Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Cat Face Sweatshirt


I came across this sweatshirt on Pinterest a while ago and pinned it, thinking it would be pretty easy to replicate with a fabric marker. I was on the lookout for a decent sweatshirt while thrifting, but just couldn't find one that I liked. When I was doing laundry the other day, though, I realized that I already had a sweatshirt I could use! I made this seafoam-colored sweatshirt when I was testing out my Dolman Sleeve Top, but don't wear it much because let's face it, it's just a plain sweatshirt (albeit in a great color). Perfect candidate for Put a Cat on It!

I didn't want mine to be a carbon copy of the Opening Ceremony cat face, so I pulled up a picture of Walnut and sketched a line drawing of his most prominent features: his eyes, nose, disapproving mouth, whiskers, and eyebrowskers (if that last one isn't a real word, it really should be. I'm going to enter it into my Microsoft Word dictionary so that it doesn't get red squiggly lines under it anymore, and then it will be official). I re-drew the face onto a piece of tissue paper, then used a pin to prick tiny holes all along the lines. This way, when I drew over the lines with the fabric marker, they would leave a faint connect-the-dot map on the fabric so that I would know where to color.

Drawn on a scrap of tissue paper, then taped to the sweatshirt (don't forget to insert a piece of cardboard inside the sweatshirt to keep the ink from seeping through to the back side!) and pricked with a pin. Oops, my pinhead is the same sea-foam color as the sweatshirt!

Trace over the lines with fabric marker several times so that it bleeds through. 

When you remove the tissue paper, there should be a faint line to trace. I kept my tissue paper taped down until I was sure that I could see all the lines. 

The finished sweatshirt! I used a Tee Juice Fine Point Fabric Art Marker, purchased at Staples; both this and my previous project involving this marker held up just fine in the wash, no fading or anything!

After I heat-set the the drawing, I tried on the sweatshirt and couldn't stop grinning at how silly Walnut's facial expression looks! I know they say cats don't really do facial expressions (almost all of the faces look the same!), but I'm pretty sure my guy is communicating at least as much disapproval as a rabbit.




If you want to make your own Walnut face sweatshirt, either the lazy way (with a fabric marker) or the real way (with embroidery thread), you can download the line drawing here.


34 comments:

  1. That is awesome, but Walnut always looks good so no surprise. I actually like yours more because of the shape of the Dolman top and the color.

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    1. I feel like the original cat looked too suspicious :) And yes, I love the color of this top, so I wanted to make it even more likely to get worn!

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  2. My cat also has elbowskers.

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    1. Oh my goodness, that's awesome! I just checked, and none of our family cats have elbowskers, but Fenxi does have wristskers!

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  3. I actually think it looks like he's slightly smiling!

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    1. Haha oh good...I wouldn't want him to look too intimidating and unapproachable!

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  4. Super cute! And much more fun than the original simply because it's Walnut. :)

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    1. I think that's my favorite part about these kinds of knockoffs...I can make them cuter than the original!

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  5. How funny! I wrote about this exact same thing last month. http://hippopotamuslee.blogspot.com/2012/11/kitty-faces-on-everything.html

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    1. Just looked at your blog post, and yes, it's so true! Did you end up making your own?

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  6. Can I just say that I, too, think eyebrowkers should be a word? It's an awesome word. Also, I love this series. I just made a cat tee shirt for my husband- of all people. He has no shame ;)

    http://www.lizajanesews.blogspot.com/2012/11/snug-life.html

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    1. ZOMG that is the best shirt ever!! I love that your husband has no shame. My husband was against cats initially, too, but then Fenxi won him over.

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  7. SO GOOD! I love Walnut's face! He looks angry on the tracing and watchful on the actual shirt. I'll have to try your method next time I try to draw a design on fabric.

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    1. Hehehe, if only I could get him to be like the Mona Lisa and follow people with his eyes no matter where they stand!

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  8. hehe - so cute! I like your sketch better than the original inspiration, especially since it's Walnut. =)

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  9. Oh no, I think cats have facial expressions...their eyes are intense! :) Another awesome t-shrit!

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    1. I think they do too, but it's often claimed that they don't use their faces so much as say, dogs.

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  10. Oh my goodness, that is brilliant!!! :)

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  11. This is wonderful. Thanks for the drawing and the tutorial. I am sure my cat, Seraphena will disagree with the "experts". She knows her face is very expressive. She doesn't have to make a sound. Prehaps she and Walnut know more than is perceived. Love that face, Walnut. Regena in TN.

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    1. Walnut would definitely agree with Seraphena that sounds are not required to communicate with owners! He is quite good at letting us know what he wants/feels, although he's not averse to talking it out, either!

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  12. You are SO talented! I guess it's time for me to admit, though, that I keep coming back for the Walnut photos as much as for your creative projects. That family photo of the three of you? Tooo cute!

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    1. Hahaha and I'm just worried that people will get sick of seeing him all the time!

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  13. I've seen things similar-ish to this and thought meh, but the colour and not quite complete face make this amazing! How DO you manage to improve on everything so well?

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  14. LOVE IT! It's a marvelous way to add character to a plan sweatshirt, and it's so fabulously fun!! Love all of these cat posts - I am giggling in my cube at every one :)

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  15. ahhh! I love this! Best part is that it is totally doable. Thanks for the link to the marker. I'm definitely going to give this a try.

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