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 Des Moines, Iowa. Great place to live, work, raise a family in.
My favorite city is Chicago because it is the first trip I took my granddaughter Isabella on. It was the first time she rode in an airplane and we had a great time! We made so many memories I will treasure for a lifetime and I hope she will too! We rode bikes along Lake Michigan and went on the sailboat Windy- also went to American Girl for their awesome dinner and shopping. Loved it!!!!
Favorite city is San Gimignano in Italy. I have only been there once for 7 days, 13 years ago, but it was like stepping through time & the most memorable trip I have been on. I was fortunate enough to go with my friend I have had since 1st grade & someday when all the kiddos are a bit bigger, being able to go on another adventure with her will be amazing.
*In no way does this reflect that I don’t have an amazing family in a quaint city in the midwest, but that was one of the last things we did together before life got crazy busy, in a good way with careers, husbands & kids. And we rarely get to see each other now, too far apart.
My favorite city is Seattle … because…. I love the mountains and the ocean – Seattle has both. It is such a beautiful area and I love visiting there. But the best reason of all is my Niece lives there along with my Brother and Sister-in-Law. So, when I come to visit I get to see everything I love.
My favorite city is Vancouver B.C. Born and bred. Love it! You should come and visit. We even have an American Girl shop here now! Kits small but better than nothing!!!