PPB February 2019

Apparel Decorating: How To Create A Vintage Look by Debra Romalia Photos provided by Stahls’ Vintage looks are trending in retail for fashion, sports uniforms and spirit wear. This nostalgic look is favored by fashion-conscious consumers and even suits corporate campaigns designed to celebrate anniversaries or sports teams interested in a throwback style for uniforms and fan wear. Materials like twill, flock and felt lend themselves to recreating vintage looks for sweatshirts, jackets and even tees, because they’ve long been used in apparel decoration. The key is to take the look and give it a modern twist by experimenting with color, font, patterns or even distressing. Here are a few tips to help recreate a vintage look on apparel. Appliqué Materials FELT Felt appliqué is great for hoodies and jackets to resemble the traditional American college student’s attire. Felt is available in wool or acrylic and can be laser-cut or cut on a vinyl cutter using a heat transfer mask backing and the correct specialty blade. The felt is then layered and sewn for a dimensional and matte finish. This process works best with simple, thick designs—usually large block letters and numbers in typefaces like Pro Block, Varsity, Team US, Highway and Cooper. TWILL Twill is another appliqué option for a designer vintage look. It comes in a variety of finishes and materials from polyester to cotton with shiny or matte options. It’s a great selection for sports uniforms in addition to jackets and hoodies. It’s more expensive than felt, but it provides a professional, high-quality finish. Twill is best used for larger, stitched designs on heavier fabrics like those used for hoodies and jackets. These materials offer a more cost- effective option than large, direct-embroidered designs, saving both stitches and weight on garments for a better fit. T-SHIRT JERSEY T-shirt jersey material is a popular choice in retail for appliqué because it has a light hand, which many customers prefer for their apparel. The jersey gets a unique, distressed look as it’s washed and dried. FINISHING OPTIONS A popular technique used to make a design look vintage is distressing. Most appliqué is sewn with zigzag or satin stitches around the outline. To create a distressed look, the edges of the appliqué fabric are left unsewn using a running or bean stitch. With repeated washings, the edges fray. Felt and twill fabric will fray with unraveled fibers and t-shirt jersey will unravel less but rolls up for a more wrinkled appearance. For a retro look, the best fabrics for fraying are felt or cotton twill, and t-shirt jersey is best for a unique distressed look. This logo was created using felt with the traditional satin stitch used for conventional appliqué. The fuzzy felt will soften more with each wash to give the design a vintage look along with the use of the familiar drop tail. An easy way to create a vintage look with a heat-applied graphics vinyl is by using flock. It comes in a wide range of colors, and it can be purchased on rolls for use with a vinyl cutter or purchased as precut letters and numbers, which only need to be positioned and heat sealed. In this example, felt has been outlined with a bean stitch to create this two-color appliqué. By using a retro typeface and material, you can communicate a vintage feel of old-time collegiate wear. Precut distressed letters come presewn and are applied with a heat press. They are available in one or two-color combinations. Services are available that allow you to choose a typeface, material and colors to create a distressed or traditional vintage, lettered look. The letters come on a carrier sheet ready to be heat-sealed or sewn down, saving time. | FEBRUARY 2019 | 19 INNOVATE