Watercolor Party Outfit

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

I love making special clothes for my daughters that fit with their birthday party theme. With a watercolor theme, I figured pulling together a fun look would be super easy. Parts of this post; however, are more of a what-not-to-do even though I do like the final look.


I've always wanted to play more with painting/dyeing my own fabric. I found this watercolor fabric technique and set out to create some watercolor fabric. I had a few hiccups along the way. The first problem was probably that I used a knit fabric instead of a woven cotton. It took a lot of water and a lot of paint that resulted in drying difficulties. I also started with less fabric that I needed for the pattern I had in mind. The first piece was really pretty. You can see Avery working on it in our Instagram photo. When it was taking days to dry, I placed it on a baking drying rack that left marks on the fabric. The pretty piece ended up just being the darker bottom band of the shirt. For the next piece of fabric, I diluted the paint a bit more and placed the fabric on towels to paint it. Well, a good bit of the paint bled onto the towels, so the paint was even more washed out than intended. I'm holding out until after the party to wash the top it just in case the color doesn't hold. 


In the process of not having the fabric quantity I needed for my initial pattern idea, my husband mentioned something about it looking like a tie dyed shirt. Well, that was the last thing I wanted! I thought the halter top would be a nice alternate. The pattern is from Patty Young's book Sewing Modkid Style which I would recommend wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, there has been some issues with the publisher, and you can't get the book in it's intended format any more. I highly suggest checking your library for it though!


We've come to the shorts, and I must say that I adore these shorts. I finally made the Oliver + S Class Picnic Shorts pattern that comes with the Class Picnic Blouse that I've made several times. I'm not sure what took me so long to make these other than my daughter sticking with skirts and dresses in past summers. The facings actually make these super easy to sew, and I love the curved detail. I made these from a nice stretch twill from Joann's. They should hold up to lots of playtime fun!


All in all, it was a learning process, and I am glad I tried new things. This is a fun look for the watercolor party in Avery's current favorite colors, and she loves the fact that she painted the fabric. 





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