You could be forgiven for thinking you can start to expect a regular blog post from me, but fear not, the planned ones end now!

Screen-printing Mr Mouse’s t-shirts, combined with a lack of plain t-shirts in my wardrobe gave me the idea of making myself some tees to embellish.  This blog is about two crafty ways in which I achieved this.

I used the free Stellan Tee, which is my go-to t-shirt pattern, as a base.  I already had three colour-blocked t-shirts that I made with a jersey bundle from Lamazi – I mainly wear these in bed, though they occasionally make it out into the world.  The bundles are a great idea and I can easily make a t-shirt with each length of fabric.  The complimentary colours mean that they’re perfect for colour-blocking too.

Embroidering an Orca

Whilst coming out of a Lemsip haze and recovering from Covid in the Spring, I tentatively started to pick up crafting again.  I knew that anything I did would have to use a small amount of brain power and be achievable from the sofa.

I had spotted the Whale embroidery pack from Twig and Tale and immediately wanted to incorporate them into my life.  The patterns come in a few different sizes and the smallest Orca felt like a perfect way to get back into crafting post-illness. I dug out one of my t-shirts and started preparing.

It’s a testament to how foggy by brain was that I used a heat-sensitive Frixion pen to trace the design, stuck it to the t-shirt, then pressed it with my iron to get a few wrinkles out.  Cue the penned whale vanishing in front of my eyes and me genuinely wondering why.  Once I remembered that the heat-sensitive pen was designed to disappear under heat, I re-traced the Orca and turned the iron off.

After that blip, the embroidering was a smooth process and the perfect gentle project to ease me back into reality. I definitely want to use the other whale designs somehow…maybe on a rucksack?

Screen-printing

I had a fun day off screen-printing three t-shirts with the aid of my Bobbinhood kit, which is sadly no longer available.

I wanted to create some more complicated designs having tackled single colour ones before.  The book has a section about colour theory and gives clear instructions on how to print layered motifs.

I used the same technique as previously, screen-printing onto the pattern pieces before sewing the t-shirts together.

I chose an abstract design for the maroon top, layering pinks and blues on top of each other.  The flower at the end bled slightly because the screen wasn’t completely dry.  Despite being an innate perfectionist, I am learning to accept imperfections with screen printing and quite like the blurry edged flower.

One thing I learned from my husband’s t-shirts was that some colour combinations need more than one coat…a bit like when painting a wall!  I went over the pink pentagon and blue circle a few times to get a solid colour – both of which seem to be laundering well.

For the other two t-shirts, I chose designs with just two shapes each.  I love the wonky Aloe leaves because they’re so true to life.  Our Aloe plant always has at least one wonky leaf.

One thing I will take into account with any future screen-printing is to mark the placement on the pattern piece as all of these are slightly too close to my armpit!

I’m so pleased with these experiments. It was fun to take simple t-shirts and jazz them up using other crafts.

Thanks for reading :o)