This T-shirt has been finished for months and I even took some photos quite a while ago, but then I was convinced that they were horrible and wanted to take new ones. Since it will be too cold for that for another several months, I finally looked at the months-old photos again and they are actually okay, so I’ve decided to post them after all. (My boyfriend says I look odd in them. Oh well.)

Paint-Splattered Burda 2/2011, #129: Front

(Yes, the hem is actually straight. I said that the photos were okay, not that they were great.)

Pattern

Okay, I almost don’t believe that I made up a pattern with a modelled photo as hideous as this, but this is Burda 2/2011, #129, the “Mesh Shirt”. Without the tank-top over it, obviously. And not made from mesh. Going by the technical drawing, it’s a perfectly fine basic T-shirt pattern—which is why I chose to trace it in the first place.

Paint-Splattered Burda 2/2011, #129: Back

Fabric

The fabric is the same cotton knit I’ve previously used for a New Look top and my mum’s birthday Burda top, only this time in teal.

I liked the colour when I chose this fabric months before I made the shirt, but then I changed my mind a bit and found it slightly dull. So I splattered black and white fabric paint all over it, and when that still looked somewhat boring, I added red splatters as well. I’m pretty happy with the result and it’s definitely more interesting than the plain teal fabric.

Paint-Splattered Burda 2/2011, #129: Paint Detail

I just used regular fabric paint for dark textiles, thinned it a bit with water (which is why the white isn’t white) and used paintbrushes to splatter it all over the T-shirt. I did this after sewing the front and back together at the shoulders and attaching the neck binding, but before sewing the side seams or sleeves.

What I want to do differently next time

  • I might lower the neckline a bit. I actually put this thing away half-finished for months because I thought the neckline was too high to be comfortable, but I had done a surprisingly beautiful job on the binding and I really didn’t want to unpick it or cut it off. When I finally decided to tackle the issue months later, I tried the shirt on again and found that it actually had a perfectly fine crew neck. I should leave things to marinate more often, it sometimes solves imaginary issues.

Paint-Splattered Burda 2/2011, #129: Neck Binding

  • I could use a swayback adjustment, I guess. But this is a knit T-shirt! Would I really bother with that? Can the issue even really be fixed on a knit T-shirt? I could probably take in the sides at the waist a bit to see whether that helps.

  • If I ever feel the urge to splatter paint all over anything else, I would try to get a slightly less even result. My T-shirt almost looks like it has some kind of repeat, like a boring, commercially printed pattern. It doesn’t, but it’s just a little too even for my taste, if that makes any sense.