DIY: How to turn a clothing stain into art

Just a slip of a coffee mug can be apocalyptic to a dress.

Disaster struck recently to one of my favorite dresses and skirts, and neither snow nor rain nor Tide could get out the coffee smudges. But I didn't want to throw away these precious pillars of my wardrobe, so I devised a new plan: draw over the stains.

To begin said adventure, I bought some fabric markers at Michael's, although you can use pretty much any fabric paint (which you can easily find in craft stores and on Amazon).

I used markers, but any kind of fabric paint could work. (Photo: Ilana E. Strauss/From the Grapevine)

First, my yellow skirt. This skirt makes me feel like a 1950s Parisian. I wanted to cover up the stains that were making my skirt look less antique fantasy Paris and more actual Paris.

Adorable, right? (Photo: Ilana E. Strauss/From the Grapevine)

For a while, I hoped nobody would notice. (Photo: Ilana E. Strauss/From the Grapevine)

I decided that simple yellow flowers would blend in well with the fabric. For inspiration, I looked at some photos of flowers at the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens. I then turned each coffee dot into a center point for a flower and added petals.

I'm going to say it's a daffodil. (Photo: Ilana E. Strauss/From the Grapevine)

I drew more and more flowers, and I eventually ended up with this:

Maybe I should have added some beetles for realism. (Photo: Ilana E. Strauss/From the Grapevine)

I sort of feel like I should be wearing a petticoat or something. (Photo: Ilana E. Strauss/From the Grapevine)

Next, my dress. This comfy vintage garment was indeed looking pretty old, as a tan stain (Water damage? Can that happen to dresses?) covered a good chunk of the back.

Great for 20s-themed parties. (Photo: Ilana E. Strauss/From the Grapevine)

A brown stain on a black and white dress is pretty noticeable. But you know what's even more noticeable? An owl. In a cowboy hat. The idea was originally a joke, but I went with it.

A cowboy owl would be amazing at catching prey. (Photo: Ilana E. Strauss/From the Grapevine)

I tried to use the stain itself to my advantage. Instead of totally drawing over it, I turned a lot of the tan into the owl's stomach. I also used the polka dots in the dress to measure the bird's dimensions and add to its features (the owl's eye pupils were originally polka dots).

Not sure what I was thinking about as I stared into the Manhattan skyline. Probably philosophy or pizza or something. (Photo: Ilana E. Strauss/From the Grapevine)

Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the results. The vintage dress now looks even more hipstery than it did before, meaning I will continue to look like I belong in my Brooklyn neighborhood. And I think the flowers add something to the skirt, or at least detract from the stains.

There's a Japanese concept called wabi-sabi that celebrates the beauty of imperfection – of cracks and stains. By appreciating broken and decaying things, the philosophy goes, we can make peace with the imperfect world we live in.

This project reminded me a lot of wabi-sabi. Instead of trying to get rid of the stains (well, after trying to get rid of them, anyway) I found myself using them. A coffee dot on a skirt became the center of a flower. A stain on a dress that looked vaguely like an animal inspired an owl. In a way, I ended up drawing attention to the imperfections.

Stains don't have to be a death sentence for your favorite clothes. Instead, maybe they're are an opportunity to get creative. And if the experiment fails, the trash can is always there.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how Brooklyn do I look right now? (Photo: Ilana E. Strauss/From the Grapevine)