Clothing Embellishment | Illinois 4-H

Use your creativity and skills to upcycle your style by adding decorative touches to your clothes with dye, paint, beads, embroidery, and more!

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Exploring 4-H

Exploring 4-H Clothing Embellishment

Spark Activity: Potato Fabric Stamp

Supplies:

Directions:

Create a stamp from a potato and use it to stamp a design on fabric.
Cut the potato in half lengthwise to make a long stamp, or through the middle for a smaller stamp.
Pat the cut ends of the potato dry with a paper towel.
Take a decorative cookie cutter and press the design into the cut end of the potato to get an outline of the cookie cutter’s shape. If you don’t have a cookie cutter shape you’d like to use, etch a shape outline of your choice into the cut end of the potato (such as a star, heart, or a letter of the alphabet) using a knife.
Carefully use the knife to cut out the potato around your shape outline. Leave the area inside your shape uncut, but remove the potato (at least a 1/4 inch deep) from around the shape. You now have your stamp!
Squeeze some fabric paint onto a paper plate and spread it around the plate so it is wide enough to be an ink pad for your potato stamp.
Dip the stamp into the fabric paint on the plate, then press it down firmly on your piece of fabric.
Repeat this process with the same stamp or additional stamps to create a design of your choosing.

4-H Project Levels and Goals

Beginner

Learn about different clothing embellishment techniques
Learn to identify clothing in your wardrobe that you want to refresh with embellishment
Brainstorm ideas for embellishing your clothes
Explore basic techniques like tie dye, stamping, stenciling, painting, and simple stitching

Intermediate

Learn to apply design principles to your work
Explore intermediate techniques like batik dyeing, machine stitching, and adding rivets, grommets, studs and eyelets

Advanced

Learn about designers who use clothing embellishment techniques
Explore color theory
Explore advanced techniques like beading and sequins, fabric manipulation, and applique

Put Your Project Into Action

Show Your Skills

Exhibit at your local 4-H Show or county fair with an embellished outfit appropriate for your experience level
Demonstrate an embellishment technique
Show the basics of color theory and combining colors in pleasing ways

Service and Leadership

Embellish fabric items, like pillowcases or blankets, to donate to hospitals or nursing homes.
Organize a community clothing drive
Organize a community craft supply or fabric exchange
Organize a fashion show for a local senior center
Assist in organizing a 4-H Clothing Embellishment SPIN Club

Entrepreneurship

Technology Connection

Connecting with a Mentor

4-H club leader or U of I Extension volunteers
Local sewing group such as a chapter of the American Sewing Guild or Association of Sewing and Design Professionals
Local college fashion departments or clubs
Local fabric store
High school Family & Consumer Science teachers

Events

Project Manuals & Exhibit Requirements

View exhibit requirements and scoresheets on the Illinois State Fair page.

Related Projects

Careers

Start a Conversation

Do you have things in your wardrobe which could be altered with clothing embellishment?
What types of embellishment techniques do you see in current fashions at your local shopping center?
Why can clothing embellishment help the environment?

Credits

Authored by Amy Henschen, 4-H Senior Program Lead

Resources consulted include Nebraska Extension Beyond the Needle and Ohio Extension Embellish: A 4-H Guide to Wearable Art

Resources