Friday, March 12, 2010

messy dress tutorial


In my opinion, every creative and modern gal needs a messy dress- well maybe not every gal- maybe just me? My 35th birthday is this weekend and there will be celebrating which means I need (or want) something new and funky to wear. Since I am on a fashion budget I decided to transform some cheap cotton dresses I found at Target with a little paint and my new favorite toy- the Tulip Fabric Paint Cannon



Before I get started I just have to rave for a minute! Typically I am not "into" the latest and greatest products out there- I not easily impressed and don't like to spend money on trendy supplies. But when something really great comes along and is actually innovative- I get super EXCITED! The Fabric Paint Cannon is part of Tulip's Fashion Graffiti line of products and because I work so much with spray paint and graffiti techniques, I have been waiting YEARS for someone to come up with a product like this! It is a non aerosol spray bottle that has a pump, you can fill it with the Tulip brand of paint (or your own watered down version) and it sprays just like a real spray paint can!

The reasons I am so excited about this product-

a.) it is non toxic and environmentally friendly- yippee!!
b.) you can travel with it- great if you are a teacher.
c.) it gives you the ability to create spray paint look on fabric (with fabric paint)- something that is challenging when working with wearable and not really possible to do with icky spray paint.
d.) you can fill it with your own paint mixture, colors, etc- this I love because you are not limited with color!

Stay tuned in the weeks to come- I will be sharing additional techniques with the Fabric Paint Cannon in later posts!


Ok...back to the project!
I decided to use the Fabric Paint Cannon in a few simple ways to create fun, graffiti inspired, messy dresses for my birthday weekend!

DRESS #1
I started with a plain cotton dress.


Fill the Fabric Paint Cannon with paint- Tulip has a great selection of colors for the Cannon available that you do not have to heat set after painting.


Spray the surface- I went wild with lots of expressive and abstract shapes.










DRESS #2

With the second dress I wanted to try something more complicated and different because it was a dark green fabric. I decided to load my Cannon with bleach so I could pull color out of the dress.
Note- the Cannon is made for paint and this was my own personal experiment- I like to find different ways to use tools :)




Again I sprayed the surface with messy swipes and abstract shapes.


I let the bleach sit and pull out the color until is was almost white-
I immediately washed it out so it would not lighten any further.


While the surface was still wet I went back into the white shapes and lines with paint from the Cannon. I chose to keep the surface damp because I wanted my paint to bleed and keeping it wet will achieve this effect.


I then added layers of scribbles, marks and doodles until I was satisfied with my messy surface!



Both dresses turned out simple, graphic and a little edgy- just my style!
now I'm off to celebrate!


51 comments:

winnsangels said...

Totally LOVE the look of both dresses. Thanks again for sharing with your tutorial.
Have a splendid Happy Birthday weekend.

Dianne said...

Wow! Love the dresses... and you're not the only one that needs/wants messy dresses. I love them and have a couple myself. Now I can do my own! Too cool! Thanks! And have a great birthday!

Unknown said...

yep.
love it.
i ordered a dozen of those bottles to use in my kids' classes and they LOVE LOVE LOVED them... so do i!

the dresses are almost as darling as you!
happy day, happy year, happy you!
xoxo
jul

Jennifer Blevins said...

Amazing! You rock our paint cannons. Happy birthday, Alisa.

*jean* said...

oo these are so cute and you look great! thanks for telling us about this product!! it's worth looking into for paper too!! maybe i can cover up all the gesso marks i find on every single piece of clothing i own because i always forget my apron!!

Pam Carriker said...

Aren't they fabulous!! I did a video tutorial using them for graffiti style journal pages. Love that you can fill them with your own paint and they will be wonderful for workshops!

Jacki said...

Your dresses came out beautiful! You do have a way with messy dresses..lol. I am going to have to try this technique. Happy Birthday and have a wonderful weekend!
P.S.
I am now addicted to your blog. Everything you do looks so pretty and exciting. Loved the floor painting too.

Unknown said...

absolutely amazing. i love these. now, i need to rob a bank so i can buy all the new tulip stuff! any suggestions on an easy mark?

Jessica said...

I have the perfect dress for this- thank you alisa!

p.s. I like your new headshot. It's sassy.

Caryn Lynn said...

I love the result of using bleach to pull out color. Wishes to you for a fabulous birthday weekend!

Mary said...

Alisa I love how you mind works!!
This was a fabulous idea, and the dresses look fantastic!! Especially like what you did with the green dress.

Happy Birthday, and have a wonderful time celebrating!!

A'n'G Johnson said...

Fabulous darling! I love both of them - but the green one especially! Where do I find this nifty difty cannon?

