DIY Kitty Emoticon T-Shirt

I have been playing around with t-shirt paint lately and it's been a lot of fun! It is an inexpensive way to personalize a shirt for anyone. I am still trying to find the perfect fabric paint. so, if anyone has any recommendations please do share! I made a kitty emoticon t-shirt recently and here is the design for it for anyone who is interested: Kitty Emoticon T-Shirt Design.

The directions are pretty simple.

To get crisper edges you probably want to print your design on contact paper or anything that is adhesive but can also be removed easily from the fabric. I just did my printouts on regular paper. It will work fine if you are careful and not in a rush like me! For the painting process, just follow the instructions on the back of the container. This can be different from brand to brand and by time.

The first one I did was a gift for someone who is working on an iPhone game. I made a t-shirt with their logo design on it as a little encouragement. I think it turned out OK!

Below are a couple process pictures.

1) Cut out your design VERY carefully with an X-Acto knife.
2) Postion it on your t-shirt.
3) Apply paint per instructions.

Now, I need to buy more t-shirts so I can paint away.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! I am headed to Nashville tomorrow morning. Pictures to come...

Fabric Canvas Art

I keep seeing so many pretty fabrics and I can't help myself from buying them when I do. I wanted to frame some of them and display as fabric art, but today I decided to go a different route. I got into painting not too long ago, so I've got a decent supply of canvases. I started sewing not long after, so I haven't had a chance to use them. I figured that I would temporary put my canvases to use and save the money on frames. If you are looking for just a pop of color or to jazz up a spot in your home (my sewing area in my case), here is an idea to achieve that in just minutes. You can use more permanent solutions to attach fabric to canvas, but I chose safety pins. I can repurpose the fabric and frame without any damage and I can change out the fabric easily. When it comes to home decor, I'm a bit of a commitment-phobe. 

Materials:

• canvas
• fabric = canvas size + ~2"
• bobby pins

Instructions:

Lay your canvas over fabric and cut out a rectangle big enough to cover the canvas in the back.

Iron to get any wrinkles out.

Carefully pin the fabric to the canvas material.

Be sure to pull taut, keep the print align/straight, and tuck in the corners.

And... that's it!

Hammer a nail into the wall, plop on the canvas, and enjoy the view.

Happy Wednesday!

Organize Your Fabrics With Mini Fabric Bolts

A couple of months ago I had posted a question to the sewing subreddit to ask for some ideas for fabric organization/storage and I received some great suggestions. One suggestion was to use comic boards as the core to my own mini bolts as mentioned in this blog post: Mini Fabric Bolts {tutorial}. I liked idea this a lot and borrowed it. Although I didn't bother to pin the fabric, it turned out fine. I had already starting creating fabric bolts, but was using crudely cut pieces from Target and Amazon packages. I admit it was a bit tacky. I wanted to try foam boards, but comic boards was the most cost effective solution. Comic boards can be found on Amazon, but I found out later that they were cheaper at my local comic store. Well, now I know for next time! For ~$10/100 boards, it was worth it to give it a try. I used all but about 5 boards for my bookcase of mini bolts. I was able to fit all my non-fleece fabrics in a 5-shelf bookcase! I have a ton of fleece that I have in a storage bin and also on hangers... in my coat closet still.

I posted this blog earlier that you guys might like:

A Quick Idea To Transform A Bookcase.

I updated the shelves with wrapping paper.

Oh, and check out that suitcases I picked up at Joann's. I love them! I've always wanted a funky vintage looking suitcase. Now I have two! I just have to figure out what to put in them.