Geometric Stenciled Tank

Hello, my name is Lauren and I have a shopping problem (the first step is admitting, right?). I have a huge affinity for clothing. My husband will never understand why, at the end of the week, the way I love to unwind is by walking around the mall or just browsing online. Unfortunately, I have caviar taste on a hot dog budget. I often think up outfits for myself or my daughter in my mind, and if I ever actually find someone that sells exactly what I envision, it costs more than I would ever willingly spend on something that won't last forever. My solution? Make it myself, where my abilities allow. 

Two things I've been loving lately: geometric prints and metallics. So when I found this geometric wall heart, I immediately pinned it and knew I had to recreate it for Lucy on a shirt.

Materials Needed:

Shirt

Stencil (I created my own)

Freezer Paper

Fabric Paint

X-Acto Knife (I'm going to go on record and say this is my most frequently used craft tool)

Fabric Stamper

Iron

First, I mapped out my stencil on Publisher and printed out three copies, since I knew I would need three stencils for each of the colors I wanted to use.

I've been putting off replacing our color ink cartridge for far too long (because hi, expensive), so I just marked the colors on my black-and-white stencil to use as a guide. I cut a piece of freezer paper, then taped it down to my cutting mat, with the stencil taped on top to secure it (I used painters tape here, as it's easier to take off without taking the paper away). Using my X-Acto and a straight edge, I cut out all of the triangles for the rose gold portion of the design. 

Once I had my first freezer paper stencil, I centered it on the tank and ironed it on using a low, dry heat setting. There were a couple pieces that had been cut away from the larger portion of my stencil - for this, I first ironed on the large piece, then put the other smaller pieces in place and ironed them down after. 

After I knew it was secured, I placed a piece of cardstock between the layers of the tank to keep the paint from bleeding and used my foam stamper to evenly coat the openings, being sure to fully saturate the fabric.

After cutting my second stencil and painting, this is how things were looking:

Finally, I set up my last stencil.

If you can see, I ran into a little bit of an issue with how things were lining up, but the final coat ended up covering up those overlapping areas, and there were just a couple areas that there was a small gap between the triangles, which didn't affect the overall look of the design.

I had picked up some 3T tanks for my itty bitty 19 pound 14 month old; they were great colors and came in a pack of three for $5, which I couldn't pass up, but they didn't come in a smaller size. So after my design was done, I took in the shirt and cut the straps in the back with the intention of just shortening them. When I put it on her, though, I found myself thinking it would be more secure if I turned it into a halter instead, eliminating any shoulder slips. I'm loving the final tunic result, especially paired with some leggings, boots and a sweater for this fall.

The length is actually more of a tunic, just bunched up in this pic.

Don't let the camera shyness fool you - 14-month Lucy is the most awesome, fun, silly version of herself yet.