Fabric Paints T-Shirts Guide

T-shirts are ideal to use with fabric paint, pens and crayons. There are numerous techniques for adding a great design to a plain t-shirts. Paint, dye, colour or print to make your own innovative textile creations. What's more the techniques and these free instructions are so simple they make a great guide for school art and design projects.

The following information will help you prepare your t-shirt and choose the correct fabric paint and provide guides and tips for the perfect fabric painted projects.

The first thing you need to do when starting a textile project is to obtain the right materials. You will need to buy clothing that is suitable for printing and dyeing. Here is a list of items you will need to start your textile project.

Step 1. What You Will Need

T-Shirt Painting is a superb craft project for kids. We already have hundreds of schools we supply fabric paints and t-shirts to. It's easy to do, and most importantly fun! For more information see how a school used our t-shirts for a craft project.

Step 2. Painting Method

T-Shirt Preparation

Before you start your textile project the best way to prepare your t-shirt is to iron the garment and lay it out on a flat surface, then slip a thin piece of card or paper inside the garment to stop the fabric paint from staining the back of the T-shirt.

Design Preparation

The next step is to prepare what type of design to use with your fabric pens, crayons and paints. An easy way of preparing a design is to draw the outline of your design with a black marker pen onto a piece of paper, then tape this in place on a piece of cardboard, then place inside of the t-shirt. If the design shows through the fabric, it can be used as a great guideline for drawing the design on to the t-shirt. If you are using a heavy weight t-shirt and the fabric is too thick for the design to show through, use carbon paper to transfer the design directly onto the fabric. You can also draw designs directly onto fabric in a freehand method. This can be done by using a pencil to draw a very thin outline of the design you want to create with the fabric pens, crayons and paints.

Painting Method

To get the best results pin or tape your t-shirt to a flat surface; if the garment is taut it will be easier to draw on. Berol fabric pens or fabric markers are ideal for medium width lines or small areas of solid colour. Berol fabric transfer paint is best for large areas of colour or for large designs. When using several colours, let one colour dry before applying the next one, this will prevent the colours from bleeding into each other. When you have finished your t-shirt design, leave the garment on a flat surface to dry, place a clean cotton cloth over the painted area and iron on a hot setting for 1-2 minutes to set the colour into the fabric.

Fabric Crayons

Berol fabric crayons are suitable for most man made and natural fabric and are safe to use with children of 3 and upwards. As with the fabric paints, it is best to prepare the shirts as instructed abover and then design by drawing onto the garment lightly with a pencil. Simply colour in with the fabric crayons and iron at a low temperature to fix. The other Berol & Fabric design products we stock are simple and easy to use. Full instructions are included in every pack.