Plaid Product Review and Easiest Shirt Ever Tutorial

Amy of Mod Podge Rocks recently teamed with Plaid and asked if I'd like to review a product of my choice.  Before her email even made it all the way through cyberspace to my inbox, I was jumping up and down and squealing YES YES YES!!!

Plaid has a ton of cool new products, so I had a tough time choosing, but I finally decided to go with the Folk Art Fabric Paint and some Simply Stencils.  I've been using acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium for fabric paint, and while it works in a pinch, it isn't ideal.

This is my loot:

Awesome, huh?

First, I decided to play it safe and used silver metallic paint and a butterfly stencil to cover up stains on a shirt.  It worked perfectly.  I really like how you only need to use a very thin layer of paint.  This keeps the painted area from getting stiff and means the paint goes a long way.

Then I decided to get a little more adventurous and paint on a shirt without the aid of stencils.  I know, danger is my middle name.  I found a stock image that I liked and very carefully copied it onto a onesie.  I am the farthest thing from an artist, so believe me when I say that if I can do this, so can you.  Just find or sketch an image that is a very simple line drawing.  The fewer the details, the less room for mistakes.

I liked that one a lot, so I did a little variation on another onesie.  (If you are one of my 5 pregnant friends who are not finding out what you are having and you end up having a girl, you can probably expect one of these in your mailbox.)

Then I got really adventurous and decided to make a shirt to paint.  In comes the Easiest Shirt Ever.  I can fit the entire tutorial on 1 page:

Just one note: the above pictures are a little deceptive due to horrible drawing skills, but you're going to want to make this shirt very loose-fitting, ie: add a LOT of ease.  I had good results when I traced a fitted shirt that was 2 sizes too big for my daughter.   You can also play with neck line, sleeve width, sleeve length, side seams, and length to make this shirt/tunic/dress any style you want.  It's very versatile.  I chose to flip the sleeves up once and stitch over the seams to hold them in place.  So very Flashdance:

As you can see, I just drew a random design using silver and pink metallic paint.

But, in true "If you give a mouse a cookie" fashion, drawing those lines made me think of something else entirely.  So I had to make another shirt.  Do you see where this is heading?  A very addictive new craft.

5 points to you if you know what song/s this is, 5 more points if you can tell where I took creative liberties with the composition.  And mom, this is the fruition of those 9 years of piano lessons.  I know how to draw a treble clef with sparkly paint.

So, my Official Plaid Fabric Paint & Stencil Product Review:  5 thumbs up!

Pros:
- Paint is very saturated, so a thin layer is all you need.
- When you follow manufacturer directions, the paint is completely washable.
- Painted areas are not too stiff to the touch and don't alter the drape of the garment.  The next best thing to professional screen printing.
- One tube is very inexpensive and will last a long long time.
- Lots of colors to choose from, including opaque and metallic.
- Lots of stencils to choose from, including many options for boys, babies, and home decor.
- Stencils are bendable plastic and easy to wash and reuse.


Cons:
.......I'll let you know if I come up with one.  I got nothing.

Thank you Amy and thank you Plaid for letting me play with these great products!  I had fun and you'll definitely be seeing them in future crafty endeavors.  I have some fruit stencils that are just begging to be painted onto some dishtowels.

Now excuse me while I go order more metallic pink!