The Big Book

Sometimes I resent that my Uni studies don't allow me enough creative time. How fabulous that I could combine the two!! Layla and Luca were twins who lived in a small friendly town with only a few shops. This meant that only one shop sold clothes for their age group and often their friends had the same clothes. Layla and Luca both liked clothes and didn’t really like wearing the same as all the other kids, especially when they went to parties or school events.

A few weeks ago Layla and Luca’s Grandma, who lived only a few doors away, gave them each a T-Shirt. The twins were a bit surprised as they weren’t any kind of T-Shirt; they were plain white ones! Actually they were really boring. Grandma was very excited and said “I bought them from the second hand shop for 50 cents each and they look nearly new!” Layla and Luca smiled and said “Gee thanks Grandma.”

After Grandma had left, Layla said to Luca “I am never going to wear this plain white T-shirt unless I need a plain white T-Shirt for school for something!” “Me too, that is so not cool to wear something from a second hand shop!” said Luca.

Grandma noticed every time she saw Layla and Luca, which was often as they only lived two houses from each other, that they weren’t wearing the white T-Shirts she had given them. So the next time she saw Layla and Luca she handed them a box and said “Why don’t you make your T-Shirts special and unique”. Grandma left and Luca and Layla were quite puzzled. They opened the box and tipped everything out. There were buttons, sequins, pieces of fabric, zippers and patches, fabric paint with freezer paper and lovely threads and needles.


The phone rang and it was Grandma “Let me know if you need any help and the freezer paper can be used to make stencils when you want to use the fabric paint.” “Thank you so much Grandma” said a very excited Layla. “Maybe you could come over tomorrow after school and help us” “I would love to” said Grandma.

Here are instructions for making Freezer Paper Stencils.

Have a look in the pouches and have a go at sewing.

Layla and Luca talked about what they wanted to design for their plain white T-Shirts and started to draw some pictures. Layla like the idea of hearts and searched for bright fabrics, buttons and sequins and drew hearts.

Layla felt confident to sew on the fabric hearts. She also used the buttons and sequins to make heart shapes. This took quite a bit of time but Layla didn’t mind as she knew her T-Shirt would be an original and no one anywhere in the world would have a T-Shirt like this one.

Inspired by the Army style fabric in the box, Luca drew a tank and added zippers to his pile. He really liked being able to use his drawings to make stencils on the T-Shirt. He wasn’t too keen on sewing but was able to sew on buttons. He also worked out that sewing zippers onto the outside of the T-Shirt and then cutting the fabric behind the zip – they would work!

The following week there was a disco at school and Layla and Luca decided to wear their newly designed T-Shirts. They popped into Grandma’s house on the way to show her what the plain white T-Shirts looked like now. “WOW you both look sensational” said Grandma. “I think you will be adding your own touches to lots of your clothes now. Many of the kids at the disco admired the T-Shirts.
“Layla, I have never seen that T-Shirt in the shops here, it is really wicked!” said Emily.

“Your T-Shirt is so awesome, Luca!” said Jeremy
The twins felt pretty cool in their original not-so-plain at all
T-Shirts!

A few weeks later Grandma took the twins to a second hand shop. Luca said “Hey this is a really cool shop; the clothes are so much cheaper and in good condition!” Together they looked for tops, skirts, shorts and even trousers that they could add their own special touches and creations to. Layla and Luca never had the same clothes as their friends. Their clothes were their own original creations.
Totally Cool!

Why not have a go at being creative. Here is a Plain White T-Shirt for you to decorate. In the pouches below are lots of things to use, so have FUN!!!!!

It was supposed to be A3 or bigger - I think I went a bit OTT!!!