Better Birdie Bodysuit

My little guy lives in short-sleeved bodysuits now that it's summer. We have lots of them in cute colors but they're all plain. I have a hard time finding patterns or designs that I like. I don't want to cover my baby in brand logos or characters from television shows. I just want a cute little shirt so I decided to add a stencil to make it unique and more fun.

I started with this little red heathered bodysuit from Wal-mart that was on sale for super cheap; just the way I like clothes he's going to ruin in a single meal.

I found a bird silhouette on the web that I liked and then I traced it onto a little piece of thin cardboard. I used one of the little squares that comes inside of a fat quarter of fabric (I knew I'd find something to do with all those little squares). I just taped down the edges with blue painter's tape and put a piece of aluminum foil inside the shirt in case the paint bled through. Why foil? Because it was handy and I hadn't yet bought any freezer paper.

I started by filling in most of the bird with black fabric paint (I used Tulip matte soft fabric paint). I wanted a little of the red to show on the breast of the bird. The black alone felt a little plain so I decided to add a little grayish-blue that I mixed up. You can see some of the blue on the rock the bird's standing on. I removed the stencil once the black paint dried and then free-handed the blue accents around the tail and for the eye.

I'm really happy with how this turned out. The blue really pops on top of the black and helps add a little more dimension to my bird. Now he looks like he has some feathers and I love the wispy tail.







 This project can also be viewed, along with many fabulous others, at the Tea Rose Home link party.