by Rina Grosman

Hello and welcome to She Does the City’s new craft column Sew What, the how to for creative individuals who often find themselves gazing in store windows and exclaiming “I can do that!” This project is dedicated to another She Does the City writer, Olga who, if she hasn’t told you a million times already, has a little Chihuahua that just can’t seem get enough leg time. With these fire hydrant leggings Olga can give that furry beast proper loven no matter where they are.

Materials that you will need:

Fabric paint, fabric spray paint

Leggings

Exacto knife, scissors

Cardboard

Tape

Mask-ease (silkscreen mask)/ sticker vinyl

Iron, pressing cloth

Flexible measuring tape

Step one: The first thing that you need to do is sketch out the desired image onto paper. Keep in mind the size you want (it needs to fit onto your leg) and keep it simple. If you don’t pride yourself on your drawing skills, then you can also find an image on the net and print it out the size you want. Block in the areas with black that you want to be painted (this will make it easier in the cutting process).

Step two: Transfer the image onto the mask ease/vinyl. Again, you can draw it, or you can glue the paper onto the vinyl. Cut your image out of the mask ease to create your stencil (cutting out the black images). The great thing about using something with a sticky background is that you can have details that are not connected to the main shape.

Step three: measure the circumference of you leg and roll up the cardboard (I used something called oiled stencil board because it has a nice shiny surface) to the same circumference and tape it to fasten. Insert the tube into the leggings to stretch out the fabric where you want your image to be. Place your stencil onto the stretched out legging.

Step four: Make sure to press down the stencil so that none of the edges are lifting up and start painting. You might have to use more than one layer of paint if your leggings are darker in colour. Let them dry.

Step five: Remove the cardboard and iron the image to set the paint. Make sure to put a pressing cloth between the iron and the paint or else the paint will melt!

Step six: Show off those sexy legs in your new leggings (just don’t hang out at any dog parks!).