Thursday, October 9, 2008

More Freezer Paper Stenciling

It turns out I really enjoy freezer paper stenciling. This week, the girls each picked out a design, which I prepped, and they painted their own shirts. I added that same polka dot ribbon trim, and here are the results.


This photo of Nora tells us two things: First, the paint is very shiny (hence the glare!) and second, Nora was not in the mood to have her photo taken. This was photo number six and the only one in which she was not sporting a giant scowl. Instead, she has giant bug eyes, which I think are sort of cute. She wanted a butterfly and hearts, which I created using Adobe InDesign. Not exactly the purpose of this fantastic publishing program, but it worked slick.


Dana was happy to pose for a photo. Her shirt has a unicorn on it, though it is hard to tell. It looks like a horse from here. Again with the ribbon trim. Dana's shirt almost ended up in the trash. She was a bit over zealous with the paint and got a giant glob, at least 2 1/2 inches long, onto the shirt, and not on the part that needed paint. It was sort of by the armpit. So I had her finish painting in the stencil and then I took the shirt and, careful as I could, rinsed off the paint blob under hot water. So that caused the entire back of the shirt to get soaking wet. And there was still plenty of stray paint, which at this point looked awful. So I snuggled a cutting board inside the shirt to keep the front dry so the paint could dry, and I got out my Melaleuca Pre-Spot and a nail brush. I squirted, let it sit, scrubbed the everliving daylights out of it, repeated, and let it sit overnight. In the morning, I hung it to dry and that evening, after ironing the stencil to heat set it, I threw it in the wash and at the end of the cycle, every speck of spilled paint was gone. I got fabric paint out of fabric! I feel like a superhero. Dana was so happy, and she loves her unicorn shirt.



Since I finished Kevin's hat, I have been working on legwarmers for Dana. She loves to wear dresses and even with thick cotton tights, her legs still get cold from the Minnesota winters. I thought legwarmers were the perfect solution: she can wear them to and from the car and can remove them when we are inside. Perfect! Her favorite color is purple and she feels that this periwinkle is purple, so that is a bonus. I have this ridiculous notion that I may have enough yarn to make two pairs. They are so easy and so fast! And the yarn is lovely. It is called Sublime, and that is such a fitting name. So soft, so pretty, so very easy to work with. Yay leg warmers!

3 comments:

Chris, Jodi, and Miles said...

Alyssa...I either completely forgot or did not know that you had a blog. Anyways, I'm so excited! You are a friend of andersonsduluth now, ok?

I hope that all is well for you. See you this weekend at the big bash!

Chris, Jodi, and Miles said...

By the way, those shirts are adorable! I would like to learn how to make them.

Chris, Jodi, and Miles said...

OMG. I just realized that I spelled your name wrong. Sorry.