(picture heavy)
We have all seen those really cool shirts in stores that have cool prints on them or whatever, but are super expensive, or shirts that we want but don't want to buy online because we don't have a card, or we love the print, but hate the color of the shirt or the paint. So, I'm going to teach you how to make your own printed shirt!
Materials needed:
- Plain t-shirt (I bought mine from Hobby Lobby for three or four dollars)
- Acrylic craft paint (those little bottles that come in hundreds of colors. I used black and white because that is what I had on hand, but you can use whatever colors your heart desires.)
- Access to Word or similar program (to make your stencil)
- X-Acto knife or other craft knife (to cut out your stencil)
- Self-healing cutting board (so you don't kill your table)
- Newspaper (to cover surface and to put inside shirt)
- Extra paper
- Paint brush or sponge
- Paper plate to put paint on
-Tape
Instructions!
First, decide what you want to write. I chose a quote from the organization TWLOHA (
here).
Now, if you suck at drawing big letters free hand (like me), get on your computer and pull up Microsoft Word (or any similar program). I wanted the words in all caps and each on their own line. (no pictures of this, sorry) If you are using an image (which will be MUCH harder if it has lots of little pieces) paste that into a Word document and size it, then print it out. Remember that your image can't really be bigger that a piece of paper is wide. (I set my paper to landscape and printed each word separately. But it can't be any wider than about 10.5" without a bigger piece of paper than regular copy paper) Once you have chosen font and size, print it out (make your letters LIGHT gray or print it as a draft if your printer has that option. This is to save ink.).
Lay out your shirt on a table bigger than mine. I just used the small round table we had in the basement because there was stuff on the kitchen table that I didn't want to deal with (it wasn't mine). Get out EVERYTHING you need (or think you will need. I probably spent more time searching for things than actually painting).
See, I don't have everything I need. (iPod touch is optional) So, go run and get everything you need. Back yet? Okay. Now grab you cutting board and x-Acto knife.
Now you can see what I mean by the way I printed it. I changed the margins so that I could print as far to the edge as possible. (Font was Candara or something like that. The letters were size 300 or so.) Grab your first sheet and grab an x-Acto knife. I used the red handled one because it was easier to hold onto and not as heavy. CAREFULLY cut out the letters. Don't worry if parts stick up. We will tape those down.
Go back and smooth out the edges. It doesn't matter if the inner letter is mangled, you just want the stencil to be smooth. Any imperfections will show up on your shirt.
Continue until your entire stencil is cut out. Now go on to your others. (If you have more)
Uh-oh! What do I do about the "O"? It has an inside? Just cut it out.
And set it aside (in a safe place, you don't want to lose it!), then cut the gray part out...
This stencil is sticking up all over the place, but we will tape it all down.
Go on to your last stencil. I wanted a heart instead of my "O", but I went ahead and printed it with an "O" so that I knew where it needed to be. I cut out the heart of wanted, then traced it over the "O" and cut it out.
You will notice that I have two stencils on that page to save paper. You can do this, you just want to be sure there is enough space to cut them apart.
See the heart? It looks wonky, but it turned out great. Cut off any excess on the stencils (leaving about a half inch so that you don't get paint off the stencil) and set aside the knives and cutting board.
I grabbed two sections of newspaper and stuck them inside, but then noticed that they made an icky crease line. So I took them out and folded the opposite way to get rid of the crease.
See? It messed up my stencils.
Decide where you want the image or words to be. (I used the t-shirt I had on to compare) and lay out the first stencil. ((In my picture, I already painted the first stencil to get a feel for it.))
Take your tape and make it sticky on both sides by folding it and overlapping it on itself. Don't be skimpy! You want nice crisp lines, and that happens by having a flat stencil. Center it (or place it wherever it should go) and press it flat. Carefully tape the sides flat with tape.
Away from your shirt, pour your paint onto your paper plate. (If you are mixing colors, make sure to make PLENTY of color!) Use your brush or sponge to grab some paint and dab it over the stencil. Be careful not to get it off the paper on the outside. I used two coats because my paint was kind of opaque. (Sorry, no pictures!) Let it sit for a few seconds, then take off the outside tape and carefully(!) pull up the stencil. Continue to do this.
But remember our "O"? What do we do!?
Stick some tape on the backside...
And then stick it where it goes!
Yay! Pretty! (You can see where I tried to cover up my boo boos. Bad idea. I had to mix paint several times to get it the right color, then I had to go over it with lighter paint because it dried darker... if they aren't too noticeable, just leave them. (Or use another stencil and make a star or something).
If you still have opaque areas, take a small brush and take a little bit of paint and go over that area. (carefully!)
:)
I added some freehand writing to the bottom hem. This is totally optional, but I wanted the organization's name on it.
Leave to dry overnight. DO NOT flip it over to work on the back until the paint is more than completely dry. My paint said it would dry in a half hour, but I would wait at least two. (Or overnight to be safe)
Go wash out your brushes so they won't get nasty. Now. You don't want gross, crinkly brushes (or sponges), do you?
No pics of me wearing it yet, I'm probably going to put some words on the back, I just haven't decided what yet.
Any questions? Leave them in the comments. (: Good luck!
