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Pins, Paints, Inspirations

Welcome to Sew! Let’s Get Dressed, a weekly blog that encourages you to sew successfully. 

What drives your design process? I am often inspired by a hole in my wardrobe. Recently one emerged: a solid tee or tunic to wear with a new necklace. I have two black Tabula Rasa Knit Tees but both are looking too tired to accompany a shiny new necklace. So I figured it was time to stitch up a new one!

The necklace

All fall, as we traveled to shows and taught classes, I thought about this new black tunic. The rayon jersey was washed and ready, but an all-black top seemed rather stark.

Enter Pinterest: my favorite way to search for inspiration. I have been pinning regularly to the Fit For Art Patterns boards “Sewing with Knits” and “Painting on Fabric”. The new Artistic Artifacts liquid fabric paint has allowed me to consider stenciling on knits, and a brief inventory of my stencils reminded me I had been wanting to stencil ginkgo leaves.

Paints with the stencil

Each new idea led to more Pinterest searches. If you visit the “Inspiration” board you can see all the ginkgo leaf pins I found to further my inspiration.

My sketch

The painted tunic was coming together in my mind. As you can see from my sketch, I included the necklace in my design planning.

Sample leaves

As a birthday gift to myself I spent the last two days cutting out and painting each section of the tunic. I made samples first on the scraps to find the best coordinating metallic shades. Then I used my sketch as a guide.

The first round of paint

I cannot wait to find some time later in the week to put it together. Watch for it on the Instagram project of the week. It seems like the perfect partner for my necklace built with vintage elements.

The finished painting.

Do you follow Instagram or Pinterest for inspiration? Check out all the sewing and styling boards on our Fit For Art Pinterest page. You are sure to find inspiration for your next project.

Happy sewing,

RAE

PS Want to test out these fun paints? Sign up for Surface Design Fun at Capital Quilts on November 6th – a lighthearted way to spend Election Day after you cast your vote!

2 thoughts on “Pins, Paints, Inspirations

  1. My heavens, what a beautiful tunic.

    You know what would look stunning with that? A matching evening shawl done in the same fabric & paint treatment. I have so many ideas now – thank you.

    Incidentally, where did you purchase the necklace? It’s gorgeous.

    1. I confess to having both a silvery grey and a copper sequined shawl that I wear when needed with this very favorite top. The necklace came from one of my favorite stores, The Glass Boat in Richmond Virginia, the Carytown shopping area. Thanks for your lovely comment and be sure to act on your inspiration.

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