today was a really great making day. i had a soccer game in the afternoon so i decided to spend the morning on an ambitious project. i had cut out some stencils based on hello marine’s flower print in my bobbinhood screen printing book to use in a future project and today was the day. i cleaned off my desk and got all the supplies out. i mixed the ink – it takes so much of it, and old me would be worried about running out of ink and already thinking of buying more on amazon (this thought did cross my mind and panic me) but new me brushed those thoughts aside and proceeded creating. i mixed a nice pink colour for the background and then a green colour for the plant. i used the premade colours for the rest of the print. i really want to try printing my own designs in my own colour schemes, but because this was my second ever print, i wanted to go by the book and get more comfortable with the process before attempting something different. i’m quite glad i did though, because it turned out really nicely!

i had to rinse off the screen and the stencils in between each print which got a little annoying as the sink is downstairs, but it left time for my print to dry. although my screen got pretty stained, i actually don’t mind it – it shows that it has been used and loved. that sounds cheesy, but it’s true. i’m really trying to put more character into my artwork and journals and makes this year and to embrace the imperfections that make it mine. i used to have such a hard time with that, but i’m slowly changing my mindset.

i printed the design onto an old shirt of my dads that i found in my garage. my mom throws all our old clothes in a pile to use as future cleaning rags, but i’m starting to salvage some of those old clothes and refashion them. it makes me so happy! the shirt was pretty big so i decided to use the free carine tee pattern from elbe textiles to make it more of a cropped tee. it was my first time sewing with knits and using my *new* serger for a project, as well as my first time ever sewing in a sleeve and a neckband! lots of firsts… and it all went surprisingly well! the most difficult part was cutting the pattern pieces. i printed the plant design too high up the shirt, leaving no room for a neckline. if i moved the pattern piece lower, there wasn’t enough fabric to cut the armholes. i ended up using some of the fabric leftover from the bottom of the shirt to piece together enough space for the armholes, and i raised the neckline. after that, everything went smoothly until the hem. the dreaded hem. i don’t have a coverstitch machine unfortunately (they are so expensive!) and my regular machine is no good at sewing with knits. i attempted to use a zig zag stitch but it created that weird wavy effect and made the fabric drape weirdly. thus, i ditched the hem and chopped it off, leaving an exposed bottom. it works well though, but the shirt is very short. luckily i happen to own a lot of high waisted pants!

all in all, i am so happy with this shirt. i absolutely love the carine tee pattern, the small size fits me perfectly for a looser relaxed fit, and the serging was not as scary as i thought it would be. i will definitely be wearing this one lots, and the bonus is that is made completely of old materials! refashions for the win – recycle, reuse, and repeat 🙂