29 Aug 2012

WhatIWore: One of my must have closet staples is a heather grey v-neck tee. They’re my go to weekend top and I have half a dozen in my tee shirt drawer.  For today’s DIY project, I’ll update this basic (from American Apparel) with chevron stripes. 

Supplies:

• Laundered Tee Shirt 
• ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape (I used 2” for this project!)
• Simply Spray Fabric Paint
• Tee Shirt Form or Cardboard
• Tailor’s Chalk
• Ruler
• Scissors

To start, you’ll want to stabilize your tee and create a barrier between the front and back layers. I used a piece of form board cut a bit larger than the width of my tee. Craft stores usually carry cardboard tee shirt forms as well.  Next, align your side seams up with the edge of the board and pin the sleeves to the back.  Your tee should be taut but not excessively stretched out. 

Now you’ll also want to tape off any areas that you don’t want paint on. I did the neckline, sleeves and bottom hem of my shirt. 

For the chevron design, I used tailor’s chalk to help create guidelines down the center of my tee and 4.25” to either side.  Depending on the size tape you use, you can play around with more wide or narrow spacing. 

It’s time to tape your zig zag! This step required a little patience to get all of the chevrons to match up at the points. I used a scrap piece of tape between lines for spacing, but there are a few spots where I had to space an 1/8” to a 1/4” bigger. Use a pair of scissors to shape off your chevron points.  Once your taping is complete, press tape edges down firmly. 

Next is the fun part! Time to spray paint! Either outdoors or in a well ventilated space, start spraying your shirt.  Start with a light coat and blot excess paint from the tape. Repeat until you’ve achieved your desired look. 

Once dry, carefully peel away the Painter’s Tape. Check out those super crisp lines! 

And there you have it!  From start to finish, this project took me 3 hours plus drying time. The tee and paint combinations and patterns are endless!  If you like this project, check out the striped sun hat and American flag shorts I made using Painter’s Tape! 

17 Jul 2012

WhatIWore: All weekend long I’ve been soaking up the sun… under the safety of my newly painted sun hat! This project only took about an hour start to finish and was pretty inexpensive too. I’ve been doing a lot of projects lately using ScotchBlue tape (those shorts and a bold wall) so I have multiple rolls sizes of tape on hand. For this project, I used 3/4” wide painter’s tape.  Here’s how I did it!

Supplies:

• Floppy Brim Hat
• ScotchBlue Painter’s Tape
• Acrylic Craft Paint
• Small Paint Brush

To start, decide how thick you’d like your circles to be (along with the space between) and start taping off the portion that will remain unpainted.  If your hat is like mine, the circular pattern used to sew the hat together creates a spiral, so you’ll need to measure off the natural lines of the hat to create perfect concentric circles. 

If your hat is entirely woven (as opposed to sewn, like mine), you might want to use a ruler for a consistent circle. Because your hat is round and your ScotchBlue tape is straight, take your time work around the curves, slightly gathering as you go. Be sure to press the edges of the ScotchBlue tape down firmly!

You could tape off your entire hat or only do the brim and base of the crown like I did. When painting on your stripes, take your time and use a semi-dry brush.  Once complete, let the paint dry, remove the tape and you’re ready for a day in the sun!

On a side note, my hat blew off when I was in the water (hence the glossy look in the first and last photos), but none of the black paint was affected!