How to Paint Designs for Custom T-Shirts

There’s no better way to get awesome exposure for your art that to paint it on a T-shirt. It’s free advertising that goes a long way—from the subway to a ball game—and looks cool in the process. You can paint designs for custom T-shirts using a little imagination and a lot of fabric paint. Here’s how.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• T-shirt
• Fabric paint
• Chalk

1. Sketch your design on a piece of paper, keeping in mind your canvas will be stretchy, move around and made of porous cotton. This means keep the design fairly simple.

2. Stretch out the T-shirt on a board.

3. Use chalk to very lightly sketch the design on the T-shirt, designing one side of the shirt at a time.

4. Make a palette of the fabric paint colors you will be using by dabbing some of each on wax paper.

5. Using sponges, small brushes or your fingers, fill in the design you sketched in chalk.

6. Allow to dry thoroughly between colors if they overlap, otherwise several colors can be done at once.

7. Let dry, then do the back or embellish the sleeves and neck.

Tips & Warnings

• Skip the chalk step if you are confident with recreating your design just by looking at the paper.
• Add some funk to the shirt with accents using glitter paint, glued on feathers or beads, studs and rhinestones.
• Cut the sleeves and neck area for an artsy, nonchalant look.
• Try white or silver on black for a stark effect.
• Watch you don’t go crazy, as is easy to do, and paint every shirt in your closet or you won't have anything to wear to funerals.