Writing, painting and drawing on blank tshirts..

Trotter

Hi all,

Im a primary teacher and I'm looking to make personally designed tshirts with my class. The idea is to make an Irish language phrase tshirt with a small picture drawn or painted underneath. Obviously I want it to dry in and remain after washing.

Can anyone point me in the directon of a cost effective way to do this with 30 kids? Im going to get them to bring in their own tshirts, but what writing/painting/drawing materials would work for this project!?

Thanks a lot!

wmpdd3

2 ways I can think of.

1,

Buy freezer paper, print out a stencil of what you want to print onto the tees.
Trace the stencil onto the freezer paper, cut out shapes, iron the paper onto the tees.
paint on 3 coats of acrylic or fabric paint. LEave dry, remove freezer paper.

2,

Design the names and picture on a PC, print using ink jet printer on to printer transfer paper, iron on the transfer.

Trotter

Thanks for your post! The thing is I want them each to be able to design their own thing for each tshirt. I'm hopefully going to have 30 different ones.

wmpdd3

Do you have access to a computer, depending on the age of the kids, it might be the easiest.

You could print out their names as a stencil and get the kids to attach this to the freezer paper then let them do their picture free hand?

Trotter

wmpdd3 wrote: »

Do you have access to a computer, depending on the age of the kids, it might be the easiest.

You could print out their names as a stencil and get the kids to attach this to the freezer paper then let them do their picture free hand?

They're all 11ish so that could well be an option! Thanks for your help, I'll check it out!

macbeth3

You can get a mixture of Fabric Paints and Fabric Markers in you're local art shop and they can all share. Iron them when they are dry and they are wash proof

siobhanlleher

Fabric pens can cost about a euro ish each.

If you want to get a specific image on, trace it on to the t-shirt using ink tracing paper (can be got in easons) then go over the ink with fabric pen and iron it! Works a treat.

wmpdd3

Any links to fabric pens that are good? Its been a decade since I've used some, they must be much better by now!

Trotter

My plan is to get them to bring in the blank tshirts but I was hoping to let them loose on designing their own picture or image with an Irish phrase under it. The fabric pens idea and the others are great, I'm just thinking that it might be too expensive to do because I need to do 30 of them.

Doc

One way you could do it is to bleach a pattern onto black t-shirts through a stencil.

The materials you would need are:

1: Bleach

2: Acetate (that clear stuff you print onto for projectors)

3: Scalpels

4: Spray glue

5: Black t-shirts

6: Spray bottle

7: Paper towels

8: Rubber gloves

Bleach will not work on most synthetic fabrics. You will need natural fabrics. The good news is that even the cheap t-shirts are generally 50/50 Cotton and Polyester, and they will work just fine. 100% cotton will also work well, HOWEVER, bleach really weakens the material. If you get big, wet drips of bleach on 100% cotton, they will quickly develop into holes in the material.
If you can get them to buy the 50/50 as its stronger.

I would recommend that you print out the design you want on acetate and then cut it out. Remember that you are cutting out the parts of the stencil that you want to come out white. With stenciling bleach onto dark fabrics, you have to think in the negative. I recommend acetate for the stencil as you can print on it but unlike cardboard or paper it will not soak up your bleach and become a mess.

Once you have the stencil cut out spray the back of it with the spray glue.
This is a product that makes the stencil sticky but easily removable. It leaves no residue on the fabric. This is used to prevent under-spray for those clean, crisp lines and edges.

Next fill the spray bottle with the bleach. (Cheap bleach is fine but don't use the thick stuff)

Spray the stencil with bleach. It is important to also select a spray angle with your wrist position and stick to it. The angle of your spray should remain consistent throughout the even application. If you roll your wrist at all, you’ll risk under-spray and inconsistent application. Use Full-strength bleach but use a light mist for application. This mist will not be very wet.

You will have to wait a few moments for the reaction. It will develop like a Polaroid. You can leave the stencil on for this effect in case you want to add a little more to make it lighter.

Use some paper towel to pat the stencil. This is to prevent droplets and drips from the chemical that is beaded up on the stencil from dripping onto the fabric when the stencil is slowly peeled off.

That's it! You should know that when the bleach dries, it may crystallize. These tiny crystals are still dormant bleach. If these are re-hydrated, they can continue to bleach the fabric. I highly recommend running the finished piece in a dryer to beat these crystals out of the fabric before getting it wet by washing or whatever else. Be careful washing this with other clothing until it has been beaten and rinsed once.

Also remember that both bleach and spray adhesive are toxic chemicals. So work in well ventilated areas. Don’t wear anything you love. You’re spraying bleach.

Oh and remember to empty your spray bottle after you’re done! If you store bleach in it, it will expand due to softening of the plastic and gasses from the reaction between the chemical and the plastic bottle. This can be messy and dangerous.

Trotter

Doc wrote: »

This can be messy and dangerous.

I got as far as scalpels I think there's no way to do that with 30 eleven year olds.

mahamageehad

I recently personalised a bag (pictures in picture thread above or my blog) and I used Tulip fabric paint that I bought on Amazon. I thought they were very good. They would be ideal for kids because there's a thin little nozzle on top that allows neat lines. Use with a paintbrush for covering bigger areas. They were pretty cheap as well I got a 6 pack of the "Slick" ones and the "Glitter" ones.

Jellybaby1

wmpdd3 wrote: »

2 ways I can think of.

1,

Buy freezer paper, print out a stencil of what you want to print onto the tees.
Trace the stencil onto the freezer paper, cut out shapes, iron the paper onto the tees.
paint on 3 coats of acrylic or fabric paint. LEave dry, remove freezer paper.

2,

Design the names and picture on a PC, print using ink jet printer on to printer transfer paper, iron on the transfer.

I'm curious to know if you have managed to source freezer paper in Ireland? I have yet to find it here - I saw it on Ebay but postage is prohibitive.