Stenciled shirt

  Here is what I was up to yesterday:

  When I started, this was an ultra-plain grey shirt. I love grey, but every time I wore this shirt I felt drab and just plain frumpy. So, to fix it, I tried out a technique I have been seeing everywhere for years, but haven't actually used until now: freezer paper stenciling. Basically, you draw a simple design on the non-shiny side of freezer paper:

  It doesn't matter much if your lines are perfect, because you can smooth them out when you cut. I cut my stencil out with regular scissors up until the last few pieces, and it took me about 45 minutes. I used little tiny scissors on the last few and it was much faster. A lot of people use a cutting machine, like the Silhouette Cameo, or an X-acto knife to cut. I just don't happen to own either of those. =)
 Here is what it looked like cut:

  I decided not to use the design in the top left corner, and cut a different one out of a separate piece of paper. Once your stencil is cut out, you just put it on top of your fabric, shiny side down, iron it on, and brush or pounce on some fabric paint. I used acrylic paint thinned with fabric medium. Once the paint is dry, you iron it to set it, and you are done! It was fun.

  I remembered the other reason this shirt didn't get a lot of wear when I tried it on though... it is a little short, and the sleeves don't go all the way to my wrists, which is why they are rolled up. Plus, the back neck is too high and the whole thing looks tight even though it is quite loose. Does anyone else have trouble with all the shirts they buy being too short?

  I did have a couple spots where I either didn't iron enough or painted too energetically... you can see that one of the leaves on the lower right of the shirt has a blotch above it. I also wish I had put the stencil closer to the side of the shirt, (and used a shirt that fit!) but considering that I only spent about an hour and a quarter on it, I'm pretty happy. I am definitely going to stencil some other stuff when I get the chance.
Thanks for stopping by,