My simple stamped shirt
August 10, 2004

Well, I have some time tonight, so I thought I would finally work and post my photos for the stamped shirt I created before Costume College.

I love this shirt. It fits me really well, even tho it is designed to be very roomy. But it skims over me, including my wider hips which is what I wanted. The cotton chambray is just so soft and wonderful to wear, and it doesn't wrinkle nearly as much as most cotton I have worked with. My only issue is the pressure foot wrinkles in the photos, that have since relaxed when I washed it.

And my Mom loves it. She recognized the Japanese symbols and thought it was worth selling to other people. Well, for me, art to wear, even something as simple as this, is for me and those I care about. I plan on making one of these shirts for my Mom, in her very petite size.

So, here are the photos. I hope the table setup works ok.

Side front view of complete shirt	Full front view	Full back view
Detail of upper right front of shirt	Detail view of left side pocket	Detail view of back right side of shirt

I look forward to showing it off at the next FFAG meeting.

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Stamping a Shirt
July 22, 2004

On the topic of my simple art-to-wear project... I have been slowly working on a new shirt for myself, which I mentioned before. I decided to stamp the right front, part of the right back shoulder area, and the two pockets. I am not sure if I am going to use both pockets, but I thought they should both be stamped, jic.

I stamped the shirt front in gold and copper metallics. I used Lumiere paints, and I really like how they look. I used oriental character stamps, both from Purrfection (the clear stamps) and from Michael's crafts. The stamps I used are "Joy", "Friend", "Fortunate", and my personal fav, "Good Luck". I tried out all my colors on a test strip of scrap fabric, and the gold and copper seemed to do the best for what I wanted.

The stamping I liked ok, but the metallics didn't seem to be metalic enough with just the stamping. I also had some paint pool around the stamped image area, which pooled onto the fabrics (bah!). After letting the stamped images dry I went back over and hand painted the characters.

It took me over two and a half hours to do all that, and not in one sitting since Cam decided to have shorter nap hours in the past few days. But now they are done, I have some photos here to show how the stamping looks.

Detail view of stamped images, in copper and gold paint.	View of stamped images, with paint, brush & clear acrylic stamp.	View of stamped images, with paint, brush & wooden stamp.

I hope to have time to finish sewing the garment together before I head off to Costume College, but I had to let these dry 24 hours and then iron them to heat set, before I can actually sew them together. I could probably sew them anyway, but the ironing would just be easier without the seams in the way.

Meanwhile, I am pondering what kind of personal dress style I want to design for myself. Gotta be comfy, fitted properly (well, duh), and something that says "me"... but what.... That has been the stumper. Who am I now and how do I want to reflect who I am to other people?

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A simple sewing project.
July 18, 2004

Well, my day has been interesting so far. Besides watering my Mom's yards, feeding the cats there, and the stacks of dishes here, I have been working on a new shirt pattern, Paw Prints/Purrfection #1024 Safari shirt.

I did the same pattern pants already, but they didn't fit right because those were my first pants patterns, and I had no clue what to do to make them fit right. I thought of making them over again, but I wanted something else to do.

I thought of banging my head on another complicated costume part (that I have a list to do by October), but decided to just do something different and make a simple shirt for myself to wear everyday. Several of my ready to wear shirts are in a similar style, so I thought I would make this one and jazz it up a bit with some creative stamping. I had bought the stamps and fabric paints a few weeks (months?) ago from purrfection, and they had been sitting. I figured why not have fun and hopefully have something nice to wear at Costume College, that isn't a costume.

The material is a nice soft medium blue cotton chambray, or that was what the bolt stated. It is softer than most cottons I have felt, so I am wondering if it may be blended with rayon or something. Gotta do a burn test sometime to be sure. It is 61.75" wide after washing, so I have enough material left over to make another shirt if I wanted.

I spent today tracing out the right sizes for me to wear onto butcher paper. I traced the XL upper chest and went out to a 2X for my wider hips. Now the pattern has enough ease that I could have stuck to the XL, but I hate how my rtw shirts just skim my hips, and since I am sewing this, I may as well make it fit ME, not some mythical "standard". Heck, if I can make a bodice fit to a T, I can make a simple boxy shirt fit better.

I then went on to cut the fabric out. I gotta say I love the weights instead of pins approach to cutting out fabric. Much faster and easier, especially using a rotary cutter instead of regular shears. I then pinned the sides and shoulders together and did a quick pin fit to see how it hangs. I like so far. I am pondering making a small dart for my low breasts, but since it is a boxy pattern, it may just stay undarted. 'Sides, I don't want to go into adjusting the sleeves to fit the smaller armhole.

I do plan on stamping the right side front, the two pockets and partially down the right back shoulder area with my oriental stamps. I am not sure what colors to use, but am pondering gold on the medium blue fabric. I am also pondering using my smaller stamps to go down the front right placket, just a little ways. I am not sure, so I may do that after it is all made up, using painters tape to block off the non-stamped areas.

Well, I gotta go for now. I have my front yard to deadhead flowers, and finish up the dishes. I hope I have time tonight after Cam's to bed to stamp the fabric. Oooooh, I can't wait!!!

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