I have had heaps of questions about how I made these dog pants for Week 8 of the 52 Week Sewing Challenge earlier this year so thought I’d write a more in depth how to. (Find the original blog here.)
I got both the rubber block and the carving tools from Spotlight, I’m not sure how the quality compares to others but they were relatively cheap and I could order online plus they worked well for me.
Parker was very insistent he wanted a dog stamp on his pants so we searched Pinterest for some inspiration and once we found the photo below there was no talking him in to anything else.
I printed the image out in the size of my rubber block and then used tracing paper to trace the image out using a 2B pencil. I then flipped the tracing paper over onto the block so the drawn side was touching the block and used the other end of the pencil to rub the design onto the block.
I then drew over the copied pencil design with a black permanent marker, so it wouldn’t be accidentally rubbed off while I was carving the design out. Below is the printed design and my carved stamp before I started testing it.
I don’t have a proper tool for applying the paint to the rubber tile so I just used a foam brush I already had (like these ones). I tested the design with regular acrylic paint and onto paper and after each print removed any extra areas I wasn’t happy with until I was ready to try on the fabric.
I decided to use a textile medium mixed into acrylic paint so I would have more colour options, because I already have acrylic paints, however you can also buy specific fabric inks and paints. This has held up with washing okay so far.
I decided on the pattern I was going to use, the Star Shorts in the Hunter version and traced my pattern pieces onto the fabric so I would be able to line up my prints exactly where I wanted them.
I reapplied paint between each print for one pair and alternated with the second pair for a different look. If you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them in our Flosstyle Fair group on Facebook.
Happy Sewing
xx Gail