Wednesday 9 March 2016

DIY: Hand printed Baby Leggings

DIY: Hand printed Baby Leggings
 I always thought that adding that personal touch to your babies clothes would require a lot of skill and experience. I'm not an experienced crafter, but that didn't stop me being able to handprint leggings for Isabella. It all came about because I was picking up a lot of really affordable leggings ready for Isabella starting nursery and wanted to make them a bit more exciting. I looked into making my own leggings (from scratch) but without a sewing machine I didn't really have the equipment to. The second best option seemed to be hand printing the leggings myself and honestly, it's so easy! I picked up a lot of leggings in the F&F Clothing sale for only £1.50 each and with the other equipment needed, the completely bespoke leggings only cost around £2. Very affordable! It's important you use Soft Fabric Paint because other kinds can dry hard and crispy, not particularly comfortable for your little one to wear.


 What you'll need:
Soft Fabric Paint, I used Tulip Soft Matte Fabric Paint
Leggings
Card, cut to fit inside your leggings
Felt, cut to be slightly bigger than your biggest stamp
Rubber stamps/homemade potato stamps/homemade stamps cut out of foam sheets
Disposable plate
Clingfilm
Kitchen roll

What to do:
1) Wash and dry your leggings, without using fabric softener. 
2) Cover your surface with clingfilm to protect it from the fabric paint. 
3) Squeeze a blob of fabric paint onto your disposable plate and place the felt on top. Using a piece of kitchen roll press down to bring the paint through the felt. This will be your stamp pad.
4) Place the card inside your leggings, this stops any paint seeping through to the other side. Ensure there are no lumps/bumps/dents in your card because these will stop your stamp transferring properly.
5) To create your design you could either just go with the flow or stamp out your desired design onto a piece of paper first. I usually do a bit of a mixture - stamping onto a piece of paper helps you to see what the stamp will look like and means you can check it is transferring properly.
6) When you're ready to print press your stamp onto your homemade stamp pad, ensuring there's ink on the whole stamp. Press it down onto the leggings and swiftly lift in. You can't easily correct mistakes, so make sure you press down firmly and remove it quickly.
7) Repeat stamping until your design is complete on one side of the leggings. Leave to dry flat for 30 minutes before repeating on the other side.
8) Once both sides have been stamped leave them to dry on a flat surface for 4 hours and don't wash for 72 hours. When you do wash them turn them inside out. These are the instructions for using Tulip Soft Matte Fabric Paint, if you use other fabric paint follow its instructions.

It's that simple. 
These were the first leggings I ever printed, since these I've perfected the skill more and have branched out to hand printing tops now too. Below is a photo of the leggings after they've been washed, as you can see there's only very slight fading.
 
You can see more designs in this Lookbook #1 and this Lookbook #2 as well. 

Have you ever had a go at fabric printing before?

 Feel free to leave a comment - I love reading every single one :)

Helen x

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8 comments

  1. These are just so cute! I'll have to try this out as a gift for my friend's baby :)

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    www.hellonancy.co.uk

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  2. These are so adorable! I really want to try this!! #brillblogposts

    kaylaloves.com

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  3. Such a great idea! They are so adorable.

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  4. I keep thinking I'd love to have a go at this. Thanks for trialing it out and sharing your experience. #thelist

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  5. While I'm not working at the moment I think I might give these a go. Such a great idea and love the designs.

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  6. This is such a good idea :) I loved making things for Monkey when I was on maternity leave although it tended to be more toys than clothes I think this time round I may experiment more with clothes as I still have all the old toys. And you make it look and sound so easy. The effect is brilliant they look great and for £2!! Thank you for joining us at #BloggerClubUK hope to see you again next week x

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  7. I saw these on instagram they are SOOO CUTE. What a fab idea you are so creative and talented. I bet mine would still look weird if I did them. But yours are perfect. Thanks for linking up to #ShareWithMe.

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  8. I've had to pop over and read this- so easy!! Well done you for giving it a try. You should make it into a business. x

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