sequined sweatshirt.

The other day I was on bloglovin' and saw this post from ABM and literally squealed with excitement and sighed like, "why the hell didn't I think of this?!" (which happens pretty much every time I read ABM, those girls are crazy talented and creative). I've seen a ton of sequined sweatshirts and tees on pinterest, like this one and this one, but they get really expensive, or just don't look exactly like what I want to spend that kind of money on. As soon as I saw this post I dug some sequin trim out of my craft box (you don't have sequin trim lying around just in case?), as well as scissors, a needle + gold thread, and a black sharpie. I had to run out for a sweatshirt, but found one at target for $10 at half off and I bought fabric glue at Michael's. I printed out the word "bisou" (kiss in french) in script at ten inches wide onto regular printer paper and cut the word out.Lay the cut out paper on your sweatshirt and trace the word with the sharpie. Spread a thin (THIN...I used way too much, but it's difficult to get only a little at a time) layer of fabric glue along the left side of the line and start laying the sequins along the glue. The tricky part with this (that wasn't in Laura's post) is that the glue gets all over the place if you're not careful, and while your sequin trim is getting spun around and tangled with every loop you make, it gets frustrating. Also, if you are using a word like mine that has 4/5 letters that go back on themselves, I learned the hard way the best way to go about that, so definitely take this advice: after your first layer of sequins you go back in with another layer so that they slightly overlap but you have two rows. The first time around with the sequins you want to try and make that second row of sequins on the letters that go back on themselves (for example, the bottom of the S goes first to the left, then back out to the right to connect to the O. Just make a U turn where the S ends and start your second row to the O). Then at the end of your word make a U turn and go back only to the places where there is still one row. It should work out that you took care of all of the instances where you'd have to go over an area twice.Ending is the hardest (only second to creating the dot on the I. Don't use an I unless you absolutely feel a definite calling to a word with an I. It was haaaarrrrrd). My sequin trim was just they type with sequins threaded together (not the kind with the fabric attached on one side), so when I cut the end off to finish the word, the last few sequins came flying off even though the thread doubles back to hold them in place. Then you have a frayed piece of thread to try and tuck under the rest of your sequins and make it look flawless. It's hard to explain, but when you're in the situation you'll figure out what works best for you. After you're finished, it's recommended that you stitch through every third or fourth sequin for reinforcement, but I found that this would be kind of impossible because of the glue hardening in the holes of the sequin. Instead, I reinforced the dot of the I because it was the most insecure, as well as the tops or bottoms of any letters that seemed to have a sequin on the edge that wasn't completely glued down.By no means does my sweatshirt look as good as Laura's. Hers looks store bought, and to me mine looks handmade and a bit wonky (I may add an S to make the word plural and balance out the spacing). But really, handmade is awesome. I wore this twice already and got so many compliments as if it were store bought, so when I announced proudly that I made it, I was complimented even further. Wearing/displaying/eating/giving something you made yourself is the best feeling. Wear your glue covered sweatshirt with pride! (Or tell me your secrets if you managed to do this without getting glue all over your sequins - I will most definitely be doing this project again for a hot weather piece and could use the tips).