Designer Series Paper Shirts

As soon as I saw Stampin' Up!'s Tropical Oasis Designer Series paper I knew I wanted to make some shirt cards.  I was so excited when another demonstrator by the name of Melissa Luedtke did all the work for me by creating these awesome designs and sharing her instructions.  I made a few tweaks to the instructions that made more sense to my brain and began creating...and creating...and creating.  I couldn't stop!  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these shirts and in two days made 48 of them!!!

Here are the written instructions.  Currently you can watch the online class showing how to make these on my https://www.facebook.com/Stampwithjeanne page.  If I can get this to video to download, I'll add the video here.

You will need:

• 1 sheet of 12" x 12" Designer Series Paper
• 3 buttons
• A cutter or scissors
• Adhesives (Mini Glue Dots, Mini Stampin' Dimensionals, Snail)

Instructions (one sheet of 12” x 12” DSP makes two cards):

1. Cut a piece of 12” x 12” Tropical Oasis Designer Series Paper at 8”, paying close attention to the direction of the paper. The top of the pattern should be at the top of the cutter (imagine vertical stripes).
2. Turn the 8” paper and trim to create two pieces that are 5-7/8” x 8”.
3. Score each piece along the 8” edge at 2” and 6”. Be careful not to press too hard or the paper will rip.
4. With the 5-7/8” side of the paper at the top of the trimmer, score at 5/8”. Once again, pay attention to the direction of your paper. The pattern is now horizontal.
5. Move the paper over on the trimmer to 1-1/4” (5/8” below the score line) and cut a slice from the top to the 3” mark and the bottom to the 5” mark.
6. Looking at the side you want on the outside, fold at the 5/8” score line to the back and burnish with a bone folder. Do not press too hard or the paper will crack and you will see white.  If that happens, you can color the edges with a coordinating LIGHT Stampin’ Blend.
7. Fold the 2” sides to meet in the middle (don’t worry if the ends do not touch, this area will be covered later); burnish.
8. Trim the collar strip ends to the edges of the card. You are cutting 2” from each side along the score lines.
9. Gently work the collar pieces to the front, getting the top corners to touch in a point that is close to the center of the shirt. When you like where the ends are, burnish your collar folds.
10. Draw LIGHT pencil lines along the top of the folded collar edges to use as a guide for placing your Stampin’ Dimensionals. Place the dimensionals between the pencil lines and the top shirt edge.
11. Fold the collar ends back over the top to adhere.
    
    
12. Cut two ½” x 4" strips off the 4" x 12" paper piece, rotate the paper and cut at 2-1/8” to create a piece that is 2-1/8” x 11” and one that is 1-7/8” x 11”. Use the 1-7/8” piece to cut four 1-5/8” squares using the Stitched Shapes Framelits Dies and two 1-3/4” hexagon rectangles using the Stitched Nested Labels Dies. Use the picture below as a guide for aligning your dies (you may need to align your dies a little closer than the picture shows). The side of the DSP that you want to show on the card should be facing up on your cutting surface.
13. Now for the tricky part. Creating the shirt plackets (the strip behind the buttons) requires three passes through the die-cutting machine. Cut the 2-1/8” strip of DSP at 5-1/8”. Using the 5-1/8” piece, place the DSP on the cutter surface right side up. Center the largest Stitched Rectangle Framelits die along one edge. This will create stitching lines on three sides of the paper. Trim the paper to 4-11/16” and align the corner of the die to the corner of the DSP that does not have stitching lines yet. This will create a stitching line around all four sides of the DSP.  Now align the die down the center of the rectangle to create two pieces.  Be careful to place the DSP within the center of the die opening so the end is not accidently cut off. 
    
    
14. Glue the placket to the center of the shirt using adhesive along the edge of the right front flap only.
    
15. Use two of the Stitched Squares that were cut in Step 11 to form the shirt sleeves. The squares are attached to the back of the card at an angle.
16. Fold one end of the long hexagon down to form a pocket shape. Add to the front of the shirt on the left side.
17. Add buttons down the shirt placket.
18. Strengthen the shirt by gluing a 3-5/8” x 4-1/4” piece of thick white cardstock to the inside of the card. Add the ½” strip cut in Step 11 to the bottom of the white card.
19. Stamp the back of your cards with “Stamped by” image; sign.
20. Don’t forget to decorate your envelope too! Use the Timeless Tropical stamp set to add image of choice on the front and the remaining piece of DSP to the envelope flap (you will only have enough DSP for one envelope).  The sleeves will need to be folded forward for the shirt to fit in an A2 envelope.

I hope you enjoyed creating these shirts.  They would be great out of any of our beautiful Designer Series Papers.  Look at the ones I designed with the Country Club DSP.