Navy and Lace Top

  I've been playing around with alternative ways of adding lace texture to things lately, and not many of them worked. Lace as a stencil with fabric spray paint made too soft of a texture, and with fabric paint pounced or brushed on the details were too muddy. I bought this set of silkscreens at Michael's the other day though, just to try out. I wasn't sure if it would work at all since it is marketed for use on glass and ceramics, but look!

  The small butterfly is from another set. I did have to play around a lot to get the fabric paint I used to the right thickness... too thick and some spots have missing paint, too thin and it seeps underneath the silkscreen and ends up muddy. And I know, the painted lace on the yoke is crooked. On my first attempt at that yoke the paint looked great at first, but spread as it dried and ended up being solid white. I had to wash the fabric out completely (which took a while!) and dry it before trying again... and apparently I didn't line everything up right the second time. The silkscreen piece was a lot narrower than my shoulders, but it worked out alright to line up the edges and add the paint for the second half next to the first, even though there isn't a good repeat to line up. =)

   I added a couple butterflies on the back... the one on the shoulder is missing some spots from too-thick paint.

  Also, I accidentally painted the back of one sleeve instead of the front, and didn't have enough fabric for a re-do so I cut the painted piece off and sewed it back on in the right direction, then sewed a seam in the other sleeve to match.

  I used MadMim's tutorial to draft the tee from my measurements... mine didn't come out perfectly the first try, so I was glad I'd used scrap fabric to sew it up. This tee is after a couple small alterations. I used knit leftover from this dress, and it was a real stretch getting enough pieces out for this shirt! In fact, I had to use the pillowcases from the set and unpick their hems to get pieces long enough. =)

  I didn't end up using a knit binding around the neck because I had some pretty picot elastic that was too perfect not to use... I just stretched it slightly while serging it on, then top-stitched with a twin needle. I used another rolled hem to add some sweetness to the bottom of the shirt, stretching it slightly for a lettuce-edge. Overall I'm pretty happy with this shirt, in spite of its imperfections! And I'm happy to have the lace silkscreens to use on other projects. =)

Gratuitous Blinking Bump Photo!

  I already have another knit shirt for myself planned out, but I need to test out some more pattern alterations first. =) I should sew more knit stuff for the little people, since most knit projects are so quick and easy... I have a feeling I'd get a lot more sewn for them if I did.

 Speaking of little people... it's a girl! Daughter number three is due in August. =) And from her ultrasound, she is adorable!

  And more big news, we will be moving to a town about 30 miles away sometime in the next month... so I have a lot to do!

Thanks for stopping by!