D.I.Y T-Shirt Projects For The Holiday Season for Beginners

With the Holiday season nearing you might be looking for Holiday DIY projects for your home to do with family and friends. One idea to try is DIY T-shirt painting. This is perfect for people with a bunch of old white t-shirts lying around the house and if you don’t know how to draw consider this beginner-friendly.

Here is an easy way to DIY white t-shirt projects this Holiday season.

First, let’s look at the products you will need.

1. White shirt (100% Cotton Preferably or Cotton/ Polyester Blend)

Cotton shirts absorbs paint better than other shirt materials due to it being a natural material. So I advise a 100% cotton shirt and a white shirt because it allows the paint to show up more clearly. The shirt should be pre-washed as it allows starches and chemicals to be removed before starting the painting process. By looking at the shirt’s tag you can check to see if it is pre-washed. It may also say pre-shrunk, which means the same thing. If it does not indicate the shirt is washed, don’t worry just throw it in the washing machine a day before the painting process. Ensuring all these processes are followed will lead to the fabric paint being adhered to the shirt better, which means a longer-lasting masterpiece.

2. Fabric Paint

I like to use Tulip Fabric Paint because of the variety of colors to choose from and you can find this brand anywhere. If you like to learn more about Soft fabric paint for DIY T-shirt project design consider reading this article Fabric Paint.

3. Paint Brushes

There is no T-shirt painting DIY without paintbrushes. Remember to get different size brushes that will help for larger and smaller areas of painting.

4. Fabric Markers

Fabric markers are a great addition to this fun holiday DIY craft project and can assist in tracing our desired images onto our shirts. Feel free to freehand any design you like on the shirt as well.

5. Paint Palette

Feel free to use a paint palette to put fabric paint colors on and mix them.

6. Cardboard Shirt Form

This will be put in place in the middle of your t-shirt to help the paint not bleed through the other side of the t-shirt. I also recommend taping parchment paper on the cardboard box, which prevents further sticking of the shirt onto the cardboard.

7. Tracing Paper

This step is crucial for beginner artists if you want your DIY T-shirt projects to look more expert.

8. Charcoal Pencils

Charcoal pencils will help trace your desired image onto the tracing paper and be transferred to your white t-shirt.

How To DIY Paint T-shirt

Before Beginning place the shirt on cardboard shirt form.

Step 1: Find Your Desired Image

I like to look for images on Google with an outline that I think will be great to paint.

Step 2: Print Image

Once the image is found, save the image and print the image. Before printing make sure you scale to fit to receive a larger image and flip the image horizontally. The image is flipped for tracing but will end up being the original design once the image is placed on the shirt.

Step 3: Start Tracing

Use the charcoal pencil for tracing the image on the tracing paper.

Step 4: Transfer the Charcoal Drawing to the Shirt

Be careful because the charcoal can easily smear. Place the charcoal drawing face down on the shirt putting the tracing paper where you want the image to be. Once this transfer paper is placed on the shirt use your hands or the back of the fabric paint bottle to press the charcoal drawing on the shirt. After about a 1 minute- 2 minutes of firmly pressing the drawing lift the transfer paper and outline with fabric makers.

Step 5: Start Painting

Start this holiday season with DIY t-shirt painting where you can create cute DIY projects with old t-shirts. It is also a unique kids’ DIY custom t-shirt project

Watch this video for deeper insight.