Palm Shirt
DIRECTIONS
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1.We made our shirt from scratch, sewing it together at the shoulder seams then attaching the neck band and positioning the shirt flat on a sheet of plastic, the shirt back protected from spray. When painting a ready-made shirt, be sure to apply painters tape to the side seams so the paint doesn’t get on the sides of the shirt. Also place a heavy cardboard inside the shirt to prevent paint from seeping through the front layer to the back. In general, mask any area you don’t want painted.
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2.The product directions suggest starting the spray off the fabric and finishing off the fabric because there may be dripping involved at the beginning and end. Place paper towels at the edges of the work area for that purpose.
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3.Plan before you paint. Know where you want to place your design. If it’s important that the design be symmetrical, draw a line down the center of the shirt with a disappearing ink pen. The pen color will still fade even after being sprayed with the paint. When layering colors, always begin with the lightest color first.
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4.Use a silk plant branch or something from your garden to create what artists call “resist”, a blocked area that will resist paint.
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5.Sweep the “sand” colored paint across the shirt at a diagonal. You’ll note this color paint is light beige but the more paint you put down, the more peach it looks. Reposition the branch on another part of the shirt and spray again.
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6.When you’ve done as much of this technique as you like, position the palm fronds stencil. We’ve included the fronds image in the .pdf file so that you can create your own stencil. Again, mask off areas you don’t want painted. Sweep the olive paint across the shirt. Make the fronds darker by spraying again if you like. Be careful not to spray too many times if you don’t want the shirt to be dark green. Also try masking off the entire shirt (once it’s dry) outside the stencil to create dark fronds. Don’t hesitate overlapping the stencil with a previously painted frond. It will provide interest to your design.
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7.When your design dries, in about an hour, you can add detail. We outlined all the fronds with a permanent olive marker but this is purely optional and a matter of taste.
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8.Create coconuts in the trees by attaching 3 to 5 chocolate rhinestones per frond group. Use light yellow stones for the tree trunks. If the stones are hot fix, you can iron them on when the project is dry without causing any harm to the paint. If you use plain stones, apply a little glue on the back of each.
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Lace Shoulder Tank
DIRECTIONS
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1.As with the t-shirt, we made our tank from scratch. We sewed the front and back together at the shoulder seams. Painting before the shirt was sewed together was a great advantage for creating this design because we were able to lay the shirt open with access to the tops of both shoulders.
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2.Set a piece of tracing paper over both shoulder areas. Measure approximately four inches out from the shoulder seam on the front and back piece and draw a straight horizontal line with with a pencil or pen.
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3.Place a curved edge item like a dinner plate across the line and trace the plate edge to create a curve. Duplicate this curve for both shoulders on the front and back.
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4.Use the paper as a pattern to cut out two pieces of lace fabric you are willing to discard.
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5.Position the two lace pieces over the fabric shoulders. Tape the lace down outside the shirt edges to hold in place.
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6.Use the paper pattern again to cut out two shapes of card stock. This time you will not be using the shapes themselves, you will be using the leftovers, the opposite curved edge you just cut. This will create a matching resist for the edge of the lace. Place it up against the curve in the lace to stop paint at the curve line.
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7.Starting with the card stock, mask all fabric where you don’t want paint applied.
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8.Sweep the Olive paint evenly across both shoulders.
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9.Remove the lace and card stock and let the shirt dry.
