Please can someone tell me how to paint a t-shirt

[merglemergle]

I want to do a few t-shirts for ds. I am soooo fed up with buying khaki-slime coloured t shirts for him.

I need a complete idiot's guide to the type of paint to buy, type of brushes, should I use 100% cotton on the t-shirts, etc.

I'd quite like to do silkscreen but can't afford the outlay.

Any comments would be great!

dylon fabric paints cost about £2 a pot from fabric shops. you just slap it on and then iron it. asda are good for t shirts aswell, look in the school section of george

Make sure you put a piece of card inside the t-shirt as you paint it, so that the paint doesn't soak through to the back.

You need some advice from Twiglett, she has been painting t-shirts to sell recently so she is a dab-hand at this now!!

fabric pens are also handy. I used to love t'shirt painting when younger

Thanks for comments!

Ok, this sounds quite straightforward. I have tried using Dylon paints and just painting but the paints bled really badly, which put me off.

Do I need to stretch the t-shirt in some way? If so-how (I mean without buying an expensive gadget)? I am a complete novice to this!

could you of had to much paint on the brush? anita's do some 3dimensional paint that can be used on many surfaces including fabric, it is a lovely consistency

Champs-is this it?

If so-if I spread it thinly, will it come up as not 3D IYKWIM?

If so-that looks great!

oo have just ordered some dylon paints - do they bleed then? I have been using pebeo type of paint but they dry on the surface (so kind of hard, but they may wash softer)

think its just a question of getting stuck in there and having a go .. I've just started doing them and am by no means an expert but am really enjoying it so far (I have never ever been arty in my life till now)

I used 100% cotton t-shirts and also did some 50 cotton 50 polyester sweatshirts (slightly more bleeding on the sweatshirts)

hiya!
yep thats it but I got a pack of them and worked out much cheaper than 2.49 each. let me see if I can find an invoice of where i got it.

if you use it from the nozzle it comes out 3d/raised but if you use a brush with them then it goes not so 3d --- confused myself abit!!

you leave them for a while to dry and then they're washable. instructions are on pack.

off to see where i got them.......

aha!! I got the 6 pack for £9.99 works out much better than £2.49 each. the packs come in glitter, glossy, neon and metalic. They last for ages too!here where are!
Also this company is abs fab!!

Thanks Champs, that looks fantastic. I'm getting really excited now.

Oooh Twiglett, I really like your stuff but didn't want to be cheeky and post on your thread. I'm pretty sure I used polyester/cotton mix before, so thats probably it.

Oh, I'm really looking forward to this. Thanks all.

hi merglemergle! how are you getting on? just seen some of the anita's paints on special for \linkwww.cannycrafts.com/index.php\£8.35}

oops! £8.35

hi champs, I'm doing quite well with them, thanks for asking. I've bought the anita paints (from hobbycraft-I'm impatient!). Done one t-shirt which was some blue giraffes-don't know why. Paint is STILL bleeding, so have mixed it with water and now have nice watercolour effect t-shirts.

One thing-the Anitas paints don't say they have to be heat fixed-is this right? Can I just leave them 3 days like they say then wash?

blue giraffes sound nice and contemporay! wonder why i'ts bleedong through? did you try putting cardboard or the like between the tshirt layers?

think washing clothes them when they're dry is finwe. how about doing a test on a flannel, draw something on it let it dry and then wash it and see if it's ok.

Thanks for response. Its not actually bleeding through the layers, its just not really staying where I put it, so I have to do watercolour rather than fine detail. I quite like the design I have done, but did want to do lettering (big brother/little sister t-shirts), and there is no way it would be readable.

I am using 100% cotton but Tescos value range. I might get a couple of better quality ones from the charity shops/ebay and see if they take the paint better.

Thanks for the link btw, I will probably use them to order more supplies .

another craft addict is born!

wonder why it isn't writting clearly?? are you applying too much pressure? have you tried using a fine brush? or maybe stencils? have you got any stamps? they're handy for fabric painting.

Hi champs. I think the problem MAY be that I am a complete perfectionist and want the lettering to look like it has been silk screened.

I have found a solution, however, which is to use the foam bath toy letters from ELC as stamps. Works REALLY well.

It IS addictive though, isn't it? I was wondering round hobbycraft yesterday, getting all sorts of ideas for making cards...possibly using knitting...hmmm