Hey! Welcome to Make Thrift Buy, the show where you send in stuff that you want me to
try and recreate, and then sometimes, I recreate it! Now, I’ve done musical-themed items
on this show before, like this pleated piano-skirt dress, and today’s challenge is along the
same lines – which is, these musical note tights! Thank you Boomer Love for the suggestion!
Now the original tights are from… ebay? Maybe? This is an item that appears to be
sold out absolutely everywhere that I looked, which makes it a perfect candidate for some
DO-IT-YOURSELF. So let’s begin!
The important materials that I’m going to need are a pair of tights – and I actually
have like 5 packets of these sheer white tights from the 80s that were given to me by a family
friend, so this was $0 for me – but it is really really easy to find these kind of tights
in thrift shops. I’m also going to need a black marker –
now, my one is an actual fabric marker, but laundry-safe permanent markers will work fine as well.
Now the first method that I tried out involved getting myself a big old piece of cardboard.
The next step was remembering that I should probbbably at least make an effort to brush my hair.
Yep.
Anyway, I rolled the piece of cardboard up into a leg-sized tube like so.
I then taped up the tube so that it stayed this shape.
Then, I stretched the tights over the cardboard tube like soooo.
Why do I feel like I’m giving instructions for a highschool health class-
– and then I started drawing some musical notes!
Now if you’re anything like me and your artistic skills aren’t AMAZING, then you’ll
want to practice drawing some beforehand on a piece of paper, and then keep these pictures
nearby for reference while you’re drawing on your tights.
You can even print out an image of the shape that you want to trace over, stick this on
your tube, and then use it as a template to guide you.
While drawing the notes onto the tights, I put one arm inside the tube to help the tube
keep its cylindrical shape. Because the marker will snag on this fabric, I found that the
best way to go about drawing was to first dot an outline of the shape of a musical note,
and then to fill in the outline using small, quick strokes, like this.
And then I basically just repeated this with a number of different musical notes for both legs!
And before I show you all what they looked like, I also did a second pair of tights with
MORE musical notes on them, using a slightly different method.
Now, this is a method that you can use if you don’t have any cardboard paper but you
have some tights and a marker and you want to get started on this project right away.
THIS method involved covering my legs with paper, so I wouldn’t get pen all over my
legs, and then drawing on my musical notes. Because this pair had many more musical notes
on it than the other pair, it took me around ~3 hours to complete. And gave me a sore back.
I would not recommend this method if you plan on doing a really detailed design like this.
Anyway, I put about double the amount of musical notes on this pair because I think that it
makes it look closer to the original.
I also made a pair with lettering, which I did by printing out my letters and then tracing
over them, and a pair with a cherry-pattern, using my coloured fabric markers!
Anyway - how did they turn out?
[music plays]
[record scratch sound, music abruptly stops]
Annnnd there's a hole in my tights.
[music resumes]
[record scratch sound, music stops abruptly]
Are you kidding me.
No matter how good your designs are, if you're going to be working with sheer tights, prepare
yourself for some heartbreak. These rips and ladders happened AFTER I worked on the design,
and before you mention it, it's not just because I was using thrifted retro tights - the ones
that I used for the MAKE, THRIFT design were actually brand new!
Sheer tights are the worst. They’re the worst.
Seriously why do they even exist? Why do we even wear them? WHY ARE THEY A THING!? I don’t
think that I’ve ever had a pair of sheer tights last me, rip-free, for more than 1
wear. Has anybody out there?? IS THE WHOLE WORLD MAD?
So with this musical pair of tights - while they worked really well, I don’t even think
that I’m ever going to wear them again because they took me 3 hours to make and the disappointment
when they rip – WHICH THEY WILL DO – will be far too soul-crushing. So, I can’t do
it. So, my conclusion is:
[scissor snipping, zipper sound effect]
BUT… use thicker tights. And it’s not like you can buy these anymore, anyway, so
that does kind of cross out "buy" from the whole make thrift buy equation.
Most tights you get online are super thin and flimsy anyway – I actually bought a
whole bunch of tattoo tights when they were really popular a few years ago, and after
one or two wears - they all got holes in them! Of course I have kept them all because I can’t
bear to just THROW clothes away… even though these are no longer useful to anybody which
is why... SHEER TIGHTS JUST MAKE NO SENSE. But, anyway, at least I didn’t spend like
$20 on these suckers. Just time and energy. Priceless.
ANYWAY IGNORING HOW MUCH SHEER TIGHTS SUCK - these actually did turn out pretty well.
The music note tights don’t look exactly like the original, and I think that I made
them a little too busy – the notes could have been spaced out a little bit more evenly
– and they really are a labour of love - so if you were feeling more lazy and wanted music-themed
tights, you could just maybe just draw some bigger notes, do them more spaced-out, or
draw like a really large quaver on your knees - for a kind of similar effect. It's really
up to you and how much energy and time you're willing to put into something like this. Just
USE THICKER TIGHTS. I can't stress that enough. Oh my god I hate sheer tights.
And with that, I'll see you all in my next video. Bye!
Thank you so much to all of my Patreon supporters, whose love and support helped to make this
video happen! In this episode, I want to give a shoutout
to one of my wonderful business supporters – Sarsparilly! Maria makes the prettiest
dresses. I’ve had this Mermaid print one here for over 2 years now and it’s still
one of the prettiest, most well-made thing that I own. Check her Sarsparilly's store
– there's a whole bunch of original, handmade designs along with a whole bunch of vintage-reproduction
dresses as well! Links are in the description.