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How Can I Draw On A T-Shirt?

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Drawing on a T-shirt is always a unique way to personalize it. It can turn a great shirt into a priceless souvenir. It can also simply dress up a T-shirt at the last minute, when you don’t have time to have it professionally printed. For the proud parent or grandparent, a child’s drawing on a T-shirt is the ultimate way to show off your little one’s talent and your pride. It can be done as art projects, contests and much more.

There are several different ways to draw on a T-shirt, each with differing results. The least expensive way would be to use permanent marker for your designs. Remember to put a couple of sheets of paper inside the shirt while you are drawing so the ink does not transfer to the back of the shirt. The drawing will fade a bit with time, but it should be more or less permanent. The downside is that it is usually obvious that your T-shirt drawing was an amateur job.

You can also use fabric paint pens to do T-shirt painting. This will give you a much more vivid, realistic image for your T-shirt. The image should not fade as much as a marker design, and will give the appearance of being a much more professional drawing. Simply follow the directions included with the marker and you will be on your way to a beautifully done T-shirt drawing.

Acrylic paints can also be used with amazing results. The trick is to be sure to wash and dry the T-shirt without using any fabric softener, prior to painting. After you have finished painting the T-shirt it is important to set the paint. This can be done using white vinegar or a commercially made craft product specifically for this use. Vinegar will not preserve the paint as long as the commercially made product, but it is still a very good option. It will take up to a year before you see fading with a vinegar-treated shirt.

The fourth and most professional way to draw on a T-shirt is to have a drawing you have made custom-printed on a T-shirt of your choice. If you or your child has done work that you are extremely proud of, a copy of it can be printed on a custom-made T-shirt. That’s the beauty of such tees. You not only choose the color and style, but you customize them in the way that suits you best, even with your own artwork or that of a loved one.

Painting on T-shirts is a great craft idea and lots of fun. You can even have T-shirts custom-made for special events leaving space for you to draw on your tee. You can have a T-shirt printed with a line like one of these.
•    This is what I did in art class
•    Product of art camp – Summer 2009
•    Proud Mom of a Talented Artist
•    This is my kid’s drawing. Isn’t it good!

Get your custom-made drawing T-shirt today and show that you are an art lover in all media and proud of it.

How to Stencil a T-Shirt

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T-shirt stenciling is a fun way to quickly customize a shirt. It can be a way to make a very complicated image into a t-shirt picture, or a way to design a t-shirt by using simple shapes. Many people use stencils on t-shirts to customize it with letters and numbers.

Letters and numbers are simply to stencil onto a t-shirt. Stencils are available in any craft store, or you can make your own. All you need is a sturdy cardboard cut out of each letter or a plastic stencil for each. The stencils are placed in their desired arrangement on the t-shirt and then marked in place with a pencil.

On ready-made stencils, there are small cut-out points where the end of a pencil will fit through. Use these points to mark the placement of each stencil. This will allow you to line up the stencil again if it gets bumped or moved, or if you need to come back and redo the stencil with another color. It will also allow you to line up individual letters and numbers to make sure you are stenciling them in a straight line. This is a much more accurate method than simply eyeing the letters and will result in much straighter rows of numbers and letters.

If you’ve made the stencil yourself, simply mark the t-shirt along the outside edges of the stencil. This will allow you the same security as a ready-made pencil point. The pencil markings will wash away easily as soon as the t-shirt is laundered.

For more complicated designs, you can use a ready-made stencil that is meant for wall painting, or look in stencil books. Stencil books have many cardboard stencils to choose from and make it easy to find several designs with the same theme. These are punched out of the book and are used in much the same way as letter stencils. Lay the stencil on the shirt and mark it with a pencil before starting. Then, use your medium of choice to fill in the stencil.

For t-shirts, many people use markers because they are easy to write with, have a precise tip and come in a wide variety of colors. A permanent marker will work on a t-shirt, or use fabric markers. Either type can be used to fill in any stencil with solid color.

Another option is fabric paint. These paints are specifically designed to stay on fabric and not wash away. When using fabric paints, paint from the outside of the stencil to the inside, working toward the center of each area to be stenciled. This lessens the chance of the fabric paint slipping underneath the stencil and making the design blurry.

Use a small brush, even if the area to be stenciled is large. This gives you more control over where the paint goes and will keep the design neater. Most paints require setting the paint with an iron or drying it in a clothes dryer before wearing the design. Follow the directions of the individual paint type and you’ll have a t-shirt that is permanently painted with your handiwork.