I have been aware of the silk covered stainless steel yarn from Habu Textiles for a couple of years, but I didn’t know what to make with it. Then I saw the metallic stainless steel paint from Golden Paints, and the idea clicked: apply these to menswear. The thrift store jeans are painted, a belt added, and the jeans are embellished with three chains to which items can be hooked for convenience. A free-hand design was drawn on fiber glass screening from the hardware store. After zigzagging around the design through the shirt and screening, the shirt was cut away. A red silk handkerchief enlivens the pocket. The tie was knitted with three strands of the stainless steel yarn held together, as it is very thin yarn.
What You Will Need
Jeans
Shirt
½ yard red silk
Golden acrylic metallic stainless steel paint, fine grain
Golden GAC900 medium for fabric to soften the painted fabric
Spray bottle for water
Paint brush, either foam or stiff bristle, 2” wide
Fiberglass screening
Thread, scissors, sewing machine
Sharpie pen
3 different chains
Metal eyelet kit
Hammer
2 pliers
Yarn
2 knitting needles size 5
2 empty toilet paper rolls
Masking tape
Seam ripper
2 carabiner type hooks
3 hooks to attach items to chain
How To Do It
For the pants, mask off the Levi’s logos on the back of the jeans. Mix the paint and GAC900 about 50/50 and stir. Spray the jeans with water as you paint them with a brush. Do not try to be too neat, as a little imperfection makes them look like painted jeans, rather than jeans made of metallic material. They will be stiff when dry, but time in the dryer (about 45 minutes on high) softens them a bit, and gentle washing with the hand cycle of the washing machine softens them more.
Cut the screening slightly larger than the design you want. Draw a free-hand design on the screening. Remember to check the orientation. Pin it to the shirt and zigzag around the design with contrasting thread. Then cut out the shirting inside the design. For the pocket, remove with a seam ripper. Pin on the screening, zigzag around the shape, and cut out the shirting. Resew the pocket on the shirt with contrasting thread. Cut out a square of silk 15” by 15” and zigzag the raw edges. Insert into the pocket.
For the tie, divide the cone of yarn into three parts. I wound off onto 2 empty toilet paper rolls, estimating how much I would need. Hold the three strands together, cast on 13 stitches. Knitting each row, work until it measures 28”. Decrease one stitch and work 10 more rows. Repeat 3 more times until there are 9 stitches. Work until the tie measures 60” or the desired length. Bind off. Points can be made by dividing the cast on and bound off stitches in half and sewing together the two halves.
