Funky Fresh Tshirts

Hello all.  Just dropping in since it has been a while and I've actually been working on many crafts over the past month.  I made a sweet wreath for Easter, but I almost lost a finger to that craft, so let's move on to the other craft I have done this month.

Many of you know that my daughter is a dancer and the team had a competition coming up, and they all wanted to make a team shirt.  Well, Lily's birthday is coming up, so I thought why not kill two birds with one hot glue gun and make one giant party out of it.

The shirts were a big hit, using a few different methods to get the end result.  There were fabric appliques for the names on the back and hearts on the sleeves, sponge painted letters on the front, and braided sides.  I have done a quick tutorial below for each of the methods used on the shirts.

FABRIC APPLIQUES

Pick the tshirt you'd like to work with. It should be pre-washed and 100% cotton for best results. Make a trip to the fabric store and find some fabric you'd like to work with. While you are at the fabric store, grab some fusible web (if you aren't sure, ask a nice lady there....they will totally know what you are asking for.  Popular brands are Wonder Under and Heatnbond)  Make sure to pre-wash the fabric so it will not run onto the tshirt after you've attached the applique.

With a hot iron, press the waxed paper side of the fusible web, pressing it into the wrong side of the fabric. This should take about 30 seconds.

Trace the design of your choice onto the paper. You can use stencils if you don't want to draw your design freehand.  Remember, if you are doing letters, you need to trace them backwards so they come out right side when you cut them out. Cut around the design with sharp fabric scissors.

 When you have all your designs cut out, peel the waxed paper off the back of the fabric. The side where the paper was should now be clear and glossy.

Place the fabric, glossy-side down, where you would like it to be on your tshirt. On a flat surface, like the floor or an ironing board, press the fabric onto the shirt for 30 seconds. When the shirt is cool, your tshirt will have a new design.

Reinforce your tshirt applique to make it last longer.   The guaranteed way to make the appliques stay is to sew around the perimeter of the design with a needle and thread.  However, chances are if you are reading this, you can't sew.  So, a funkier way to seal the appliques is to use fabric paint.  Glittery, metallic, puffy, slick - it doesn't matter.  Just run a bead of fabric paint along the outside of the applique (half on the applique, half on the shirt).  Just make sure to not put these shirts in the dryer after washing.

SPONGE PAINTED LETTERS (OR DESIGNS...IT'S WHATEV..)

Go to the dollar store and find those large packs of multi-color kitchen sponges.  Don't spend a ton of money on these....

Trace templates on sponges with fine marker. Letters, numbers, random shapes, anything goes.

Cut all of the shapes and set them aside.

Pour fabric paint onto small paper plates. Use a new plate for each color since the paint will get smeared around the plate and become mixed up.  Tulip fabric paint makes a line that comes in bigger squeeze bottles and the paint doesn't  stiffen like the stuff in the little bottle. 

Dampen your sponges. This will allow the sponge to expand for better coverage. Squeeze out excess water. Every now and again, you may want to wash out the sponges to keep them getting sodden with paint.

Press sponge stamp lightly into paint and keep from overloading the sponge. Shapes will be distorted if there is too much paint used. 

There is one other thing  I have learned using this method.  Take the extra time to put a piece of cardboard or something in between the front and the back of the shirts...it is really easy to soak through the shirt layers with the paint.

CUT/BRAIDED SIDES OF THE SHIRT

So this one is a little harder to explain in print.  So, in order to not re-invent the wheel, I found a quick tutorial on YouTube.  For the shirts for the girls, it was this same method, but I made the cuts shorter and thicker and did not stretch the cuts.  I did the shirts this way so there would not be the large gaps on the sides and it looked more like a traditional braid.  I also tied the last loop to the bottom hem instead of a hole or around existing loops.  Check out You Tube if you are interested in cut shirts.  There are a ton of tutorials out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCnpIzPiUXk

Anyway, hope you all enjoy and happy crafting!