One of my all-time favorite T-shirts got stained somehow at camp this year. Chances are it was lumped in with some wet towels that had not decided to keep all their dye yet...some of the dark blue transfered on to my fave green T, then decided to stay. I tried all kinds of things to get rid of it, short of cutting it out.It is a $5 shirt...but I got it really far away and would have a heck of a time replacing it...and I love it. It's that wonderfully soft cotton that drapes well and feels yummy.
After Jodi's and my day on Sunday I had a bit of a brainwave...I mean, what have I got to lose? If this didn't work, it was only a $5 shirt, right?
Monday I set it up outside in the sun with some Dye-na-flow and ferns to sunprint it, and yesterday I spent a bit of my day cutting a stencil from freezer paper. I'd fallen in love with t
hat little bird stencil I'd bought, so opted to enlarge it.Last evening I stenciled the bird on using a metallic silver Shiva paintstick. I was a little worried, given the stretchy nature of the knit, but all in all it worked out rather well. I think the shirt has been resurrected.
I know one is SUPPOSED to wait 3 days for their paintstick work to dry, but I just couldn't. While still stretched on the cardboard, I ironed the dickens out of it, using some paper towels to pick up any loose paint. I was a bit ruthless with the iron, then left it overnight. This morning I spent a little more time pressing it, then threw it in the washer (saying to myself: "$5 shirt, $5 shirt"). It came through the washer and dryer without incident (to itself or the machines) and seems to be ready for action again!
A little side note:
Yesterday I was quilting along as I usually do, with my sound-reducing headphones on (listening to White Teeth by Zadie Smith - don't wait, just read it). I could hear a funny noise sort of at the edge of my hearing...at first I thought my machine had developed a murmur or vibration sound, but once I took my headphones off, I could distinctly hear a cat purring. Our oldest cat, Bishop (12yrs) usually announces herself to me by purring, so I looked around for her.
I couldn't find her anywhere. Following the sound, I discovered her here, in the bottom of the quilts waiting for quilting. There are some baskets down there that she had set up shop in! She seemed to have mixed feelings about being discovered in there and left almost immediately after I took her picture.
Unfortunately for Bishop, I've had to make the space less attractive for her. She won't want to sleep in there now as I've covered it in plastic.
Like the rest of us, she'd snooze under quilts all day if she could.
Happy stitching,
Lisa
8 comments:
way to salvage a stained shirt! It looks wonderful and you'd never know it was a salvage and not the original plan :-)
Love the t-shirt!
Great shirt. I was recently bemoaning the fact that some of my $5 solid color t-shirts that I wear ALL THE TIME had picked up some stains and maybe a few pin holes. I was mad about it, and then I thought: "DUH. You bought $5 t-shirts because you know they were going to get stained and holey..." and then I thought: "Hmmm. I wonder how I could salvage these shirts with....paint or applique or...." I'll have to carve out some time to do just that! Thanks for the inspiration!
the shirt came out wonderfully!
No wonder you love that bird...its a great design! Cute shirt!
That shirt is lovely, and I like the little bird. Looks like a designer piece now.
What a creative solution. I have favorite shirts that I have lost to staining and wish I could have saved them! Next time!
great save! the shirt looks fantastic!
we routinely found the cats curled up in waiting quilts
check out my blog tomorrow, i used your pattern Arabia today on a quilt of mine. LOVE the pattern! it is fantastic! and it *just* fit on my liberty lol!!
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