Halloween is over... but Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is still going on so what better time to share this project to make a unique piece of artwork. Of course can be used for any idea / theme but I have been holding onto it for now for obvious reasons ;)
I was sorting through our clothes for charity shop or upcycling potential and I came across an old T-Shirt of Mally's. It had faded a lot, but I loved the design on it and wanted to preserve it in some way. I know for a fact that I am not ready to tackle the T-Shirt quilts that are all over Pinterest. I also wanted to practise my embroidery and an idea came to mind - make a little piece of art!
I forgot to take a picture of the T-Shirt before I cut it up, but I found this photo from our holiday to Cape Town in April 2012 (see Table Mountain in the background?!)
I cut the main part of the picture out (of course remembering to keep the scraps for other projects!!) As the design on the T-Shirt was so detailed, I simply chose which parts I wanted to embroider over, and selected matching threads. As the T-Shirt material is so stretchy, a hoop was essential.
Then using a variety of stitches (none of which I know the real names for and most of which I sort of made up!) I stitched away.
I could have gone over every bit of the design but wanted to do it partially and I really like how it turned out.
I finished off by ironing, stretching and stapling it to some mount board. I haven't decided whether to frame it but it is definitely going up in the house somewhere!
Do you have any old T-Shirts that you could turn into art?
Brilliant as always and I love the pic of Mallycat. He looks so young.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ralphie Lauren! xx
DeleteThisis an amazing idea. Our t shirts are so dull though!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://asaucystitch.blogspot.co.uk
Thanks! It helps to use kids T-Shirts for sure! xx
DeleteI will have to start buying more exciting t-shirts! Love this, great idea.
ReplyDeleteHaha Joanna, see above - it helps with the kids T-Shirts! xx
DeleteThat looks really impressive - I can imagine you could really turn any design into art and it would look fab. I shall look at my T-shirts in a completely different light.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, I've been saving every faded and outsized T-Shirt now! xx
DeleteWhat a brilliant idea, I really love the way it turned out too.
ReplyDeleteThank you Lucy xxx
DeleteYour revamped tshirt looks wonderful. What a great idea to embroider over the design!
ReplyDeleteAli x
Thanks Ali - Its a good way to practise your stitching!! xx
DeleteWhat a great idea! I've seen people make quilts out of old t-shirts, but this is quite a bit more manageable! Off to dig through the closets for t-shirts and embroidery thread! :)
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Love, Joy @ Yesterfood.blogspot.com
Thanks Joy - I am definitely not up to making a quilt...yet! xx
DeleteNice! What a great way to preserve a memory. Thanks for linking up to the Upcycled Linky Party at http://love2upcycle.blogspot.com/2013/11/upcycled-linky-party-29.html
ReplyDeleteThanks Tricia! xx
DeleteThat is a pretty cool idea. I've never seen anything like it. I look forward to reading more posts.
ReplyDeleteThanks Darlene! We hope you will come back for more! xx
DeleteThis is gorgeous, I have so many tshirts I could do this with, I think I'll give it a go!
ReplyDeleteThanks Emu, you definitely should!!! xx
DeleteAwesome idea!!! thanks for sharing, I have a few t-shirts that I can start working on :)
ReplyDeleteNo problems, thanks for commenting! xx
DeleteThis is awesome! I have a few T-shirts that belonged to my late sister-in-law that I would love to do this to. I need to get a frame so I can stretch them and hang them on the wall. Thank you so much for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteDeborah, this is such a great idea and a fab way to preserve memories xxxx
DeleteLove this idea! Looks great!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathy! xxx
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