Spray paint shirt

Spray Paint Shirt  

Materials:
Tshirt (a lighter color works better)
Fabric Paint
Masking or painters tape
Old magazines or newspaper
A wide open space to create

This is the process of a spray paint shirt I made a while ago. I saw some shirt that someone made kind of like this and thought that was easy enough to copy and it was!

First, I bought a white T shirt. I got mine at Old Navy in their clearance section for a couple bucks. I think it's better to buy a shirt from a clothing store rather than a craft store because they always fit better. Don't spend a lot of money on the shirt though in case your creation doesn't come out like you want it. That way a lot of money isn't wasted.

Then I went to Michaels and bought some spray paint. BEFORE going to Michaels make sure you cut out one of their coupons or you access the website on your phone. They have coupons every week and if you go to Michaels all the time like I do, you will end up saving soo much money!

Now, buying the paint I made a big mistake. I bought just regular spray paint not really thinking anything about it. When you go you will buy fabric paint! After making shirts with spray paint and fabric paint I can see there is such a big difference between them (duh). But you MUST buy Tulip Brand Fabric paint. TRUST ME! This is the best brand of fabric paint you can buy (At least from what I've seen at Michaels and Hobby Lobby). I bought some other brand once and it was a disaster (I'll talk about that in a different blog).

Anyway, go ahead and buy however many colors you want. The brighter, the better!

Now, I wanted stripes on my shirt which were very easy so I flattened the shirt out on the kitchen table and I started taping. I just used regular masking tape, nothing fancy. That blue painters tape works good too. To make sure the spacing was even I put a little piece of tape after each stripe and then peeled it off when I was ready for the next line.

Then the fun part! I brought my shirt, some magazines and the paints out to the grass and set the shirt down flat agian. Since I was using spray paint I made sure not to spray this on the sidewalk where my shirt outline would be there forever. I made sure to use magazines to cover the parts of the shirt I didn't want colored as well (in this case the sleeves). Now, I didn't put any magazines inside the shirt because I was using a thin layer of spray paint but if your worried I would put some inside so the paint doesn't bleed through to the back. Then, diagonal in the opposite direction I started to paint stripes. I just did a random thickness and random color order so it's not perfect but homemade shirts aren't supposed to be!

On the bottle it will tell you how long you must leave your work out before the paint is dry but I always leave my stuff out longer just to make sure. I would hate to touch it and have a fingerprint ruin everything. Now that I think about it I usually leave my work flat overnight before peeling off any tape.

When looking at your creation you are going to think it looks like a huge messy blob but just wait until you peel off that tape and that bright white shirt shows! It is such a nice feeling peeling the tape off and seeing your beautiful work of art.

*****Why you should use fabric paint: Before washing your shirt it will feel stiff and it will be hard to wear but if you use the Tulip fabric paint after washing it it will be soft and it will move and give and feel just like how the shirt did before the paint. If you use spray paint the shirt will be stiff forever! I wish I knew this before making mine!

Mine is still wearable because I just did the paint on the front but I made another shirt with spray paint on the front and back and that was a disappointment.

Well basically that is it! Pretty easy, I know! Try it out, have fun and I hope you like your finished product!

:)