Painted Dress and Tie for the MFA Summer Party
June 20, 2017
I recently attended the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Summer Party. It's a black tie affair. I went shopping for a not black dress. I was literally looking for anything formal that wasn't black. And you know what, not a lot of choices -- especially in my size. So, I did what any artist would do: I painted my own!
My dress started as a purple and white floral dress from TJ Maxx.
Because I went bargain hunting at TJ Maxx, the dress wasn't completely right. So, I took it to a tailor to have the lace removed from the bottom hem and the dress taken in a bit around the waist.
Once it came back from the tailor, I hung it up on my painting wall to think about.
And then I gave the dress a loose base coat:
I wanted to leave some of that purple flower fabric showing, much in the way I often leave under-layers showing in my art journal or paintings.
I then added text and more colors to the dress:
I thought very seriously about leaving it alone at this point.
But you know me, I can never stop! So, I kept going, adding a focal image to both the front and back of the dress. The front got a face:
And the back got some flowers:
The final dress still has quite a bit of the purple floral showing through:
And pockets! This dress has pockets, which might be the best thing in the whole world!
I even made a tie to coordinate!
I used fabric paints and sprays so that the fabric would remain supple and the dress and tie could be laundered. Some of my favorite fabric paints and sprays:
- Jacquard Textile Paint
- Jacquard Lumiere Paints
- Deco Arts So Soft Fabric Paint
- Tulip Soft Fabric Paint (the white is super opaque)
- Tulip Fabric Spray Paint
This was a super fun project to make and I love, love, loved wearing my fabulous dress! I hope to find other occasions to dress up and wear it!
Thanks for stopping by!