https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/vamp-up-an-old-vest-top • Posted by Blue Ruin
I had a plain black vest top which I bought a couple of years ago in Pennys (Primark)and didn't wear very much because I felt the straps on it were too long so it showed off too much cleavage every time I wore it. I'm a big Vampira fan and I suppose it was inevitable that I'd try to make myself a fan shirt. So here it is.
I had a plain black vest top which I bought a couple of years ago in Pennys (Primark)and didn't wear very much because I felt the straps on it were too long so it showed off too much cleavage every time I wore it. I'm a big Vampira fan and I suppose it was inevitable that I'd try to make myself a fan shirt. So here it is.
First off I had to find an image to paint on the vest. I have a whole folder of pictures of her on my laptop. I chose to go with this one which is from the main page of her website because I felt there wasn't too much shading to worry about.
I found the lettering I wanted in a picture I found of a Vampira tshirt through a Google search.
I traced the image of Vampira and the lettering on to a sheet of white paper ( I couldn't find any tracing paper) to create a spacing that I thought looked good. To make up for my lack of transparent paper I printed off the pictures and stuck them to my window with masking tape. I then taped the white sheet over each to create the spacing that I wanted.
I covered a drawing board with cling film and put the board into the vest top to keep the fabric taught. I put some carbon paper between the vest and the drawing from the last step then went over the lines of the drawing with a pen .
After completing the first layer of paint, I felt it needed something else, so I drew on some cobwebs with white chalk and went over the lines and the outline of Vampira's hair with glittery silver fabric paint.
After a second coat of paint on her skin and the lettering (I only did one coat for the cobwebs) I started on the shading. I also had to fill back in the markings for her face, so I traced over the original picture using some greaseproof paper, and on the reverse of the sheet I shaded over the lines with a heavy pencil. Turning the paper the right way up again I went back over the lines with a pen so a pencil transfer of the lines I needed were left on the dry white paint.
I then painted in her facial features and touched up the shading.
To seal the paint once it was dry, I had to iron over it, placing a sheet of grease proof paper between the fabric and the iron. Once this was done I replaced the old straps with new ones made by cutting an old satin scarf in half to give the vest halter top straps.