Make Your Own Printed Fabric + Dress

Inspired by a J. Crew Factory dress (here), I looked everywhere for an embroidered fabric.  Not having luck, I pondered different ways to make my own.  I thought about renting an embroidery machine (too much hassle), sewing on embroidery trims (surprisingly pricey), stamping (most designs / stamps are too small), freehand painting (um yeah, I don't have that kind of talent), and finally the simplest method - painting via stencil.  See my first painted dress here inspired by Mondo's Rorschach dress.

DIY Printed Fabric Dress

Difficulty: Easy / Intermediate

Time: 3 days to paint (1 hour of actual painting) and dry.  ~3 hours for the dress.

Pattern:  My favorite bodice pattern McCall's M5972 (adjusted width this way, shortened torso to ribs in hopes of being big-lunch-friendly), self-drafted skirt (just a gathered rectangle), and tan pockets to minimize pocket show-through (nice tip from Kelly!)

Materials: 

• Fabric (I used 100% cotton twill from Joann's here, 57" wide, 2 yards)
• Tulip Soft Fabric Paint (here)
• Paint sponge
• Paint palette (I used a plastic lid)
• Stencil - Martha Stewart "Tendrils"(here)

Steps:

1.  Try your stencil, paint, and paintbrush out on a scrap piece of your intended fabric.  Try out different methods / materials / positioning until you find something you like.

2.  Cut out your dress pattern pieces.

3.  Position your stencils onto your cut pieces of fabric.  I taped the corners to make sure they didn't move around too much during the painting process.

Stencil Set-Up and Painting

4.  Lightly dip your brush into the paint and remove excess.  

Note:  With the Tulip Soft paint, I found you did not have to wet your brush prior to painting.  This actually made a giant mess and caused the stenciled design to bleed.

5.  Paint.  I dabbed my paint in to saturate the color, but use whatever method you liked from Step 1.  Per the paint directions, dry flat for at least 4 hours (mine dried overnight).  Fabric may be washed after 72 hours.

Tips:

• I highly recommend rinsing your stencils immediately after each use.  I neglected to do this and now have paint-gooped stencils.

• I also recommend doing small sections at a time and then allow to dry.

Looking forward to finding more fun stencils for future projects :)