Painted Dress and Tie for the MFA Summer Party

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 love this dress!  

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!