So I wanted wings on my back. I've been thinking a lot about this two-tshirt thing, with cuts in the top layer to show the colour of the bottom layer. I'll post my first experiment in this department soon, but I want to get this one out now. I rummaged through our cupboards and found a brown T neither of us has worn more than twice, and a white T that was always too small. Perfect for the bottom layer, in other words.
I start by sewing key points of the two T's together. This is essential with two different brands or cuts of shirt, to ensure they sit properly on one another. With two T's from the same range I only sew the line from the neck to the shoulders. It is important to sew only on the seams to avoid the material pulling funny or showing the sewing. That rhymes.
Next I drape the shirt over a chair to keep the shape while i trace the wings on the back. I looked for the perfect pair of wings on Google, and photoShopped all the inside detail out, so that i had only the outlines. I chose wings with an expressive outline, because the material doesn't allow for much detail once cut. It's more important to get the overall shape right.
Then I print them out on A4, and cut out the inside to create a stencil.
This gets pinned onto the back of the T, and using a laundry marker i trace the outline onto the shirt. From previous experience I now know to trace it a little smaller than i need it to be, because the idea is for the material to pull back and curl over a little.
Now i simply hand-stitch all along the marked lines with small, close zig-zag stitches that show only very minimally on the front of the shirt. This stitch has a name, but I don't know it in English... The stitching catches both layers of T-shirt.
Then comes the fun part - cutting out the inside of the wings from the top T-shirt layer. I cut about 2mm away from the stitched line, to give the material room to curve over.
And that's it - I have wings on my back... :)
Bloody hell that's awesome!
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