The beaded T-shirt I completed right before Christmas, and wore it to the family champagne brunch we always do at our place Christmas morning. This is my first time doing beaded backstitch over a stencil and I ended up really like the results.
The photos make the shirt look greenish, but it is a lovely turquoise. I enjoyed beading over the stencil so much, that I want to try it again. Also, I volunteered to teach a class in April on the technique of beaded backstitch using a stencil as a template. My first time teaching a class, so that should be interesting!
The second project was the red sweatshirt. I had originally intended to cut it up the front and make a jacket out of it. After thinking it over, and taking an inventory of jackets, shrugs, and boleros that I already owned, I decided to go a different way, so I rubbed out the soap marks. And because the weather has been dark, gloomy and rainy, I wanted something bright and cheerful. So, I cut the sleeves shorter, cut the banding off from the neckline and the bottom edge, and added T-shirt binding leftover from other projects. The shoulder decoration is also made from leftover bolero projects. All of it hand stitched. I wanted this to be a little funky, a style I don't usually do, so left all the knots and tails of thread showing. When I finished the stitching, I added small brass washers I had purchased a long time ago in the hardware department at Home Depot (a great source if bits and bobs, the hardware section).
This sweatshirt was very wide, but once I cut off the bottom binding and shortened the sleeves, it worked really well over a long-sleeved T-shirt, which is what I had in mind. I may, at some point, go back and add beads (I have some small, fiery red ones that would look great), but for now I am calling it done.
The above photo shows how the binding strips go over the shoulder seam, so when I wear it, the decoration will show on both the front and the back of the sweatshirt.
The bands were sewn length-wise with embroidery thread, then sewn across with a running stitch done with regular sewing thread, as were the brass washers.
This turned out to be a great way to use up T-shirt bindings, and short lengths of embroidery thread leftover from other projects, and it was fun to do something a little outside my usual box.
Oh, and both garments came from the Goodwill Store.
