How to Make T-Shirts With Fabric Paint

Jazz up a plain T-shirt with fabric paint. It is easy and you can get any design you want by doing it yourself. Fabric paints are designed to stick to fabric and last through washing and drying. Fabric paint comes in many forms, so you can paint fabric with a brush, use a stencil or get a fabric paint marker. With a marker, decorating a T-shirt can be as easy as drawing on a piece of paper.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Plain T-shirt
• Fabric paints
• Piece of cardboard

1. Wash the T-shirt to remove sizing. Don't use fabric softener.

2. Smooth or iron the T-shirt to remove wrinkles.

3. Place the cardboard inside the T-shirt so the paint does not soak through to the back.

4. Paint your design onto the shirt.

5. Let the paint dry, then heat-set the design (see the manufacturer's directions for details specific to the product you use).

Tips & Warnings

• Prewashing the T-shirt removes chemicals that may prevent the fabric paint from sticking to the fabric. Fabric paint comes in tubes, markers, sprays and dyes. Try different types of fabric paint to get different effects. A 50/50-cotton/polyester blend T-shirt usually takes paint best. Test the paint on a hidden part of the T-shirt to make sure that it adheres to the fabric.

References

• Michaels: FAQs about fabric painting