Hello Pinteresters! So this project I did was actually something I made over the summer when I was really excited about coming to Truman and becoming a Bulldog. I found this pin on Pinterest for screen printing a t-shirt and I thought it would be really difficult, but it turned out to be pretty simple. The longest part of this project is just letting the paint dry on the shirt for three days before you wash it. Anyways, here are the items you need to make your very own screen printed t-shirt.

• Plain t-shirt (Amazon, $8)
• Fabric paint (Walmart, depending on how many colors you get, I used 2 colors so about $5)
• Freezer paper (Walmart, $6)
• Iron
• Exacto knife (I was able to just use regular scissors though)
• Paint brushes (Walmart, $2)
• Pencil
• Marker
• Printer paper
• Tweezers

1. Okay, so the first step is to draw your design of whatever you want on the printer paper with a pencil. I decided to go with the word bulldogs inside a heart. (I didn't take pictures of the process so sorry if this one is a little difficult to follow along with.)
2. After you have your design, trace it with a marker onto the freezer paper. Be sure to draw on the side that is not shiny.
3. This is the part where you cut out your design. You can use an exacto knife, but I was able to do mine with just normal scissors. If you have small letters or designs in your drawing though, I suggest using the exacto knife. Make sure to save all of the pieces of your design because you might need all of them.
4. After you have all of your pieces cut out, put your shirt on an ironing board. Place your cut out pieces of freezer paper onto the shirt and arrange them how you like. Try to get all the spacing even because after the next step there is no going back. Be sure to smooth out any wrinkles on the shirt where you design is going to be.
5. This is the part where you iron the freezer paper onto the shirt. Make sure the shiny side is down. Be sure not to drag the iron as if you were ironing a normal shirt, but simply place the iron on one spot for a couple seconds and then move to another spot until all the paper is stuck to the shirt. Use a medium heat setting for all of this.
6. Once all the paper is securely ironed on, you can begin painting. I painted the background purple and did two coats of it. Do not let the paint dry in between coats.
7. Before the paint completely dries, peel off the letters. This is where the tweezers come in handy. You can peel them off easily without messing up your design.
8. After this, all that is left is to let the shirt dry. I think the paint bottle said to let it dry for 72 hours so I left it flat on a table for three days before I washed it. (None of the paint came off at all after washing.)

 

This was my final product! The heart was a little lopsided because I free handed it, so I would recommend using a stencil. Other than that I'm pretty happy with how this shirt turned out! It also wasn't too bad for $21. Plus, if I make another shirt, I already have the paint and freezer paper so all I would need is another shirt. I think it's a pretty good deal! I'm proud how well this turned out for my first time!