Recently, my wife found this piece of clothing on sale at Uniqlo and asked me if I wanted to paint some of my stencils on it. Sure, I said, and then asked, What do you want?
Anything is fine, she answered.
So I thought about it, and after a few days I showed her the stencil I was thinking about using and explained my idea to her. It would be a colorful pattern with a lot of repetition going up the front, next to the button seam that runs down the middle of the one-piece.
Well, as you can see in the picture above, that’s not the way things worked out. Instead of the stencil I had planned on using, my wife chose this one of James Joyce. Worried about picking the right colors, I opted for black. After my wife gave me the okay, I went to work.
When stenciling clothes, if you only work with one stencil and one position, you have a lot of flexibility. If the stencil is crooked or not placed quite right, it’s usually okay.
When doing a repeating image, though, there are things to think about. Having never worked with a flared piece of clothing before, I wasn’t sure how to align my stencil. Should it follow the flared, outer edge of the one-piece, or should it be in line with the vertical button seam?
I didn’t know, and rather than take the time to look online for advice about the matter, I just guessed that following the flared line on the outer edge of the one-piece was correct. Turns out, I was wrong.
I think when worn, and especially when in motion, this one-piece will look okay, but when hanging statically, the stencils on the one side, which are aligned with the flare, seem a little crooked. As it turns out, when the clothing is hanging and/or worn, you don’t notice the angle of the fabric on the outer edges (not like you do when the piece of clothing is spread out on the floor waiting to be painted). All you really see is the button seam acting like an anchor and running down the middle.
Oh well, live and learn. I won’t make the same mistake next time.