Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Queue jumping projects

I've long been guilty of abandoning a project part-way through in favour of one which takes my fancy Right Now.  Unless I have a specific deadline I have come to embrace this - I won't be working on the project I'm not inspired by anyway, so I might as well set it aside.  Usually I come back to these projects with renewed enthusiasm or ideas.

I've just set aside my current Alabama Chanin project (the pale orange skirt and top I set aside to go back to the rose dress which in turn had been set aside for those!) because in April David Gray is playing in Christchurch.  He is my absolute all time favourite singer so I am positively bouncing with excitement and counting down till the concert (which I'm going to with my sister).  Naturally that needs a new outfit.  I would LOVE to have made a grey rose dress, but two months isn't long enough, so I figured I'd make a skirt. (I've been having fun winding up Georgia by saying I should wear all grey because his name is Gray.  She says "No. Mum. Just No")

I started with this dress, which I got in an Op Shop (I think it was Paperbag Princess) for $2 last year.  No way would I wear it like this.
However, it's a lovely soft rayon knit and has only one side seam and one shoulder seam, meaning I could harvest the whole thing for fabric.  After cutting the four skirt panels there is a nice big chunk left, which will become something else.

Therese asked how I print onto fabric.  Well it's very low tech.  I cut a stencil from laminator plastic (I get the nice people at Warehouse Stationery to run me through an empty piece, which costs me a few dollars).  This one is made from some offcuts they gave me for nothing, taped together.  I apply the fabric paint (Fastex brand, because that is what is available locally, and it works just fine) using a foam roller and tray which cost about $9 from Bunnings.  I leave the painted panels to dry overnight then heat set the paint with an iron.



This is the first panel with most roses stitched and snipped, a few beaded, and a few left to bead if I have time before April.

Closer shot.  The underlayer is pale blue, but appears quite greyish against the darker grey.  The paint is white, but looks pale grey on the dark grey as well.


How long till April?