I revamped my coat with some fun fabric stenciling. 😁
I cannot wait to wear my NEW 20-year-old coat again!
Months ago, I resurrected an old favorite coat from my closet. I added side panel strips to the side seams and underarm seams to make it a few sizes bigger. And it fits again! Now I’d like to transform it and add some flare!
I have grand visions for my old raincoat. Using stencils to get a beautiful, fun, and unique painting onto my coat. But now that it fits, I am a bit afraid to mess it up ☹. Now the pressure is on.
Before I attempted this, I thought I would do a few practices. I have a few ideas I wanted to try. I found some white cotton fabric in my stash perfect for a few trial runs.
For this project the only materials you need to paint fabric using stencils are:
plain copy paper
scissors
spray glue
Rit Dye (powder or liquid) or sei tumble dye
spray bottles
trash bags for protection gloves - optional :)
First, I thought I would try using fabric paints with stencils to get a mosaic of shapes on the coat.
I started by cutting various shapes out of paper and pinned them on my coat to get an idea of how the shapes would look.
My first practice session was fun,
but the outcome looked a bit elementary.
My second attempt was better but still not there.
So far, I am having a bit of trouble. My practice runs are not going as smoothly as I want. I have not been getting the results I have been envisioning.
For my third attempt I will look at what I liked from the other tries. I love the look of the thinner “donut” shaped stencils overlapping onto one another. The squares were okay and would be cool if I could do them in a cubed shape but might be too hard to get that effect from a stencil. I also learned that I think I had too many shapes so I will reduce the amount.
Hopefully I get it on the next try. I think I will take a few days break and schedule one more practice run.
A few days later, I got reenergized and made my fabric stencils. I used just plain copy paper and cut out circle shapes in all different shapes. Making sure they were uniformed shapes as a little v shape here and there shows up with the paint. 😁
If you have a Cricut that works as well. And the plain paper is easiest for spraying glue and blocks out dye that is lightly sprayed.
See the link below for a quick clip on how to measure and cut the circles 😃
So now to try this again.
I sprayed the circles very lightly with glue spray. I love spray glue!
Give the glue a little time to dry and then ready to spray the dye on.
I started with the navy dye.
I added some powdered Navy Rit Dye to a spray bottle, added water and shook it up, that easy.
Hung up the fabric with a skirt hanger – outside of course.
Sprayed lightly trying not to get big drops of dye but more of a light misting.
I let that dry for a while and then sprayed the black dye to get a more spotted look with slightly different colors.
Now to let it dry a bit and then peel off the stencils, always so gratifying 😊
Ahh. I think I am onto something 😊
Now I will take another day or so to see how I feel about it. I like to hang it where I can see it often and see if I feel the same way tomorrow. I think I can picture this on my coat.
Okay, I think I am settled on this idea. Yay!
Now for the coat painting. I will cut a lot of “donuts” and pin them on the coat and let that set in my mind a while.
Okay I think I am ready to do this!
Now to spray (lightly) the glue on the stencils. To get crisp lines from the stencils be sure to get glue on the edges especially. I think the glue spray is messier than the dye. It gets all over your fingers making getting the design complete harder as I go. Everything is getting stuck to everything. Having to cover my craft area with something so I can get this done. Trash bags seem to be working well :)
Also, I pinned some parchment paper inside between the fabric and lining in case the dye bleeds through.
Turns out I didn’t really need to do this; the dye spray was so light. But it did help to stuff the sleeve area to puff it out, so I didn’t get any crease marks from the dye not hitting in those areas.
Now to spray the dye on the fabric. I covered one of my cheaper dress forms with a trash bag. And now to go for it!
Here goes. Must do this outside.
I placed it in the yard then the wind picked up a bit but quieted down when I asked 😊
I pinned some paper on parts of the coat I wanted to remain white.
The spraying is fun, but how do you know when to stop? You don’t want to do too much or even too little. I can always come back and add more just can’t erase. You can add more paint but not when the stencils are off. You don’t want to get paint in the no painted areas.
I sprayed it first with navy dye, let it dry for about a half hour and then sprayed it with black dye.
While waiting for the coat to dry I added stencils to the belt and sprayed it with dye.
After about an hour, when the stencils were dry, I peeled them off.
This is the best part - seeing the results!
All but one came off with ease. The one on the lapel was a bit stuck. I think it was one that had a little extra glue on it. I just couldn't get it scraped off and tried a little water. Just not quite right. So now I need to find a way to cover it. What to do?
I do have a beautiful leather rose I took off a belt… somewhere. It would be perfect on the lapel. Good the mishap happened on the lapel I guess 😊. I hope I can find it 🤨
Well, that is done!
That coat has been waiting for its makeover for at least 6 months and it feels so good to have it done! I really like the overlapping circle print. I will use this design again for sure.
Now to hand stitch the lining back in the areas I opened when I altered it. And then it is ready to wear! Not sure if it is rain proof now though!
Ok, Now it's your turn! What’s in your closet? 😎
If you can sew, you can make anything :)
Shawnelle
How I revamped my coat with some fun fabric stenciling: https://youtu.be/8HEo7iO1dN4
Quick clip on how to measure and cut circles: https://youtu.be/9oSybEFcjE8
What's the next challenge? https://youtu.be/73D3ZtlGcaU
sei Tumble Dye spray dye kit https://amzn.to/3Y1GnJF
I would love to here your ideas and comments below!