Fall Fashion: Decorating with Leaves, 3 Ways!

Before the snowflakes invade, I'm still celebrating the last of the fall foliage. The leaves are so beautiful this time of year in Brooklyn. I was up in New England for peak color, but even the last few weeks in Brooklyn have yielded a lovely array of color and variety. Of course, no matter how you try to keep them, the color fades, and they become dry and brittle. Here are three projects with a common autumnal theme that, like the snowflakes I made and painted last year, help make nature last a little longer.

T-shirt Halloween: Make a Mini Mondrian!

For all of you would-be Halloween revelers who are down to the wire when it comes to your costume, here's a quick and easy costume idea that requires just a blank T-shirt and some fabric paint or markers. Create a masterpiece! (Or, rather, wear one inspired by the works of Piet Mondrian.) In just a couple of hours you'll have your priceless artwork -- just grab a frame and hit the trick-or-treating circuit! (Even better, grab some friends and paint a whole museum or gallery worth of fine art pieces.)

 

Hand-Stamped T-shirt Totebag II (The Sequel: with Veggies!)

When you're talking fruit and vegetable stamping, a change of seasonal harvest can herald a whole new palette of patterns and textures to print with. And with them, a whole new no-sew T-shirt totebag tutorial -- this time, with fringe! Before the summer fruits and veggies officially relinquish their harvest reign to the autumn root vegetables (reminder: potato printing=boring!), see what you can scavenge from the last of the September haul to make some colorful T-shirt prints -- and a sturdy T-shirt tote to bring to next weekend's farmers market! Behold, this fall's hottest accessory (see this summer's no-sew tote here)....

How to: Make a Keepsake Silhouette Portrait

Here's a handmade and personalized gift for Grandparent's Day (the first Sunday after Labor Day -- for 2013, it's on September 8!), or you can save it for Mother's or Father's Day. Just snap a photo of your subject in profile, gather up the rest of the materials, and you can make and assemble this in minutes. Start a series by making a new image each year so you can see the growth of your child!

How to: Paint a Cityscape with Tape

Though my motivation was nursery decor (inspired particularly by my son's love for taxis and trucks -- hey, we live in Brooklyn!), this technique could easily be applied to any shapes that benefit from a grid-like treatment -- like robots, or alphabet tiles, or basic shapes. I was inspired by the geometry of the landscape where we live, but your cityscape could be urban or rural (or suburban, for that matter!). The tape technique works like any resist--I love the batik-like result, and the effect, as I mentioned, could be applied to any subject matter, to suit any room in the house!

Altered Tie-Dye T-shirt Challenge Featuring Megan of Generation T

While most fringe T-shirts have the fringe tailing off the bottom, I went with horizontal fringe on this one. The side fringe gives nice movement and flow to the tee, and it's a great project for making a slightly-too-big T-shirt into a just-right T-shirt. Add a touch of ombre tie-dye, and it's a perfect summertime staple. Throw it over your bathing suit, and head beachward!

Hand-Stamped T-shirt Totebag (with Fruit!)

Move over potato stamping! There are some other fruits and veggies that want in on the action. Printing with fruits and veggies is nothing new -- but when applied to a grocery or green market bag, you get a tote that forecasts what should go inside (apples, onions, peppers, celery, corn...). Not to mention, you can construct this sturdy bag from an old T-shirt without sewing--a single safety pin is the closest you'll get to any specialty tools. I worked out the bag particulars while I was in residency at a workshop up in NH (I've since discovered a great tutorial for a very similar technique by Lee Meredith over at Leethal.net, which I imagine works particularly well for larger T-shirts, where the bottom bunching can be redistributed between several gathers). And I was inspired to use an apple after seeing Kayte Terry's lovely apple-printed tote (I wish my apple had had a stem on it!).

What You Need:
-Plain old T-shirt (I used a kid's size 6-8 for this particular one)
-Tulip Dimensional Paint or Tulip Soft Fabric Paint Tubes
-Plastic lid to use as a paint palette
-Half an apple (or bell pepper, or onion, or...) to use as a stamp
-Fabric scissors
-Safety pin
-Scrap paper

Insert sheets of scrap paper between the layers of the T-shirt so the colors won't bleed through. Squeeze a fairly generous amount of fabric paint onto your paint palette. Place the apple half flat side into the paint and slide it around to make sure it's covered. Make a test print on a scrap piece of paper or the sleeve of the T-shirt (which will be cut off) before printing on your shirt.

Then print away, starting at the bottom of the tee and working your way up to the shoulders. I re-inked between each pressing of the apple.

