Lip Service

When I was little, I loved to color pictures with pink and red together. Pink and red flowers, pink and red houses, stick people with pink and red clothes. My mother always told me that pink and red 'clashed,' "Don't put those two together! They clash!" Thus, I was never able to wear anything that was pink and red together. Sadness.  I thought they went fabulously together. I considered pink and red to be cousins, if not sisters or even besties. But for the earlier part of my life, the two were forced apart.

Now that I am older and wiser, I love to throw pink and red together. Wearing anything with the two colors paired up puts a huge smile on my face and an extra strut in my step. I was paging through a magazine the other day that had images of lace appliqués on sweatshirts and t-shirts.  Once again, I was reminded and inspired by my two long lost, sister colors.

Off to the fabric store I went. JoAnn Fabrics had long sleeve t-shirts on super clearance. Apparently in decision making parts of the world, long sleeve tees are no longer in season. In North Dakota, they are still mandatory. I picked up a pink one that was 2 sizes too large for me. I then went over to the lace section and had 1/4 of a yard of red lace cut.

The first thing I did was slash the neckline of the tee, the bottom hem and the sleeve cuffs. I then cut off an extra bit of length on the bottom. The intention was to make an oversized cropped tee. Once it was cut, I placed some cardboard covered with wax paper inside the shirt, underneath the front side. I put that aside.

Next, I went to the computer and found an image of kissable lips. I printed it out, cut it out in two pieces and used those for my lace pattern pieces.  Once I had the lip pieces cut out, I placed them on the t-shirt. I then used a foam brush and Aleene's Fabric Fusion to glue them onto the front of the shirt. Make sure that the cardboard and wax paper are beneath the side of the tee that you are gluing on. I brushed the backside of the lace with the Fusion. Make sure brush the glue on and do not use globs of the glue on the back. If you use globs, they will show through the lace and on the shirt. I have learned my lesson doing this. Once the lip pieces were glued on, I placed the tee with the cardboard still inside somewhere to sit and dry for 24 hours.

Once the glue was dry, I washed the shirt in the washer, just to get the stiffness out. Fabric Fusion is totally washable and the glue sticks even after drying. It is a thing of wonder! I love this glue. I use it all of the time.

When the shirt was washed and dried, I hemmed the bottom and the cuffs and added seam binding to the neckline. It turned out just as I wanted it to and I love, love, love the colors!

SWAK!!!! Get out there and make something that clashes!!! Happy glueing from your red and pink friend in the north!