Making Your Own T-Shirts

Online shopping companies like factoryfast.com.au offer you a wonderful variety of customised t-shirts for your wardrobe. But, you still may be thinking of creating your own t-shirts, just for the fun of it. Creating t-shirts can also be a great activity to do with the kids during the holidays, because it is easy and fun. Perhaps, on a rainy day, your kids and their friends can make t-shirts together. Making t-shirts also requires very little supervision.

If you, or the kids, are struggling to come up with a design for your t-shirts, you can consider a drawing that the kids have made, artwork from a movie that they or you enjoy, lyrics from a favorite song, a joke or even a social statement. There's really no limit.

So, here are some methods to think about in making your own t-shirts:

The Iron-On method for creating t-shirts

Iron-on transfers are easy and require very little effort. You, or the kids, can spend more time on the design of the t-shirts than the actual creating of the t-shirts. There is no mess in the iron-on method, and the t-shirts will still retain their sense of uniqueness.

Scan the design into a computer with photo-editing software which allows you to reverse the picture. If there is any text to the design, reversing the picture is imperative. Some pictures, though, work well forwards or backwards, which means there would be no need to reverse it. Some software will even automatically print the reverse for you.

The Fabric Paint Method for creating t-shirts

This is obviously much more messy compared to the above method for creating t-shirts. But it can be a great deal of fun, especially with the kids. You may get some more abstract designs through this method – using brushes, fingers, rollers, stamps (homemade or commercial.) Here you can paint freestyle, splatter on the t-shirts, or draw the design on lightly with a pencil and paint in the colors.

The Fabric Markers method for creating t-shirts

This method for making t-shirts is less messy than fabric paint, and allows for you or the kids to draw directly onto the t-shirts. After you set it with a hot iron, the t-shirts can be worn.

Stenciling method for creating t-shirts

You may want to consider stenciling with fabric paint when creating t-shirts, but stenciling covers more than just fabric paint. Stenciling when creating t-shirts is inexpensive and requires very little effort, except when it comes to making the stencil. Stenciling is not recommended for younger children, unless the adult cuts out the stencil. There are many instructional videos available, on-line and off-line, which portray stenciling techniques.

The Silk-Screening method for creating t-shirts

Silk-screening is, of course, a professional method and requires a lot of talent and effort. However, there are many silkscreening companies which would happily print your design for you and create your t-shirts.

The On-Line method

Like above, there are numerous online companies who will create the t-shirts for you. All you need to do is send them the design, and they silk-screen the t-shirts and send them to you.