One of the things I wrote on my 'Summer Bucket List' (read the post here) was to do a DIY project. Now, I am not exactly an arts and crafts type of person - I have lots of creative ideas, but my execution, I would say, is pretty clumsy! I just don't have the patience required for making each project perfect - I tend to lose my enthusiasm for it and just want to get it done so that I can move onto the next thing, resulting in a rushed job.
You may be thinking, 'Then why put this on your bucket list?!' Well, although I am not great at it, I do enjoy the process of DIY. I love coming up with ideas and thinking about how I am going to create them. Also, in the summer I have more time and am always seeking fun things to do; I thought a DIY project would be a great idea for an afternoon!
After browsing the internet for a while, I decided that I wanted to make t-shirts - that is, rather, to up-cycle old ones. I found quite a few cool design ideas on Pinterest and on Buzzfeed, and I also looked at a few t-shirts and tops from expensive shops, that I thought I could recreate. I am quite into slogan t-shirts at the moment, I think they are cute and fun, so I chose a few that I liked and saved them all in one folder.
The next thing I had to do was to buy the materials I would need for the project. I didn't want to spend a fortune on t-shirts (knowing my DIY skills) - I didn't want to feel pressure in case I mucked them up! So I headed down to my local second hand shop, where the t-shirts are only 50 cents each, and I picked up a few different ones. I went mostly for white, black and grey, as these were mostly the colours that I had seen online and what I thought would work, but I also threw in a blue one too! Then, I had to buy some decorating materials. For these I went to an amazing craft store in Hannover - they have everything you could possibly imagine for decorating textiles.
I bought a few supplies from here; some fabric pens in different colours (remember that white pen works best with black material) and some iron-on patches.
I decided not to get too fancy for my first go at this, but really, there are so many things you can do with clothes - you could spend an absolute fortune in a store like this! They had beading, buttons, zippers, lace, other fabrics, glitter pens, beaded pens... It seems to be a huge crafty hobby!
So, after I had all the clothes and materials needed to get started, I just had to make some decisions, which is what actually took me the longest! I am quite bad at making decisions anyway, but choosing the specific design I wanted to go with which top was quite tricky. In the end, I just went for it, and here is what happened!
This was my first attempt. I had intended to use my little coffee pot iron-on patches, but they were made of felt and absolutely didn't work. Maybe I was doing something wrong? But I really couldn't get them to stick, so I decided just to draw around them. For my first go, considering I am not great at this stuff, I am not too unhappy with it! I kind of wish I had kept the writing central, instead of to the right - I had a different vision which didn't quite come out in reality!
Attempt no. 2. I found this design on Pinterest and thought it was really cute - also because, when I get hungry, I really do act like a shark! As you can see, I practised the drawing on paper first. You might want to use stencils for your drawing - I considered this, but in typical 'me' fashion, that was going to take way too long and I decided to just draw free hand. I am pretty happy with how this one turned out, although it is very simple!
Attempt no. 3. I decided to use my iron-on googly eyes for this one, and I think they look cute in that corner. I thought about just leaving the top like that, but I had seen a top from a real store that said 'weirdo' which I thought was funny, so I added it underneath. Another very simple one, but I think I could actually wear this one out of the house so I am happy with that.
Attempt no. 4. I am very unsure about this one. I think it maybe would have been better if, again, I had kept the design in the centre of the top, and not to the side. This is one that I might add too later, although I am not sure how to make it better. Any ideas?
Final go. This was a design I had seen in a very expensive store online, but it's so simple! I think it suits this t-shirt quite well, it's really fun and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. I did sketch the letters very lightly in pencil first, before I went in with the pen, which was useful.
Overall, I am pretty happy with my efforts! I know they look very 'homemade', shall we say, and, as with anything from Pinterest, nothing looks quite as good as it does in their picture. But I can imagine wearing these t-shirts on days at home, as lounge-wear or as pyjamas. If you are thinking of doing a DIY project this summer, this is a good one to do as it is inexpensive, doesn't take more than an afternoon, and you are left with a cool thing at the end of it! You can choose really simple designs like me, or get really fancy and creative, so it really doesn't matter if you are especially gifted at crafts or not. I might even try it again - maybe christmas jumpers next time :)
Labels: Life
