Saturday, June 25, 2011

4th of July Necklace Shirt

Painting a necklace on a shirt is certainly not a new idea.  I've seen these cute shirts everywhere.  I remembered that I made this type of tank for my daughter to wear on 4th of July last year.  The red and blue painted necklaces were perfect for the holiday.  I used red fabric paint to outline a felt star with dots and then hand stitched it to the shirt. 
We were in San Diego last year on the 4th.  Unfortunately the only picture I have of my daughter wearing the shirt is of her using the handrail at the zoo to swing like a monkey. 
I'm sure the top still fits her but it probably could use a little length.  I plan on adding a few ruffles to the bottom for a festive tunic she can wear this year with leggings.

A couple of years ago I started making my daughter shirts and tanks with painted necklaces.  I found an easy tutorial online somewhere but can't remember the source.  I apologize if it was from you!  You can use a variety of fabric paints to create the necklaces.  Initially I was using Tulip's dimensional fabric paint but later started using Tulip's soft fabric paint.  I started by ironing a crease down the middle of my shirt as a guide.  I slid a piece of cardboard inside the shirt to make sure the paint did not bleed to the back.  I used the back of a pen to create the beads on the smaller necklace by simply dipping the pen in the paint and gently stamping it on the shirt.  I started in the middle and worked my way to the neckline for half of the necklace strand. I repeated on the other side to complete the first strand.  I used the back of a large marker to paint the larger beads.  The necklace can be left plain or embellished. 

I pulled out some old pictures of necklace onesies I've made in the past. 


Last year Jessica planned to dye a onesie from white to black.  She ended up with a steel grey instead of black.  You can read about her experience with fabric dye in her Wednesday Wowzer post here.  She asked if I could turn her onesie into something cute so I added a white necklace and pretty flower embellishment.  I love the white beads on the darker fabric! 

Remember that these can be done on long sleeve shirts too.  Last year my daughter wore her pink necklace shirt a lot.  I hand stitched a red and pink striped bow to the corner.  It was incredibly easy and dressed up an otherwise plain pink shirt!
I'm sure older girls would have a blast making these at a birthday party!
 

10 comments:

zenmasterlars said...

These are absolutely adorable!!!!

Sara Lambert said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sara Lambert said...

Thanks for the inspiration! I tried it and blogged about it here. Also there's a pic of my daughter in the final project!!

-Sara

www.earlymorningmama.com

Unknown said...

Is it ba that I'm loving this for myself and I'm 30?!?! I would probably make the embellishment a bit smaller for everyday use but I think these are fantastic!!

the Sweetest Memory said...

Love this! I think I will have to do this for my daughter's 4th birthday! I am going to do a jewelry party or fashio party, this will be perfect.

Emilie-Eric said...

Do you have any sort of pattern or do you just freehand the "pearls"?

CeliaRuba said...

What do you use to get the pearls such a perfect circle?

Hopes And Dreams Studio said...

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Retta Gal said...

Very cute for the 4th of July. I'm definitely going to try it.

Retta Gal said...

Very cute for the 4th of July. I'm definitely going to try it.