DIY: Stamped Denim

While it is gloomy and rainy outside, it is a perfect time to stay at home and to do some DIY projects!

Today I will show a sequel of my  Bleached Denim post. Let’s stamp!

My inspiration was these bleached-n-painted jeans shorts. I loved the idea of combining a bold black and white design with a subtle jeans texture. But wait a minute… I cannot do it, because I am so bad at drawing! What could be its substitution?.. Stamping! Stamping is perfect for me. It is very easy to do, and it gives the same uniqueness and personal touch.

To my surprise, it was not easy to find good stamping accessories in Montreal. Some stampers were available at the art store DeSerres. Stamping kits were there, too, but they were charged with a regular paint that is not suitable for fabric. Even Dolorama failed to help: I found there only some toy stampers for kids.

Of course, I could have bought the accessories on the Internet. But I did not want to wait – it was time to get creative!

I made a stamping ink-pad out of a dish sponge that I cut through the middle. Small air-tight plastic containers from Dolorama became ink-pad cases. The fabric paint was bought at DeSerres. Also, I bought there a few floral and hear-shaped stampers and got a bag of toy finger stampers at Dolorama.

At first, I made some sample tests. I diluted the pink paint with a bit of water and poured it on the sponge.  Then, I stamped on a piece of cloths  and realized that – surprise-surprise! – results are better then stamping is done on a flat surface.

After stamping is done, the design needs to get a permanent status in this life! The paint gets fixed by ironing for 5 minutes in cotton position. Once fixed, the design resists machine washing and dry cleaning.

After waiting for the paint to dry, I washed the samples. Woo-hoo, it looks so cool!

Floral stamps looked pretty, too.

Although I liked the resulting floral pattern, I wanted to make a geometric ornament with circles and rectangles. To do that, I bought an eraser and used its wide side as a stamper. The circle was made out of a finger stamper with the shape part removed.

The result was not perfect enough for me. The surface of the eraser side was too large, and the paint got unevenly distributed across the surface. The same happened with the circles.

After experimenting more, I decided to use the most narrow side of the eraser. It greatly improved the quality of the prints. Hurray!

I liked the brick pattern the best. Instead of the circles, I decided to use the star finger stamper.

Ok, the pattern and the technique, all  was set! It was the time to prepare the shorts.

I bought a pair of jeans at a second hand store.

Then I cut them and bleached using the instructions I have recently published.

Stamping time! Making the very first prints was so exiting!

The left part was stamped with stars. Some stamps turned out to be untidy, because the circular edge of the stamper left marks. Another hint: To get a good quality print, use good tools!

On the back, I only stamped the pockets.

Before fixing the design, I waited for one hour to let the paint dry.

Fixing by ironing was long and inconvenient, so I decided to use a different method! I baked the shorts in the oven for 5 min with the temperature 300F.

(OMG, my oven is so dirty! Have not  noticed before!)

Here comes the result! I rolled up the trouser legs and sewed them underneath in a few places. After “baking”, the fabric got some yellowish tint. The tint was resistant and survived washing, so I decided to pretend it was by design.

The view from the back. The flaps need to be ironed after every washing.

Stamping is cool!

A few practical advices I carried out of my experience:

  • quality of the print depends on the quality of the stamper, so it is worth to spend money on expensive accessories;
  • do stamping carefully on a flat surface; to make sure the fabric is flat, I put a magazine inside the shorts;
  • in addition, the fabric should be stretched and secured with pins;
  • white bright paint will probably not be visible on a light cloth; while choosing the paint, pay attention to what fabric it is designed for (dark light);
  • it is much easier to make the paint fixed in the oven that doing so by ironing; of course, it will work only if the garment has no plastic details or buttons.

This is it! Happy stamping!

Disclaimer: Yup, this post may contain affiliate links! If you buy something from me, I get some margarita money (not enough to buy a pair of shoes). Read more here.

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Trackbacks & Pingbacks

  1. […] To do stamping, I used the same tools that I got when did my first stamped denim. […]

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