Stencil Painting on Fabric with April Sproule

We had a great workshop with April Sproule at our guild in April.  She does beautiful stenciling on fabric and clothes.  In this two-day workshop she taught us about choosing stencils, arranging them, about mixing paint, and applying it to fabric with stencil brushes.  Lots to learn.  

We learned this procedure on pieces of fabric that we brought in to play with.  On the second day April invited us to bring in clothing that we might want to paint.  Some of us went to second-hand stores to find clothes, some used our old clothing.  I looked through my closet for things that I haven't worn for a long time, or things that I wouldn't mind trying to paint (meaning that I wouldn't mind if I ruined that particular garment!).

April brought in many pieces of her own clothing that she has painted with her stencils (she designs her own).  On the knit top below she made a mask using freezer paper to paint the curved pink area in the middle.

Here is a detail of that shirt showing the precise painting and her beautiful hand-stitching and beading which she adds to almost everything.  

Another garment had a stitch I hadn't seen before.  A back stitch which then had blanket stitch done over it.  I love this look.

A beautiful knit shirt transformed by April's painting.

She also showed us samples of painting on a separate fabric, then cutting them out and raw-edge appliquéing them onto a garment.  

Now here are some samples that I stenciled.

Here I was trying to give the oak leaves a little golden touch on the ends.  I need a little work on my subtlety in painting!

I thought this design looked nice on printed fabric.

On the second day of this class we brought in some of our own clothes to stencil.  Looking through my closet, I noticed a short-sleeved white knit shirt that I have hardly worn at all.  I also found a light blue shirt dress.  I've had this dress for quite a few years.  Suffice it to say that at this age, I feel I should no longer wear dresses of this length (or lack of length)!  My idea was to stencil it, then cut it off to make  it a tunic instead of a dress.

The finished product!

Detail of upper shirt.

Detail of shirt tail.

Then I stenciled this white knit shirt, too.  With a variety of different designs.

Collar detail.

Lower front of shirt.

Back design.

I'm very happy with how both of these garments turned out.  And I've given new life to two items of clothing that were languishing in my closet.  Win-win!!