Shadow Swan

Sharing our experience with you is one of our main purposes for this blog. And today we have something that we’ve always wanted to try and have never used.

FABRIC PAINTS!

If you were a fan of Rhythmic Gymnastic leotards you would have noticed that they use painting methods quite often. There are so many different effects you can achieve with paints that you cannot get with Lycra. With the gradient effect being one of my favourites.

Now the theme for this week’s leotard is based on Swan Lake and the Black Swan ideal. The idea for the fabric paint was to create feather like shapes instead of actual feathers. This meant that the shape of the feathers could be controlled and styled with the flow of the leotard.

Which it has been achieved!, though once I had done one side of the leotard I realised it didn’t get the effect I was looking for. It was very flat looking and had no dimension to it; this could be due to the fact that I only used one colour. However I found that I didn’t really like the consistency of the paint, which could be factored to the brand I used.

So to get the desired effect that I was looking for I ended up adding feathers in small clumps and glitter. I used two types of fine glitter to add dimension and some colour differentiation. The black glitter just raised the look with a little bit of sparkle and the dark grey helped soften and added dimension.

Though I didn’t want to use feathers, it really was needed and just finishes of the work.

The one thing I really like about the paint is that you can make points really defined, which sometimes cannot be achieved when cutting out the Lycra.

To finish off this leotard I made a small tutu like skirt using two layers of tulle. Meaning lots of gathering, however extremely effective! I only use bridal tulle because it is a lot easier to work and sew with, plus the added benefit that it is less scratchy when you are wear it… which is a definite plus!

So here it is!!

xx