Galaxy Leggings

So I kept seeing galaxy leggings popping up in my Pinterest feed and decided that we needed a pair!

First up, you need a dark pair of leggings, you can use shop-bought cotton leggings, but I prefer to sew my own. I used the 'Loru' leggings pattern from Ottobre, Issue 1/2018 which comes in sizes to suit girls between 98-128cm.

I cut the legging pieces from black cotton single jersey. It's important that it's cotton fabric as the first step is to use bleach to strip out some colour.

I popped some thick bleach in an empty spray bottle and added a bit of water to thin it down a bit so it would easily spray.

The colour from the fabric should start to strip out quite quickly. I would recommend doing a test with a tiny spot of bleach on the selvedge of the fabric before you start your project. Check that your fabric will bleach and that it will go to the colour you want.

Leave the bleach on for a few minutes to strip out the colour and then rinse very thoroughly with water and wash with detergent. It's important to wash out any trace of the bleach. Of course while you're doing all this, work in a safe way, gloves, mask, ventilated space etc. etc.

Our black jersey bleached back to a warm orangey colour. 

When washed and dried, press the legging pieces if they have curled up at the edges and set them out for the next stage on a plastic or newspaper covered surface.

Next I added more galaxy stardust effect with spray fabric paints. I used metallic spray fabric paint by Tulip in a variety of colours.

Let the fabric paint spray and splatter. Allow to dry and heat fix according to the instructions on your paint.

Next, sew up your leggings and find a model to try them on!

My tips:

• If you don't want to use bleach, just work with dark coloured fabrics and spray with some opaque white fabric paint first, or paler pearlescent paints.
• Don't use too thick a spray layer of fabric paint as it might make the legging fabric a bit crusty and less comfy to wear.

My model just loves her galaxy leggings, they are a big hit. I reckon I might need some too!

Thanks for dropping by,

Laura

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