How to Add Details to Painted T-Shirts

Painting your own t-shirts is a fun way to spend an afternoon with your creative self. Acrylic paints are particularly useful as they are cheap and easy to blend, and of course, they don't wash off! Once the basic painted image of your t-shirt is done, consider applying other details like trim or embellishments to enhance certain qualities of your work. See the steps below for hints and remember, it's easier than you think!

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• t-shirt
• acrylic paint
• paintbrushes
• waterproof craft glue
• decorations like sequins, fabric, beads, embroidery stitches, ribbons, charms, tiny plastic objects, glitter

How to Add Details to Painted T-Shirts

1. Consider the image you have just created. Decide which aspects of your painting you would look to enhance. Though many opportunities may arise while you are deciding, choose only two or three to augment with additional detail. Anything more may appear overdone; subtle details add interest without weighing the image down too much.

2. Choose what you would like to use to add details. The choices seem endless: more paint in contrasting color, sequins, fabric, beads, embroidery stitches, ribbons, charms, tiny plastic objects, glitter, or any combination of the above items make for fabulous detail.

3. While choosing your details, consider the method you will need to employ to attach the details to your t-shirt. Paint would be easy as you are clearly already prepared for that and all you need to worry about is drying time. Items that can be glued on with some sort of waterproof craft glue is also easy on the schedule.

4. If you get really ambitious, consider breaking out your sewing machine or a needle and thread. Hand-sewing details onto a t-shirt is time-consuming and requires a measure of patience and elbow grease, but the lovely handcrafted effect is well worth the effort. Embroider a couple of floral motifs or simple stars around a corner of your painting or sew a couple of basic stitches around the edges of a particular area of the image for a dramatic contrast in mediums.

5. No matter what details you choose, enjoy your creative process! Don't feel discouraged if you don't like your details. Thanks to the nature of glue, you can always remove an object before it dries and replace it with something that better suits your fancy and the same applies for sewing. Paint can always be obscured by more paint. Have fun!