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Bought some cheap leopard print pants. Dyed them black. I regret nothing.

On the topic of painted shoes, I have some Pumas I'm considering painting. Black fake suede with white fake leather. I'm not sure on the best method or color yet. Any thoughts?

 

 

Very similar to these:

 

 

 

Also, those Leopard print pants are sick.

Edited by L2U2K2E - 9/18/12 at 12:28pm

speedcats dude thats like all I wore in 2001-2004.  They're super comforatble,

dip them in a bucket of cement for a diy project.

Just saw this page last night. Definitely subscribed.
Here are a pair of thrift store Clarks Wallabees made in Ireland (very old, dried out rubber) that I cut off the soles, and had a cobbler put on a Vibram Christy sole a few years ago.



I had never seen this color of Wallabee before this one, and now Clarks makes tons of colors...

tapering a pair of sweatpants is simple enough right?
pin them, turn inside out and go at it with the sewing machine, and then just cut of the fabric that will then be needless?
know that if you try and taper a tee the machine can rip the fabric apart, but the fabric sweatpants are made of should be substantial enough to not rip apart?

Yeah, I usually go this way: 1) turn inside out; 2) draw seam, pin, try on (not turned inside out!) until you like how they fit; 3) turn inside out, sew; 4) either cut off the excess fabric and do something to avoid the frayed edge, or just leave it there.

Never heard of this. Since I rarely find cheap stuff that fits me, I started buying $4 (disposable) tees and fix the boxy cut so I'm kind of used to it. We're talking about cotton here, hemp as well -- silk is toatally different and you need a different sewing machine.

Also, pay attention to filmier stuff: perhaps in this case the machine may start to act weirdly and rip things up?

thanks, any recommendations how to avoid the frayed edge since I think I will want to cut it off

There are a million seam finishes, an easy one for knits fabrics would be a french seam which means the first seam you would sew wrong sides together then flip inside out sew then press.  If you have access to a serger do that.

Also since sweatpants are knits you want to stretch the fabric out as you sew it, otherwise you will rip the seam while wearing it.

like smash said the key to painting without the cloth stiffening up would be using light layers. the only problem is you'll get a smoother brush stroke which may be unwanted. an even better idea to try out is using a dye as paint with a brush; i haven't tried it myself but it might be something to look into.

Cut a sweater into a scarf, used 100% of the sweater by cutting it like a screw (swirl?) (for lack of a better word). It's about 10ft x 8"


Made a lamp by drilling a hole through a block of wood and coating it in polyester. I stole the fram for the shade from a different lamp, and the material on the shade is just scotch tape

Once you have sewn where you needed to sew, just sew a few stitches (either zig-zag or even straight ones work) form top to bottom so that the frayed edge doesn't go past them and doesn't fuck up your stitching. I usually do this way.

Or, more professional: turn the frayed edge over itself twice and sew it. The end result is sharper and obviously better looking. Very similar to the bottom of shirts as a concept.

Make sure you don't cut off too much fabric and you have ENOUGH fabric for the 2nd method

the 2nd method sounds nice and simple enough, I'll see if I can do it this weekend 

Do the french seam its easier than a self bound seam buddy. sewing 2 lines instead of 3, if I didn't make my self clear you don't need a serger, serging is a different ,method.

oh okay, thanks