DIY: Upcycled Watermark T-Shirt

U Create's blog has a great DIY that we honestly never would have thought of - who knew that just using some glue could make a t-shirt look so much more fun!

Check out their blog for more DIY!!

What I love about this project is that it's completely customizable. I used favorite quotes to decorate my shirt but you could also use song lyrics, bible verses, favorite book excerpts, etc. You can also choose whatever color you like. I think it would be a very kid-friendly project as well. There are so many possibilities!

 Materials:

Elmer's Blue Gel Glue (it must be the blue gel, white won't work)

Fabric Dye (RIT is my tried and true brand)

A white cotton Tee, Tank, Dress etc.

 Tutorial:

If you're unfamiliar with Batiking, it's a method of dyeing fabric in which you create a design with a dye- resist. When you dye your garment in cold water, all will be colored except where you've placed your dye resist. In traditional batiking, you would use wax as a resist. I tried this out and found it to be messy and difficult to control. Using store bought glue is much more convenient and very easy to control.

Step 1: Prepare

Wet your tee with cool water and place a water resistant board between the layers of fabric. I used the lid of a bin.

Step 2: Design

I'm not much of an artist, so what worked best for me was writing favorite quotes right across the front of the shirt.

This quote was found via Pinterest

Source

You could also try drawing a simple design like my very amateur sailboat:

Let dry completely. This will take several hours.

Step 3: Dye 

Your dye bath should be prepared using cool water. Experiment with different amounts of dye until you find the right concentration. Keep in mind that the color that comes out of the dye bath will be a couple of shades darker than the dry, finished garment.

When you get the color you want, lay your tee flat to dry.

Step 4: Wash

When your tee is dry (to let the dye set) soak it in cool, soapy water for about 15 minutes. This soak washes the extra glue out. Throw it in the washer and dry as you would normally.

Step 5: Wear and Enjoy!

DIY: Dandelion Blowing Shirt

This is another wonderful dollar store craft project.  We look forward to making this and wearing it in the very near future!

Be sure to check out their blog to get more!

 

Project Materials:

• T-shirt, on hand or $1 and up
• Piece of recycled cardboard, on hand
• White, Black, and Green Acrylic or Fabric paint, on hand or $1 each
• (Optional) Fabric Medium for acrylic paint, about $3
• Shower pouf, $1
• Thin-tipped paint brush, on hand
• Paper plate for a paint palette, on hand

Total: $1 and up

About the supplies:

T-shirt: any color but white is fine, so choose what you like (reclaimed from your closet, purchased on clearance or even Goodwill like mine was).

Cardboard: Flat piece of cardboard large enough to fill the inside of your shirt (cereal boxes work perfectly)

Paint: White, black and green paint (fabric paint is great, but you can add Martha Stewart’s Fabric Medium to any acrylic paint to keep it from being stiff and un-wearable)*

Shower pouf: You can get these at the dollar store, or pretty much any other store for $1 or less. I got 2 for $1 at Wal-Mart.

Paint Pallet: I used a left over paper plate or two, but if you don't have one, you can use a piece of recycled cardboard (the rest of your cereal box?).

*Note: Be sure you are using paints with the same curing process.

How to Make a Dandelion Shirt:

1. The first step is to put the cardboard inside the shirt, to keep paint from seeping through to the back, which is not attractive.

2. Next, you want to squirt a generous amount of the white paint on to the plate. If you are using regular acrylic paint and fabric medium, follow the directions for mixing on the bottle. As you can see, I added some glitter paint, but it didn’t give it noticeable sparkle, so I don’t recommend the extra step.

3. Then comes the fun part – pounce the shower poof up and down in the paint and then gently pat it on the shirt where you want the head of the flower to go. I recommend starting with as little paint as possible, gently tapping most of it off on a scrap paper towel before you touch it to your shirt. You can always add more.

4. Next, squirt a bit of the green paint on your plate and using the thin brush, paint your stem. Perhaps you want to give it a slight curve so it looks like it is bending in the direction of the wind.

5. Next, we added some seeds to look like they were being scattered by the wind. We used two methods with the same white paint mixture:

1. Ever so lightly sweep the poof out and up from the head of the flower, or
2. Paint each individual seed with the thin paint brush, making little crosses. Then rinse the brush and dip it in the black paint to put a tiny stem on each seed.

Either method seems produces pleasing results, it is just a matter of whether you want fast and abstract or painstakingly real. After much deliberation, we decided that the seed band started at the same width as the head of the flower and then scattered and broadened as it moved upward. I think a few blowing over your shoulder and onto your back would be fun, too.

Now you just have to be patient while your creation dries (generally for 24 hours), heat set with an iron as directed (mine was 3 minutes on as hot a setting as the shirt fabric allows), wash and wear!