Patterns on Fabric: What is the best solution?

Morsvenit · Post by **Morsvenit** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:31 am

For a convention that's coming in September, a group of friends and myself are doing a Resident Evil 4 cosplay. I'm going to be the Ada Wong of the group, but her dress is giving me a bit of a headache. I'm having difficulty deciding how to handle the butterfly and flowers design on the side of her dress as seen below.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/ ... 041207.jpg
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b320/ ... ong_02.jpg

I read in another thread that stenciling is the way to go, but I am completely unfamiliar with the process or what materials it requires. Any illumination on the situation would be greatly appreciated, and any suggestions are welcomed as well.

mindtailor · Post by **mindtailor** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:39 pm

To make a stencil, get a thin sheet of plastic (see-thru is nice, it helps you position it) and draw the design on it. You should try looking at craft stores (Joann's, Michaels, etc.) to get a feel for how stencils are made, etc. You can probably get stencil plastic there, or just get an old folder or something, as long as the fabric paint won't soak through. Cut out any parts that you want paint to come through onto the fabric, as in this craptastic image:

Notice that all the red arrows point to breaks in the stencil line - if you don't leave these uncut, the inside black part will fall out, and you won't be able to stencil the circles in. You'll have to go over these little bits with fabric paint later. Once you have this cut out of the plastic (using an exacto knife or the like), place it on the fabric, and use a brush or a sponge to fill in the lines, being careful not to move the stencil, or you'll smudge the paint.

Morsvenit · Post by **Morsvenit** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 8:45 am

Thank you very much for your help. Clear plastic shouldn't be too hard to procure, and I think an Exacto knife would cut it well enough. Thanks, too, for pointing out the necessity of the gaps in the design. If you hadn't had shown that, I probably would have taken a long while to try and figure out how to avoid the 'falling out' problem. >.< Now, I'm all set once I purchase some good fabric paints for satin.

mrs.tomoe · Post by **mrs.tomoe** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:14 am

Make sure the plastic is somewhat stiff while still being easy to cut so that your design doesn't go all wobbly. The craft store should have all the supplies to get started. Of course you should always do a test on a scrap of your fabric before trying the paint on your actual dress. ^^; And remember to put a barrier under the fabric you're painting so that if any paint soaks through, it doesn't ruin whatever's underneath (like the opposite side of your dress). Good luck! Hope it turns out well. ^_^

Cat-chan · Post by **Cat-chan** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:45 pm

you may also want to look into screen printing. I acctualy just printed a shirt literaly 2 minutes ago. The process is easy, and if you practice with it first I think it would work well.

this is the tutorial I used
http://community.livejournal.com/craftgrrl/3674467.html