Celebrating Earth Day with creativity and sustainability! In this tutorial, Teresa Natividad creates a spring bunting made from old cotton t-shirts and Dina Wakley Media paints. Honor our planet by upcycling and spreading colorful eco-friendly vibes!
Earth Day Spring Bunting by Teresa Natividad
- Materials
- Instructions
Instructions
As part of my effort to be a little more green every year, I have gathered a pile of clothes that have holes, discoloration, and tears so I can donate them to organizations that accept fabric scraps. I had a couple of long sleeved white cotton shirts that have some discoloration. I had an idea to dye them and it was possible! See below for steps on how I accomplished this.
Step 1: Gather some Dina Wakley MEdia Paints and mix them in warm water in a pail. I mixed pinks and greens to create two pails of dye. Soak shirts or other fabric in the colored water for 1-2 hours. I stuck to cotton shirts. If you have other fabrics, you might need to experiment if they will take the color.
Step 2: After soaking, wring shirts and air dry.
Step 3: While waiting for the shirts to dry, create a template for your flags. Mine is 4x7 with a swallowtail.
Step 4: Once the shirts are completely dry, trace the template onto the fabric and cut out the flags.
Step 5: Cut about 6’ of baker’s twine. Gather about 10 each of pink and green flags. Apply Dina Wakley MEdia Ultra Thick Gel Medium to the top ½” of each flag and fold over the twine, leaving ½” between each flag.
Step 6: Hang across a shelf or desk or anywhere to make the area festive.
Teresa works at Ranger by day and at night, dabbles in creative pursuits such as crafting, cooking, and community theatre. Evidence of these can be found at her Instagram handle, @asiattic.