Drawing and Painting on T-Shirts

Drawing on t-Shirts was a favorite past time of mine as a child, I have fond memories of going to the craft store with my mom and picking out some colorful fabric paints, puffy paints, t-shirts, and maybe fabric glue and fake jewels. Then years later in art school, myself and friends of mine decided to buy some iron on kitten transfers, t-shirts and puffy pants (as a joke), it was a great time! And again a few years after that I came back to painting drawing on shirts, first I made gifts for a friend of mine (a t-shirt with peace sign made out of red hearts, which she loved, and a blue dream catcher shirt) and then one for my self. I wanted a wolf shirt but couldn't find it so I made it myself. My friends liked my shirt and asked me to make shirts for them, one wanted a shirt of Kendall Hart from AMC (All my Children) another wanted a shirt of Diana Ross. Below are some of these shirts, above is a vest that I'm working on, I drew a geometric design with Sharpie markers and now I'm embroidering some of the shapes with colorful threads.







































































I've made two installations of Victorian style miniature houses out of paper and a number of illustrations of them so, feeling like it was "my thing," I made a t-shirt based off of one of the
illustrations. Plus I was in a show at a boutique and the shop owners made purses out of one of the works by each the artists who participated. They made a bag out of one of my house illustrations since I was exhibiting my house installations. You can see these art works here.






































I also did a t-shirt making swap with a friend of mine. She made me a beautiful t-shirt with 3 yellow bunnies on it and I made her this.

Altered "Pillow Case" Dress

I bought this dress from Mas (a cheap department store in Italy) for 1 euro, but It was practically a pillow case, completely straight no shape at all. So I sewed it in at the sides a little and I added darts and a belt and this is what it turned out like.

Post Star Pets and Luxurious Dog Houses

Via La Repubblica.


































































These dog houses look more like prize winning dollhouses. Via My Luxury.

High waisted Sailor Skirt/Jumper with Kangaroo Pocket

Phew...that's a mouth full. I've had this seer sucker fabric for a year now I finally made something out of it last week. I originally bought this fabric to make a skirt with one row of buttons up the middle. I changed my idea a little bit and made it more sailor influenced skirt and I added detachable suspenders to make it into a jumper and a kangaroo pocket because I love pockets, they are very useful.






















Above I'm wearing a vintage silk blouse from Sears Roebuck that was missing 2 of its 4 buttons so I removed the two buttons and turned them into stud earrings (which I'm wearing) and I replaced them with 4 new plastic pink/orange/yellow buttons.





Opened and exposing the kangaroo pocket.















Showing removable suspenders.

At the Beach in the Skirt I Just Made

Yesterday I went to the beach climbing on the rocks and I went wearing the gathered skirt that I made a week or so ago.

2 Day Gathered Skirt (with pockets)

This was my 2 day sewing project (today and yesterday). I love making and designing my own cloths because I can make them exactly the way I want with the perfect fabric.




















When I saw this super cool fabric I knew I had to make a skirt with it, and there are left over scraps to make jewelry pouches with! Take a close look at this fabric, there are unicorns and dinosaurs as well as zebras and dragons and lions.




















This is a view of the pocket, but you can't see it because it's perfectly camouflaged.

















The back, there is an elastic waistband, but still I needed some extra width.

Wizard of Oz Pouches

Today I made 10 handmade fabric pouches for Il Gatto Selvatico goodies out of an upcycled sheet with sleepy Wizard of Oz characters on it. I made them in all different sizes. Then a put some red lace ribbon to tie them shut.

Etsy Update: A Heart in Norway

I recently finished an order for a map of Norway necklace for the winner of the Monster Bites giveaway and here it is.






















before

















after

Etsy Preview: Leather Feathers

I made 5 new leather feather earrings, but I just made one of each so now I have to make the matches to them. After I do that you'll see them in the shop.

Etsy Update: Rings

I did a crazy experiment to make rings out of leather and fabric and thread. It didn't really work out as planned, I had planned to sew them together but the sewing machine wasn't really happy with that so I crazy glued them. Maybe in the future I can perfect it. Before this I made a Native American/ Tribal/ Geometric style necklace which inspired me to make the rings. This necklace is called the Tiered Embroidered Friendship Necklace and is available now at my etsy shop. The rings will be listed in the next few days and I have plans to make about 4 more necklaces similar to these rings and this necklace.

Etsy Update: Diamonds (and Sapphires) Are A Girls Best Friend

I know it's early but I'm thinking about my Halloween costume (because Halloween is my favorite holiday) and one o the things I'm thinking of being is Princess Peach, and my husband will be Mario. So I decided to make matching sapphire earrings and necklace (I know she wears a sapphire brooch) which are sold separately at il gatto selvatico. But they aren't real sapphires, they are embroidered instead.





















I also made a pair of diamonds.

Captain Dakota

I was asked to paint another portrait of Dakota the chihuahua, but this time as a sailor. As you can see I had a great time. I was inspired by the photographs of Pierre et Gilles and by pictures of Dakota herself (at the beach at sunset). She even has a little anchor tattoo.



















Pierre et Gilles
















Dakota