How to Design a Mardi Gras T-Shirt
Though it lasts for weeks, Mardi Gras---an annual celebration in New Orleans---is most popular in its final weekend, from Friday through Fat Tuesday. The dates change from year to year, but the highlights of the party remain the same: music, parades, beads and excess. Keeping up with the frenzy may be a challenge for first-timers, but embracing the overwhelming party atmosphere with a special outfit may make you feel right at home. With a few art store supplies and a plain t-shirt, you can deck yourself out with a custom Mardi Gras shirt that will double as a souvenir when the festivities are over. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Solid color t-shirt
- Fabric paint
- Fabric paint brush
- Glitter
- Cardboard
- Rhinestones
- Fabric glue
Instructions
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Choose a solid color t-shirt to begin with. Purple, green and gold are your best options---these are the official colors of Mardi Gras. Purple represents justice, green represents faith and gold represents power.
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Insert a sheet of cardboard inside the shirt before you begin customizing. This prevents paint or glue from bleeding through the fabric onto the other side.
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Use fabric paint to create designs on the shirt. These can be recognizable or abstract images---Mardi Gras icons include jesters, masks, fiddles, lobsters, trumpets and other jazz instruments. You may also opt for zigzags, dots, stars or other shapes. Remember to use purple, green and gold, and allow the paint to dry when you are finished.
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Apply fabric glue to the flat backside of your rhinestones and firmly press them onto the shirt. You may use them to write a short message or simply to bedazzle the outfit---there is no such thing as too sparkly or garish.
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Sprinkle on glitter in moderation. You want to complement what you already have, not obscure it.
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Remove the cardboard from the shirt and hang it until the paint is completely dry and the glue has set. Wear it with pride.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit sparkling beads image by Roslen Mack from Fotolia.com
