Hand Stamped Maxi Dress
Tuesday, March 10 2015
Creation: Hand stamped maxi dress
Fabrics Used: Natural Stretch Jersey
The Visionary: Justine, SewCountryChick.com
Our Thoughts: Justine at SewCountryChick used her creativity to make a unique sundress and it looks great.
A couple of years ago, I bought some wooden stamps at The Rose Bowl Flea Market and used it on a few yards of beautiful natural colored organic cotton with lycra from Organic Cotton Plus. It was an undyed, organic cotton jersey with just a hint of lycra, in a perfect weight for dresses. I absolutely love the quality. Being organic, as well as cotton, it was a perfect canvas to hand dye and stamp. Polyester blends don’t take dye very well. This was the perfect opportunity to finally try out my Indian fabric stamp!
To make the pattern, I simple traced a store bought maxidress I already had.
I ironed the cotton lycra and then pinned the red dress to it. I traced around it and added 1 inch seam allowances.
When copying store bought clothes to make patterns, it’s a good idea to add extra ease. Not all knits stretch equally and some need a bit more room than others to be comfortable and look good.
Once I got the fit down on my dress, I finished it off with a self faced neckline and armholes and got busy with the fun part. Stamping!
After a bit of experimenting, I found that rolling fabric paint onto the stamp with a sponge roller worked well. A fresh coat had to be rolled on after each stamp, making it a bit time consuming to do the whole dress.
Once the stamps were dry, I used Coca brown RIT Dye and added some to a pot with hot water, until it was about 8 inches high. I got the whole dress wet with plain water, then I dipped the bottom of the dress in about 1 foot deep , then took it out. I poured out most of the dye and then added more water so the dye was really diluted. I quickly dipped the dress back in a bit deeper. I used pins to pin across the dress so I would have a guide to dip evenly across the hem .
I love my new dress!
2 Comments:
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Your dress is just GORGEOUS!!! I love the block printing! Don’t you love seeing cheap construction on clothes and knowing you can do it way better fo a fraction of the cost?
Justine,
Great job designing a beautiful dress! I loved how you explained all the steps you took to make the pattern from an existing dress and how you stamped the fabric to create a unique fabric.