'Dotted Seam' Tights

Here is an idea that I have been meaning to put into practice for some time now. Tights are something that I have always had more than a passing interest in - there is something about the feel of a leg in tights that is uncomparable. With a plain pair of white tights, I have stenciled and painted on scissors and a dotted line using fabric paints. This actually took longer than I first anticipated as it is quite difficult to paint on tights. My first thought was to paint them off the body, as this would allow me to work on a flat surface, but then I thought about the design stretching once put onto the body. The next idea was to paint them on the body, which I pursued, and then gave up after half a leg. The leg itself is just too soft to paint against, a harder surface was needed. The final solution was to mark out the lines and scissor placement in pencil whilst the tights were on the body, then place the tights over a flask for painting. I am happy with the end result, but one thing I could have considered more is how the lines would transformas the leg gets wider nearer to the top.

The legs shown here belong to Rebecca Gaynor, and the above photograph has been altered in Adobe Photoshop to appear crisper. The photograph below shows the tights in their natural state.