Diy Face Top

How to sew a top and paint it

Posted by Laura

About

I planned to sew a simple top from this white jersey fabric for a very long time and I loved the idea of painting my own clothes. So I decided to combine these two projects and I love that it worked so well for my first try.
I'm not very good at painting stuff. So I made a few mistakes, but I love top nevertheless - especially those big and crazy eyes. I probably wasn’t careful enough while painting it, because I put my red fingers an some spots (which I tried to correct, but failed) and the textile colour also spread over the shapes of my figures.
I copied my patterns as well as my figures with carbon paper and a tracing wheel. After that I always traced the lines with a pencil again.
You have to add some time, in which the fabric has to dry.
I hope this is an inspiration for some of you!

Due to problems with my camera I couldn't upload the images for the different steps. Feel free to send me a message, if you have any questions about this project.

The original eyes and lips: http://www.abeautifulmess.com/2015/03/tabletop-tic-tac-toe-diy.html
I do not own the images. I only took them as an inspiration for this top.

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You Will Need (12 things)

  • White Jersey Fabric
  • Pin(s)
  • Sewing Machine
  • Printer
  • Pencil
  • Tracing Wheel
  • Carbon Paper
  • White Sewing Yarn
  • Textile Paint Red and Black
  • Textile Paint Pen Red and Black
  • Paper
  • Plastic Placemat

Steps (6 steps, 360 minutes)

  1. 1

    Choose a top, which you like, and copy it's pattern onto your fabric. How much fabric you need depends on the size of your top.
    Then give 1,5 cm seam allowance at the sides and the shoulder straps. Add 2,5 to the neck and armholes and 4 cm to the bottom edge.

  2. 2

    Cut the back and the front side from the fabric and hem the edges of the top by folding in the seam allowance. Spare the halter straps and the sides.

  3. 3

    Sew the two pieces together the right sides facing. Mend the seams, if necessary.
    You're finished with the basic top!

  4. 4

    Now you only need to paint the the figure of your choice to the top. I chose a face.
    I loved the eyes an lips of the "Tabletop Tic Tac Toe DIY" on "A beautiful mess" (a wonderful blog by the way) so much that I decided to take them as an inspiration.
    You can take any picture you want.
    Decide how big you want it to be. I took a width of 16cm for the eyes and 25 cm for the mouth.

  5. 5

    Pin the pictures to inside of your top and copy their shape to the front.
    Use a textile painting pen to draw the outlines of your figure and let them dry. I put plastic place mats and paper between the front and the back side of the top so the textile colour would not seep through the fabric.

  6. 6

    Paint the inside area with the textile colours and let it dry again.
    I needed to iron it because of my colours, but maybe this will be different for you. If you need to iron it, be careful that the colours do not seep through the fabric again.
    Let it dry and you're finished!

    I recommend washing it by hand.