Cherry Blossom Jeans

 Hello Readers. It is springtime. In my part of the world we lose our minds over the cherry blossoms in Washington DC. The trees were a gift from Japan and everyone loves them. There is a festival and a parade. The dates of peak bloom are announced in the news so people can plan to go see them. There are a lot of fun activities and it really is beautiful.

Before and after. 

In honor of those pretty blossoms, I made some jeans.

I grabbed some black acrylic paint and a thin brush and started painting branches on the sides of these jeans. I painted with a heavy hand. The paint will not wash out. It is permanent but it will fade a little. I want the black to be dark and visible after many washes. I let the black paint dry thoroughly. 

When the black paint was dry I started painting pink spots along the black branches. This does not have to be perfect. I even let my youngest help me. I just loaded the brush with paint and tapped it on the jeans. I did not let this dark pink paint dry.

I added some lighter pink paint onto the dark pink spots. I liked how the 2 colors blended in with each other a little. This also does not need to be perfect, orderly, neat or uniform. Just make some splotches on the jeans. It's fun. Don't over think it. 

Here is a look at my very low budget paint holder. I put the dark pink paint in this cup so my son could paint with me and then I added white paint to make a lighter shade of pink that I used second. You can use any pink acrylic paint you have or like. The paint I have is a mix of inexpensive paints from the craft store. 

If you look closely at the picture of the blossoms they have a dark pink center so I added a dot of magenta to the center of my spots. I wasn't trying to create really accurate paintings of blossoms. I am going for more of an impressionist style. 

You can see these blossoms are all different and imperfect, just like all the people that go see the blossoms. I love it that way.

I love the pop of pink. It's so fun, cheerful and perfect for spring. I made some jeans almost just like this about 4-5 years ago but they got too tight. It's OK, now I replaced them. 

 

Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

*Year End Note From Chickie- These jeans were so fun! I know skinny jeans are not supposed to be in but if these are wrong, I don't want to be right.

 

Lots O' Dots

Hello Readers. Spring is here, at least where I live. Flowers are starting to bloom, the sun is out, I am sewing and thinking about Spring. I saw some cute polka dot jeans on Pinterest a while ago and wanted to try to make them myself. When someone handed-me-down a pair of dark wash jeans I was ready to try it. The jeans were close to fitting and in great condition. 

(Thanks Kathy G.!)

Here is the funny part of the jeans, they are capris y'all. They are supposed to be cropped length and they are full leg jeans on me, It's the curse of the short legs!

The first step was to take the jeans in a little to improve the fit just a little. That was no big deal. The length was perfect already, so it was time for the dots.

To add polka dots to these jeans I used some basic chalk and some acrylic craft paint.

I made some diagonal lines across the jeans. I used a yard stick to make the lines straight and parallel to each other. I thought if the lines were even and straight my dots would be evenly spread out on the jeans. My lines were not perfect, the fabric moved a little. I didn't worry about it, I just kept making lines. Who has time for perfection? It isn't brain surgery.

 (If you are doing brain surgery, please find time for perfection.)

I made chalk lines in the opposite direction and that gave me this X pattern all over the jeans. I made a small dot of paint at all the intersection points. I painted the dots with one thick coat of paint and let it dry for a few hours. 

Here is what the front looked like when it was dry. I flipped the jeans over and used the same chalk/yardstick system to paint the polka dots on the back of the jeans. I let them dry for a few hours again. That night I threw them in the washer to remove all the chalk lines.

My toddler interrupted the drying process and made a little smear on the waistband in the back. It's OK, it's all part of making things by hand. I will remember that little tiny hand grabbing my jeans and trying to run away with them whenever I see that smeared polka dot.

Here are my finished jeans with polka dots all over. I love them. They seem very cheerful and perfect for spring. Come back next time to see the sweater I refashioned to go with them.

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself. 

The Painted Jeans

Hello Readers. I did a really fun project recently. I saw some painted jeans on Pinterest that I couldn't resist copying. They were distressed and had cherry blossoms painted on the legs. Here is a link if you want to see my inspiration. These are a cheaper version of a designer pair the cost $500, according to what I read. I don't have $500 to spend on jeans so I made my own.

 I grew up near Washington DC and every spring the cherry tree blossoms would come out in the all trees along the tidal basin. The nation capital loses it's mind over this every year because it is so pretty. The trees are watched to predict when the blossoms will be at their fullest, it is part of our daily news and there is a huge National Cherry Blossom Festival.

I started with a pair of jeans that fit but were not my favorite pair. I didn't want to risk my favorite pair if it didn't turn out well. You never know.

I thought that I would like the jeans to be faded. So I soaked them in diluted bleach. It didn't turn out well. I have tried this before, I guess I am a slow learner. They did not fade evenly as I thought they would. I decided to go with it and see how it looked after painting them.

I got some paint from the craft section at Walmart. It was only 50 cents a bottle. It is basic acrylic paint that dries fast and doesn't wash out in the washer. (Wear old clothes or an apron if you try this idea.) The sponge brush came in handy as did a regular narrow child's paint brush. (Not shown.)

I smeared some white paint on the jeans randomly. It seemed to dry instantly. Then I painted black branches on the jeans too. I did it with no plan and no sketching first. I let the black paint dry for a few minutes.

I used the paint brush to add bright pink dabs of paint around the branches. It looked very bright but that's OK. I wasn't done. I didn't let it dry I went right into the next step.

I mixed some white and pink together for a lighter shade of pink and did a bunch of small dabs on the dark pink spots. Some dark pink showed through and some didn't. I had some nice variation in the colors. I didn't wait after this step either, I went right into the next step.

I added a little plain white paint on top of the light pink. Some of the paint started mixing together as I painted and that made it look even better. I was just doing tiny little dabs of paint with a small brush. Cherry blossoms are small and clustered together. I also thought I had covered the branches too much so I added a little bit more black on top of the black branches to make them show more.

I let it all dry over night and the next day I repeated these steps on the back of the jeans. I didn't do as much, just enough to coordinate with the front.

Here is the finished project, it was one of the most fun to do. I love painting and this was easy because it isn't meant to be perfect. They were really stiff at first but they got softer after one wash. It is a bit hard to see (Look closely.) the distressed knees that I added in the picture on the right because I was trying to show the cherry blossoms. 

Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.