DIY: Painted Shirts

DIY Painted Shirts

I LOVE the idea of painting shirts! You can do any color or any design to fit ANYTHING! I gotta give credit to my friend Jodi, because she is the one who taught me how to paint my own shirts! So far I have also used it to decorate a pillow case for Father's day. No pictures of that though!

 Let's get started!

This is what I used:
The cheapest shirts and tanks I could find
Freezer paper
Straight Edge Knife ( I got mine in the scrapbooking section)
Something to cut on like a self healing board or thick cardboard
Stencil to trace on freezer paper (sometimes i free hand, some times I trace, sometimes I print and image from the compute)
Iron
Paint and Paint Brush:  Here you have a few different choices, You can use puffy paint which is a great option. Don't forget the paint brush.
You could use a fabric spray paint- I used a Tulip Brand. I love this but the colors seem limited.
You could also use a regular craft paint and add a fabric medium which makes the paint soft on your shirt. You can find it at any craft store. I actually used all three on the shirts I did this particular day.

So here we go:
The first step is to choose your stencil.
Once you do you need to trace it onto the freezer paper. You will trace your stencil onto the dull side of the freezer paper. The shiny side is the part that will adhere to your shirt. DO NOT TRACE ON THE SHINY SIDE.
Next Cut your stencil out using your straight edge knife.
Place shiny side of freezer paper onto your shirt and Iron. I have never paid attention to my temp settings. You do want to make sure that the edges of the wax paper are secured to the shirt to avoid the paint  bleeding through.
Select you paint method and paint your stencil.

For the shirt below I used craft paint mixed with a textile medium.

Leave your stencil on for a few minutes but remove before the paint is dry. It is a lot harder to remove the stencil when the paint is completely dry.

I usually let my shirts dry over night.

Here are some others:
For this tank, I used spray paint on the star part. I actually laid those glow in the dark stars on top of the shirts so I wouldn't have to cut them out. Since I used fabric spray paint I had to be really careful about covering the rest of the shirt to protect it. I just cut out a large area of freezer paper and ironed it on for protection. It was a really hot day so it only took 15 minutes to dry. Then I let my 11 year old iron on strips of freezer paper for the stripes because she likes to do things herself.
The red is craft paint with a textile medium mixed in.

Here she is, painting away! We used a strip of painter's tape at the end to cove a place that I didn't get freezer paper and it worked great.

 For the shirt below, I did end up tracing all the star shapes onto freezer paper and cutting them out. The bright blue stars were spray painted, the darker ones were puffy painted and the sleeves were craft paint wit a fabric medium. I hot glued the bow on and so far it has survived one wash:) In fact I liked all the shirts better after having gone through the wash. They looked softer somehow.

I made the shirts below at Christmastime using Puffy Paint For the tutorial, click here.

Sadly, this is the only picture I got of the new shirts! Must be my pregnant brain! My son in front of the neighbors house!

Edit: Two more Pictures!!!

It was a pretty great day though!
Remember with DIY: Painted shirts the possibilities are endless. You could do any design for any occasion!
Happy Crafting!
XOXO,
 Amy