Long Black Eyelahes said...

Oh my goodness, you blow me away every time! LOVE IT!!! Gorgeous!!!What an artist mind you have, Happy Birthday! I am also addicted to your blog, Angelica

Kittyj said...

These are freaking awesome!!! Whoa! Happy birthday weekend!!!

Carrie Me! said...

Your dresses are so great! Hope you have a very happy birthday =)
Just ordered your Canvas Remix book, can't wait to get it!

LR said...

project runway should make this a challenge for the designers. love it! enjoy your birthday.

Anonymous said...

Cute Dresses!
Happy Birthday!

Hugs!
Barbie

Mandy said...

love them but the green one is my fav..you are one talented person...xxx

Yvette said...

happy day most beautiful lady in awsome cloth.

yvette

JO SOWERBY said...

that is so effective. what an incredible idea.
Jo xxx

Adrian said...

Oh Alisa, what wonderful ideas you have! You are so brave!!!
The bleach thing was genius! Gonna go out and get me some Cannons!
Happy, happy Birthday, baby!

Renate said...

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. You are so generous with your wonderful ideas. Your enthusiasm is contagious!
Happy,happy Birthday!

studio pashnada said...

I love this green dress. I just found some cute "dresses" (they'll be tops for me) at Old Navy for $15. They're printed but I think they might be fun to experiment on.

Thanks for the fun idea. Oh. I might even try bleach in a regular fine mist spray bottle. FUN!

Now, where are my Michael's coupons?

Karen Cole said...

This is so incredibly amazing, I am speechless.

.....of course, it helps that you are adorable and look like a super model.

Happy Birthday!

Carol B. said...

WOW!!!!!!!!!!
P.S. Happy Birthday!

Jane LaFazio said...

extremely cool. extremely Alisa!! and happy 35th!

Kelly Berkey said...

so much fun and so very funky. and now you are wearing an original piece of artwork!
bravo!

Tracie said...

ADORABLE! Have a rockin' weekend!

jane eileen said...

Genius.

Jane said...

You are so talented.
Have a happy birthday!

Alexa said...

The Cannons are available at Michaels at here:

http://www.ilovetocreate.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=968d7be9-80ff-4497-809c-93c3c0a2fb82&brand=e829cc15-3402-4971-8e78-2ac365380037&c=b5051f89-1299-42d7-837c-42c9280851d0

Bee Yourself Fabrics said...

Happy Birthday! Oh, I love those dresses! My 19 and 21 year old daughters wants to make these dresses! What a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing!

Bonafyde said...

I've been trying to get my hands on the Paint Cannon but it remains elusive! I love how your dresses came out, they look so edgy and I have seen similar (higher priced) dresses like that as of late so having a DIY version is awesome! Thanks for the inspiration!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday... thanks for sharing your 'messy dress' this I'm going to have to try...:)

skyerae said...

I love your dresses! You are so good at turning something ordinary into something amazing.
I hope you have a great birthday!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

Beautiful Alisa! Another one I have to try!

THE BROWN BOYS said...

great job! and LOVIN' your hair too!

Adventures in Dressmaking said...

That is so fun, what a cool idea!

Lori P said...

Ooh, I'm so glad I just found you through a link on Twitter. I'm loving this tutorial, too. Looks like I have a new project - or two - which is nice b/c I just finished one this weekend.

Nancy said...

I just found you through One Pretty Thing and I am soooo glad I did!!!! Love the dresses especially the green one. Now I need to get me one of those cannon things so I can join in on the fun!!!!!

Melissa said...

So freakin' cute. I need to do this!

Suzanne said...

Love that! I'm off to Target to score my simple canvas, I mean, dress.

bombamagagna said...

wow O_O

Anonymous said...

I love love love the second one! I would wanna try this but I would probably mess it up :/

Jen said...

wow, looks so nice. Great tutorial.

Tayler Worrell said...

very cool!!
www.bighairandbikinis.blogspot.com

hing12133 said...

Love Love Love it! Nice to see another blogger from the San Diego area. I will be featuring on my Fashion Forward Wednesday, if that ok!
http://waxeloquentbyheather.blogspot.com/

Daris Judd said...

thanks for the tip

CharlieButtons said...

Just AWESOME! Happy Birthday!

Anonymous said...

Alisa,

I love your tutorials! I finally got around to trying the dress tutorial. I had a problem trying to doodle though, did you some how clip the dress down? I tried to put a piece of cardboard inside it, but the dress would always move around when I would try to doodle.

GkfashionStore said...

i really enjoyed your collection as a ladies store owner i really like the way you expresss the products thanks for sharring i will let you know if i'm interested in adding your products at gkfashionstore.com

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