Art to Hang In the Closet

You can paint a picture and hang it on the wall. Or you can paint a picture and hang it on yourself.

Do-it-yourself “wearable art” is one of the latest ways to express creativity, with the added benefit of ending up with something special of one’s own to add to a wardrobe.

“This is for creative women who have a need to say, ‘I did it myself,’ ” said Pat Rollins of the Green Gables, a Reseda arts and crafts shop. “The ladies go out of here and start showing everyone what they did.”

Jo Diego of Reseda, who took a class in wardrobe painting at Green Gables, said a flowered shirt she made received many compliments and an offer from a friend to buy one like it. Diego said most of her works will be made as gifts for her grandchildren and other relatives. That “you get to meet lots of nice people” was an attraction of the class, Diego said.

Carol Nees, of Santa Monica, a flight attendant, decided to learn clothes-painting because she had seen the results on a friend. “I liked it so much, I took the class,” she said. Her creation bore the faces of comedy and tragedy painted on a black rhinestone-studded sweat shirt.

Rollins said wearable art can be created for little more than the cost of the item. Favorite choices are shirts, T-shirts and sweat shirts, as well as blouses and scarfs, some of them silk.

For some, creating on clothes is therapeutic. Shirley Cooper of Northridge suffered a stroke two years ago. “The class has helped a lot,” she said, pointing to the elaborate flower design in lavender that she was touching up on her light blue sweat shirt.

For those who don’t fancy themselves as artists, there are stencils that help them get started on their own designs. But the more adventurous take a brush in hand and make that first daring stroke onto fabric.