DIY Rainier Flannel

While getting prepared for #Rday, we knew we needed something different to rep our Rainier Beer gear. One of my girlfriend suggested we do some creative work with our Rainier outfits.

We decided to get some buffalo plaid shirts from Costco. They are pretty thick which kept us so warm for our outdoor event! We were inspired by a flannel we saw at a country concert earlier in the summer, so we knew we wanted to add a Rainier R on the back and do some bleach action. There are three ladies on our team of 6, so we wanted the same thing but with our own spin on it.

First we prepared our bleach; 3 parts water to 1 part bleach. We put our washed flannels in the pot to bleach. I couldn't tell you how long they were in there because we were distracted with our pinot.

After they soaked for about 1/3 of the time, we did add the sleeves in to make the cuffs bleached too. When the flannels reached our desired color, we removed the flannels in the bath tub and rinsed thoroughly. We tossed them in the wash on a quick cycle, waited in the hot tub, and then dried them.

I had already made the Rainier R stickers with my Cameo Silhouette to stick on the back. I figured this would ensure we get the correct shape of the R rather than a cardboard cut out, since the sticker would form to the shirt. I haven't experimented with iron on vinyl yet which would have made this much easier I am sure. I will save that for the next project... ;)

We stuck on the sticker and traced the R with white permanent fabric paint. We got 1 tube of white fabric paint with a fine tip, and one with no tip. The tip helped us paint the outline thinly to keep the shape accurate. After the outline dried for a few minutes, we ripped off the sticker and just painted inside the lines. We did a total of 4 coats on each shirt to get the thickness we wanted.

Kelsey is the fringe queen so she cut off a little bit from below the seam and went to town. She scraped the cut area until it was fringed the way we like it.

We debuted them at RDay in Seattle and it was a hit! Many people asked where we got them and we were proud to say we did it ourselves!

It poured, but Rainier provided us with some ponchos. Team RainDawgs played in the tournament but failed during round two. We will get em next year. ;)


Some more photos from my good friend Levi Hriczo took these model photos of me in my Rainier gear.