Want another fun, easy way to dress up a basic tee? Look no further than this week's tutorial! Use your favorite city's skyline, plus some dye, to make an ordinary tee spectacular!
You'll need a black fabric marker, some dye, an old paintbrush, and fabric (or a pre-made tee).
I'm starting from scratch with this project, mostly because it's easier to embellish a flat piece of fabric than a finished garment. (It's also a lot easier to start over if you make a mistake.) And, I really wanted an excuse to make up the Liberty Jane baseball tee...
First, I cut out the front of my tee. Then, I used chalk to mark off the bottom of my skyline, making sure to leave some room for the hem later on. I marked the approximate top of the skyline with a pin.
I found a picture of the Seattle skyline on the internet, and started drawing it on the tee. It's a good idea to practice first on a piece of scrap fabric!
If you don't feel like freehanding, you can also lay your fabric over your inspiration skyline, and trace. Tape both the image, and the tee front, to a window, to give yourself a little helpful backlight.
When you are happy with your skyline, protect your tee front with a press cloth, and iron it to heat-set the ink. (Your fabric pen probably came with directions about how to do this, but 30 seconds at a med-high heat is usually a good bet.)
Next: the ombre wash!
I got my tee front thoroughly wet, then daubed on very concentrated dye with my paintbrush, and let it sit for a while. It looks really dark and intense in this photo, but a lot of it rinsed out, giving a very delicate look instead. How dark a color you get, depends on the fabric you use, how concentrated your dye is, and how long you let it sit.
In any case, be sure to give it a gentle wash in detergent, to get out any remaining dye molecules, before drying and heat-setting it again.
Finally, all that's left is to sew your beautiful new shirt front to the other pieces of the tee.
Thanks for following along, and have fun with this!
For Pixie Faire,
Melinda
169 Comments
My favorite city is Pensacola FL. We have mild weather in the winter and gorgeous beaches for the summer. A plus is that all my family is here too!
My favorite city is Seattle! Our son lives there and we miss him terribly. It’s also a lovely city for a vacation.
My favorite city is Asheville, North Carolina because it is a city worthy of favor.
In the present, it is known as “The Paris of the South”, embracing culture, diversity and still keeping the integrity of it’s history.
Misty mornings give way to bright Carolina Blue skies. The Appalachian Trail and Smokey Park highway lead through the peaks and valleys that look much as they did when the first people settled among them.
Biltmore Park and Grove Park Inn marking the changes brought in at the turn of the century
People born and bred as mountaineers mingle with people of all cultures and diversity.
Artist and authors past and present inspired by it’s beauty and mystery thrive and share.
All this and so much more makes it a city worthy of favor
It has to be San Diego, CA for me. Although I don’t live there anymore, it is where I was born and raised. The skyline there is incredible and very picturesque. And I have to agree with Chris that the SD skyline with yellow and blue hues for the Chargers would make an awesome shirt.
My favorite city is Salt Lake City- it’s beautiful at night from the Avenues or going to Park City. Love your creativity. Thanks for sharing!