A Million Pictures of the Process...

I started with 4 T-shirts, and was afraid I'd need more because the back side corset piece is really long, and most of the T-shirts are not that big, but it worked out after all. (I thought I was one piece short so I went and bought more Rit, then imagine my surprise when ALL the pieces were in the pile - the Lord is my seamstress!)


I mean even teeny-weeny pieces of T-shirt were used...


I'm demonstrating how it's really quick to baste the necklines if you stack the 4 pieces up, then I re-read the directions and you don't baste until you've matched the 2 layers together - oh well.


So here are the front top pieces laid out to be stenciled. I had 2 paper grocery bags that I cut up to protect the table.


And may I say how awesome Krylon Easy Tack is? It was half the price of Spray Mount at Michael's, so there's a plug for that (it holds the stencil to the fabric). I did have to peel the stencil off and move it up to cover the whole thing because my posterboard was too short.


Tulip fabric paint ready...set...go!


Uh, yuck.


I mean really, yuck!


Well, I've never painted anything, so I didn't quite know how to attack it. I started at the bottom right with heavier paint and outlining the stencil by jabbing the paintbrush around the perimeter, but realized it looks much better to use a lighter hand, so I think it gets better as you move up and to the left.


By the time I got to the back, I was quite confident. I finished that in about 2 hours, including setup and cleanup. (Now I'm thinking I should've gone with a lavendarish paint, but my thread is beige, so it's all gonna work out.)


Today, I matched the top layers with the bottoms layers, pinned them together, and remembered to cut a small hole in the painted areas where I'll be trimming while I could still get my hand between the layers.


And now to stitch...


and trim when bored with stitching.


And I'm halfway done with the back center piece after a couple of hours. It IS addictive, and I think it's going to be really pretty when I finish - like a piece of art. (But where, exactly, does one where a piece of art to dinner?)


Only thing is, Katrina told me she made one and it's really low-cut, so I may be modifying this in some way. Bianca S. added a ruffle to one of her AC shirts for more modesty - I may be looking into that. Now back to stitching!