' Red's" collars to look like a tag), and the bow collar on the female dog.  Buttons were hand sewn and the rose on the front of the shirt was attached.