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… Seattle, I know it sounds cliché, giving that the giveaway is about Seattle, but I have such positive memories surrounding all our little excursions there, a great place to walk around and take pictures, shop at the market and hang out!
My favorite city is Auckland, New Zealand. What a beautiful area and wonderful climate!
I love Toronto. It is clean, very safe, very beautiful. Toronto is built with greenbelts circling most neighbourhoods, and with ample bike trails. Public bike rentals are readily available. It is a multicultural city with Greek Town (the Danforth), Korean Town (southern Bathurst Street), Kensington Market (Ashkenazi), China Town (Spadina), the Beaches (Bloor East), Textile Distroct (Queen and Spadina), Contemporary Jewish (Bathurst north of St. C.lair), lots of Arts and Crafts opportunities and great museums. (ROM, AGO, and the TEXTILE MUSEUM) make mean one doesn’t need a car. I love Toronto, where there is a surprise at every corner. In addition, there are lovely residential areas.
Love this shirt. My favorite city is San Francisco! Beautiful weather and GREAT shopping. : )
My favorite city is Cannon Beach, Oregon because I love exploring Hay Stack Rock & I adore the beach even in the fog, rain and especially on a clear day!