The inspiration and the d.i.y. result (modeled by my brother).
When I saw this Pelican Avenue shirt on A Slowboat to Mediocrity, I thought, finally, something I can do! So I took an old t-shirt, some scissors, and about 15 minutes later came out with the above shirt. I think it was a successful failure--successful, because it came out better than I expected, and a failure, because I'm not going to wear it. The skull design doesn't match my personality, and I used the wrong kind of shirt.
Still, I like the basic idea of this D.I.Y., that is, to "paint" fabric using scissors. In the future, I may try cutting out different designs, such as Matisse-inspired leaves, silhouette portraits, celebrity stencils (more stencil advice here and here), hearts, dots (think Yayoi Kusama), art deco triangle cut-outs, spiderwebs, butterflies, abstract florals, or stars.
Some other tips:
- Choose the right shirt for the design. The above shirt, for example, feels too feminine for the cut-out. Also, choose something with a roomy cut, a high back, and a long length.
- Two things that might have helped me: fabric chalk & an X-acto knife.
- The above style hangs better if you have a broad back and no boobs (in other words, if you're a guy). My brother is 12 years old and the same size as me (so sad...), and the shirt looked infinitely better on him.
- The fabric underneath is crucial. We used a basic white tank, but you can play with color contrasts (make them extreme or muted), or possibly use a graphic or novelty print (for this effect).
For more D.I.Y. inspiration, check out the archives.
