Ideas for Making My Own Shirts?

SL Edens
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July 18, 20050 found this helpful

Hi Rudy! Here's a site that I enjoy....there are T-Shirt ideas among other fabric crafts to do. Enjoy!!! www.duncancrafts.com/.../list.asp

When painting on fabrics, make sure to back it with a stiff cardboard covered with wax, wax paper or plastic...you can use rubber bands to secure it in place. (I have a shirt "form" that I got from the craft store for this purpose.)

Also, for large areas to be painted, it's better to use a brush with thick, short bristles... like a stamping brush. There are specially made brushes for thin lines and special "strokes"...I managed to get mine on clearance. It's not actually a brush as we normally think. It's more like a pencil with a stiff, felt-type end (like a marker).

I like to use short strokes with just a small amount of paint. It means repeating the action time and time again to complete the design, but it doesn't allow for the paint to pile up on the fabric. You want the fabric to still be able to "move" even after the paint dries.

As far as "airbrushing", I would recommend using the "BloPen" markers that are designed for children as long as you are only doing this for yourself (and a few shirts).

Rebekah

July 22, 20050 found this helpful

I love making my own shirts on the computer and using iron on transfers. I ususally stock up on "blank" kid's shirts when they go on clearance and I've found iron on paper at the dollar store! Using MS Publisher or Photoshop I've made some really cool shirts. All the nieces/nephews in our family all have summer birthdays so we usually get together once and I make fun shirts personalized for each one! HTH!

K

August 10, 20050 found this helpful

Try those iron on embroidery patters...then paint, stitch, glue to your hearts content!

Joyce

August 22, 20050 found this helpful

A friend and I recently decorated a t-shirt for my 5 year Granddaughter. I purchased large plastic cookies cutters (.50 cents each). Through trial and error, we discovered we could mark on the cookie cutter itself several times with a No. 2 pencil, press it onto the fabric, then draw on the imprinted lines with fabric paint; the one we used comes in small bottles with a nice tip. I added some smile-face buttons. I'm mailing it to her this week!

Roy Rogers

August 3, 20060 found this helpful

I like to screen print on various articles of "blank" clothing to make them interesting and unique, something to fit my style.

You can buy a Screen Print kit from Michael's craft store (and use the 40% off coupon in the paper ad) or..

I do my own and it's relatively cheap.

What you'll need:

Article of clothing to print on.
Speedball(brand that I use, it works the best) screen printing FABRIC ink. (it's about $8 a jar, but it lasts a loooooong time). (Also, make sure you get the jars that say FABRIC or else it might not set forever)
A medium sized paint brush and various sized smaller brushes.
Mod Podge glue.
Embroidery hoop.
Panty hose.
Newspaper/wax paper/ cardboard (something to put in between the sides of the fabric so it won't bleed through in reverse).
A printed, monochromatic design.
Sharpie.
Old fabric. (to test your screen on)
Iron.

Take the panty hose and affix it to the embroidery hoop. Be sure to stretch it tight, otherwise it could ruin your design when you apply the paint. (Like you would if you were doing embroidery, but you'll have excess hose.) Trim the excess off so it won't get in your way. You'll now have the beginning of your screen.

Lay your printed design flat on a table and then lay the "screen" down (fabric side down) on top of the design. Make sure everything you want fits inside of the hoop. Good. Now with a sharpie trace every part of your design, fill it in if you want, especially if it's an intricate design - this will help you later. After you finish tracing you're ready for the next step.

This step requires patience and a bit of a steady hand. Don't be scared, this step takes a bit of time and is the most difficult. I should state that if you have a complicated and/or intricate design it probably won't come out exact. I found this out my first time, but you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.
IT'S IMPORTANT THAT YOU FLIP THE SCREEN OVER TO THE REVERSE SIDE SO YOU DON'T GLUE IT DOWN TO THE NEWSPAPER. Panty hose side up.(or whatever you're using for a drop sheet) Again, lesson I learned the hard way.

After it's dry you're ready to screen print. But first, you really should test out the screen on a piece of scrap fabric just to make sure it's what you want and that their isn't any negative space that happens to be uncovered.

To print on fabric with your new screen:
Take your shirt (most likely) and put a piece of cardboard in between the sides. Smooth out the fabric, but don't stretch it . Lay the screen on the fabric, panty hose side DOWN. Panty hose should be in direct contact with fabric. Take your medium sized brush and the speedball fabric paint and slab it across the screen. Don't be afraid to put enough on, but don't use too much either. After it looks like you've covered your design, dip the tip of the brush in the paint and stab the design. This will ensure that you get through the screen and cover your design. After you feel comfortable that you've covered it well, carefully peel up the screen off of the fabric. The end result should be your design on your shirt or wherever you've decided to put it. Remember to test it first so that you get it to where you want it.

While the ink dries you can wash out the screen so you can reuse it. They are surprisingly durable. I've got one that I've used over twenty times for various items and it still works like the first time.

Let the ink dry and after it has dried well, iron over it for about five minutes to set the ink. These instructions come on the jar of Speedball screen printing fabric paint. After that the design should be permanent. (Unless you bleach it and then who knows?)

After you gain more and more experience and get a feel for it, you can try to do designs with multiple colors, layering, et cetera. www.speedballart.com is a great resource for tips, actual kits, inks, et cetera.

This is my first time writing out detailed instructions, I hope they were clear, if not, you can email me at silentbobtwin@hotmail.com and I'll get to you as soon as I can.

I make a skirt, then stitch a patch cut from the pattern in the leftover fabric onto a matching purchased t-shirt. For example, just made a skirt with grapes/wine bottles in a border print, and stitched an eight inch piece of the border onto a tank which is the purple in my print.

I cut the patch with pinking shears, pin onto the shirt, and handstitch, using the back stitch. Press flat first, and make sure you do not stretch out the shirt fabric while pinning.

I have also done this with purchased pants for my daughter, since she is quite short, and frequently needs pants shortened by cutting off material, then hemming. One that turned out especially well was a pair that had an embroidered design up one leg. One flower from the design centered on the shirt looked nice.