Reapply fabric paint to your palette as needed. When the front of the T-shirt is complete, let it dry partially (about 30 mins), then flip it over (onto a protective surface, in case not all the glue is dry) and stamp the back!

Hang the T-shirt to let it dry completely (and decide whether the T-shirt wants to stay a T-shirt now that it's been revived with color!). 

If you choose to continue on to make the tote bag....

Cut off the sleeves of the T-shirt, just inside the shoulder seams. Then cut out the neckband in a gentle arc, going through both layers.

Cut off one of the T-shirt sleeve hems, just outside the seam (so that no stitching remains on the strip that you cut off), and cut through the loop to make a strip. Stretch it out, so it curls in on itself and becomes cord-like. Set it aside.

Use the tips of your scissors to snip a small hole through just the inside of the bottom hem of the T-shirt.

Attach the safety pin to one end of the cord and thread it through the hole in the hem.

Inch it through, making sure you hold onto the non-safety-pinned end so it doesn't get lost in the hem casing.

Pull both ends even, remove, the safety pin, and...

...pull tight the drawstring, so that the bottom hem gathers completely. Then tie it in a bow or a double knot.

Now here's to crumpling it up, stuffing it in your back pocket or purse, and hitting the farmer's market! See, now you can FILL it with fruits and veggies.

 Don't forget to share your collected loot!

And stay tuned: Another veggie-printed, no-sew tote bag tutorial is coming your way over on Generation T next week!

How to: Tie-Dye Your Life (Starting with Your Kids)

I always bring a craft project when I visit my niece, Dorothy. One time it was Embroidery Day, another it was Felt Cat Ear Day...this time it was Tie-Day Day! Our goal, which we nobly chose to accept: to tie-dye an entire wardrobe. As you can see, we got pretty darn close...

So, despite all my T-shirt proclivities, I have to confess I actually have never tie-dyed in my adult life. I don't know what made me think that it would be so hard, but honestly, the only thing that could have made this easier was a nice picnic table outside to craft on (and that's just me asking for a luxurious upgrade). 

The takeway: Tie-dye. Is. So. Easy. 

I would go so far as to say it's foolproof! Next time you have a family reunion, skip ordering the printed T-shirts: Set up a tie-dye station for all the siblings and cousins--by morning, you'll have a full set of T-shirts perfect for a very colorful family portrait!

What You Need:
-Tulip One-Step Tie-Dye Kit (color: "Vibrant" -- includes rubber bands, bottles, dyes, two pairs of plastic gloves, and an instruction/inspiration sheet)
-Cotton things to dye: We picked T-shirts (in two sizes, for the two cousins), tights, and socks
-plastic table cloth or plastic garbage bag to cover your work surface
-paper towels
-plastic cling wrap or zip-lock bags

Note: If you're working with new T-shirts, pre-wash and dry them to make sure any shrinking that's going to happen has happened!

To start with, my niece picked the "Swirl" design from the instruction sheet that comes with the kit. Following the instructions, she pinched the fabric at the center of the T-shirt and twisted the T-shirt until she had a round little, swirled T-shirt "biscuit."

We wrapped the T-shirt swirl with 3 rubber bands (also included in the kit), and dampened it under running water, squeezing out the excess water. We cut open a plastic garbage bag to protect the floor and, armed with plenty of paper towels, we ended up preparing 4 T-shirts, 1 pair of tights, and 1 pair of socks to try out 5 different tie-dye styles that were described in the kit (we even did our own variation on one -- diagonal stripes!).

The powder dye comes already in the squeeze bottles; we filled the rest of the bottle with water up to the thick black line, put the top on tightly, and shook each bottle until the dye was mixed.

Dorothy squeezed the dyes onto the T-shirt segments (delineated by the rubber bands) one color and one segment at a time.

We wrapped each project in plastic cling wrap to sit overnight. Dorothy tie-dyed 2 kid-sized T-shirts and the pair of socks, I tackled the tights and a toddler-sized T-shirt, and Uncle Luke even got in on the action with another toddler-sized T-shirt. Note: The package says you can get up to 9 garments, but if you're crafting with kids, make sure to estimate for fewer, since they tend to be a bit generous when squeezing out the dye (in addition to our 7 garments, we had the most beautiful paper towels!).

We let the dye soak in overnight (6-8 hours minimum), but we had a busy day, so we left them wrapped up for longer. We unwrapped each project over the sink, and rinsed and squeezed out as much excess dye as possible. Then we peeled off the rubber bands, and gently shook out our masterpieces!

