How to make your own Geometric Pattern T-Shirt

I love working in retail. Once Christmas is over, the store gets decorated for spring. Being surrounded by Green and other bright colours definitely lifts my mood. Everything is set for spring!

There are also new resolutions to make. This year, I want to join a blogging conference and meet other craft and lifestyle bloggers. I hope to make new friends in the blogosphere, as I find it difficult to connect with other bloggers via social media - it is for me still an impersonal way to interact with people.   

If you heard of a good blogging conference you attended in the past and which you would like to recommend, please feel free to post a comment to let me know.

In the moment I work on at least 5 projects at the same time. I still work on my harvest bunting, then I’m working on a new clutch, I’ve got two soft toys in the making and recently I started experimenting with spray tin cans - favourite colour combo: neon pink, neon yellow and dark grey. It makes me want to go big on canvas, but my lovely little studio is not the place to do that.

I wish I could have a big studio like in the good old times when I studied Art Therapy. A studio with creative projects lying around, a concrete floor full of colour stains, a little coffee corner with a car boot sale collection of cups and an old worn out sofa, to hang out with friends for coffee breaks! (Love you, Amelie, Stine and Vanessa!)

Besides wanting to go big on painting, I re-discovered printing fabric with linoleum stencils. It’s a quick and easy technique for up cycling clothes, especially with the trend on geometric inspired patterns - with which I am in love with! I started with designing a shirt for Steven. He doesn’t like labelled clothes, so I thought it would be fun to come up with a shirt, he would like to wear.

You need:

-          White shirt

-          Pencil

-          Linoleum

-          Linoleum cutter set

-          Fabric paint

-          Electric Iron

-          Spare fabric

How to:

-          Draw the pattern with the pencil onto your linoleum sheet.

-          Cut out the pattern with a linoleum cutter set. Different fixtures help you to        cut out the clean and precise. Make sure to cave out the pattern deep                enough, to prevent the paint to smudge the sample later in the printing              process.

-          You can use the roller to apply the paint to the stencil. If you use a bristle          brush, the strokes will give the print more texture.

-          Let the stencil absorb some of the paint, before you place it face down on          the sample.

-     To make it easier to place the stencil straight and in the right place, I used         duck tape to frame the particular area.

-          Use the roller to apply pressure to the back of the stencil, to ensure that            the paint would be applied evenly on the print. 

-          Remove the stencil carefully and let the paint dry for 10 minutes.

-          Cover the dried fabric print with a clean fabric scrap and iron it. After this          procedure, the fabric print should be machine washable. Any stains from            the paint during the ironing should been soaked up by the fabric scrap.

To give the shirt my personal signature, I came up with an idea for another stencil. I turned the first two letters CA of my name, into geometric shapes: a half moon and a triangle. 

I already figured out my next project for printing with fabric paint. You can buy a bulk of plain canvas bags for cheap on the internet...