painting an artsy tee shirt
The easy or the most fun garment to paint on is perhaps the tee shirt. That where I started and boy was it fun. I did it initially for myself and then began selling to others. There were a lot of hiccups along the way but I eventually had such a demand for the painted tees that I bought a few sewing machines, upgraded the fabric to interlock (which was a nicer, non-shrinking fabric), and began manufacturing hand painted resort wear. Back then I couldn’t sew a lick. I only wanted to paint, so, I did…7 days per week during Christmas and other special times of the year. The demand was so great for my Wearable Art garments that even after having my babies my husband brought me the tee shirts to paint while still in bed.
It’s been a while since I stopped painting tee shirts for sale but I do bump into folks who tell me that they still have their Wearable Art Tees. Amazing! They must have had it for more than 25 years. Since I’m still getting questions about tee shirt painting I thought I would post these videos I did some years back.
Painting a festive tee shirt
painting a black tee shirt
I’m sure you know by now that you can take your tee shirts from bland to bling in a matter of minutes. This technique doesn’t really require a whole lot of artistic skill. Just think about the effect, you want to create an amazing effect with paint and rhinestones. To do this you are going to start simple and build on your designs.
One thing you need to remember is, paint can be restrictive, so you may not want to paint every fiber of the garment. Another thing is if you have babies be sure to avoid painting where they may lay their little faces. If you are painting for children, be generous with color but avoid rhinestones and any other items they may manage to put in their mouths. The last thing…have fun!
bleaching and painting a tee
This was one of my favorite tees but it faded after a few washes. I was determined to extend its life so I made it look intentional by bleaching a few spots and painting the rest. Click on the video and see for yourself how you can resurrect a faded or stained tee shirt.