Dorothy was so excited/giddy/proud of the results of her T-shirt that she photo-bombed the picture! Since we had a whole batch of garments with the same color scheme, we tossed them all in the washing machine and dryer together to finish the process. After her cousin, Niko, woke up from his nap, it was time to try on the matching Swirl design tie-dye T-shirts!

Because we were running low on dye by the time I did the tights, they're a little more pastel-colored in the back than the T-shirts, but the violet sunbursts on the front are perfect little rosettes (says Dorothy).

And because it didn't make sense to layer the socks over the tights (though she was tempted!) or layer the second T-shirts, we're saving the Bullseye T-shirt the Diagonal Stripes T-shirt and the Stripes Socks tie-dyes from our tie-dye extravaganza for tomorrow's coordinating cousin outfits.

Did I mention tie-dye is great for obscuring grass stains? An added bonus, for sure! There's definitely more tie-dye to come this summer -- and quite likely in my size this time.

Decorate an Umbrella with Fabric Paint!

They say that April showers bring May flowers. And in some parts of the country this year there've even been April flurries to herald in the blooms! While Mother Nature keeps us on our toes, here's a colorful springtime project that really brings the flowers when it rains. It's just one of a slew of ways to decorate an umbrella with paint (because let's face it, sometimes a purple umbrella isn't quite bright enough). It's part pop art (a gumball machine!), part impressionism (Monet's gardens at Giverny) -- and a whole lot of color to brighten any dreary day! We often think of fabric paints in the context of T-shirts and other wearables, but it's fun to experiment with paint on other fabric-based surfaces: embellished pillows, couches, canvas director chairs, curtains, and...umbrellas!

What you need:
-a plain umbrella
-Tulip Soft Fabric Paint in a variety of colors 

(I used Azalea, Lime, Mandarin Orange, Linen, Crimson Red Matte, and Holiday Green Matte)
-Tulip Sponge Pouncers (foam paintbrushes)
-paper plate (to use as a paint palette)

Check out the how-to video I did for About.com, or scroll down to follow the step-by-step photos.

Open the umbrella (I know it's considered bad luck, but you'll have to get over it -- or take the project outside if the weather's nice!). Squeeze one paint color onto your palette and use the pouncer to start making dots around the perimeter of the umbrella. Make them close together at the bottom of the umbrella and space them farther apart toward the top.

Wash and dry the pouncer before changing colors, or start with a fresh brush. Squeeze out a new dollop of paint and press dots around the base of the umbrella, interspersed with the first color. Reinforce the fabric surface on the inside of the umbrella with your other hand (just slide it under, palm up).

Continue to add colors the same way, and your "garden" will grow more and more lush. It's repetitive, but incredibly meditative, too!

When you've added all of your colors, let the umbrella fabric dry completely. Now that you've completed this "rainy day activity," you can take part in a new one: go outside with your umbrella and jump in the puddles!

It's a nice vibrant splash of color while we wait for the flowers to poke through.

Easy Glitter Dot Easter Eggs

I'm pretty traditional when it comes to decorating eggs at Easter time (dollar store egg dying kit, anyone?), but to be honest, it was getting kind of dull year after year. My solution: Bring on the polka dots! Bring on the disco sparkle! The best part? No waiting around for dye to set or glue to dry. This is egg decorating with immediate (and rather shimmery) results.

What you need:

-clean, dry blown eggs (hard-boiled will work fine, too; I personally just don't like to mix food and glitter!)
-Aleene's Tacky Dots
-Aleene's Tacky Dots Singles (small and medium)
-Aleene's Fashion Glitter
-aluminum muffin tin or tray
-makeup brush

Click through to watch the video tutorial I did for About.com, or follow the instructions below!

Center one of the Tacky Dots on the side of the egg, and gently press it down.

Peel off the backing and gently press down any wrinkles. Then repeat on the other side with another Tacky Dot.

Hold the egg gently over the muffin tray and liberally sprinkle glitter over the tacky dot. Brush off the excess with the makeup brush and rotate the egg to repeat on the other side.

Try adding medium Tacky Dot Singles around the egg, between the large dots, and repeat the process: Shake on the glitter (new color!); brush off the excess.

Next, I try sticking the small Tacky Dot Singles in the white area around the large dots and repeat the process a third time (again, with a new color).

Shake the glitter on, then dust off the excess.

 

Finished!

Try different combinations of glitter color and dot sizes to repeat and fill your basket.

Variation: To personalize your egg, use Tacky Glue to write an initial over the glitter layer on the large Tacky Dot, then sprinkle it with contrasting color glitter. Let it dry completely before brushing off any excess sparkle.