Tropical T-shirt
Do you wonder how to renew an old, long-unworn T-shirt? Want to add a colorful, interesting touch to your boring cotton bag? Or maybe you stained your clothes and no stain remover will save it? If so, you’re in the right place! In this post, we will show you step by step how to paint on fabrics, what tools you will need, and we will give you some tips that will make your work much easier!
You will need it:
PREPARATION OF MATERIALS
The fabric that we decided to use for work is a white cotton T-shirt. To make painting as simple and durable as possible, it is worth choosing good quality cotton or linen. Before painting, the T-shirt should be washed. Thanks to this step, you will remove any chemicals and dirt left over from the production and shipping process. However, remember not to use a fabric softener – it could reduce the material absorbency. Subsequently, dry thoroughly and iron the garment. Any creases would make it difficult to create the pattern. Afterwards, put a cardboard backing in the center of the T-shirt to protect the back of the fabric from unwanted color seepage.
PATTERN AND COLOR
Creating a tropical T-shirt requires the selection of the right colors and patterns. Thanks to the stencils, you can paint any leaves – banana, palm or monstera. You can also combine them all and create a real holiday design! By the time you start painting and playing with colors, think about the composition you want to get. The use of several different patterns involves detailed planning of the arrangement. However, if you choose a ready-made decor, such as ‘Tropical Paradise’, you can immediately start sticking the stencil to the fabric with masking tape. But, what about the colors? The choice of fabric paints is huge! Remember, though, that you don’t have to buy the entire color chart at once. Various shades of green, blue or yellow are perfect for tropical patterns.
PAINTING
Decorating fabrics is very simple with the use of the right tools. Sponge brushes will work perfectly as thanks to them you can quickly and precisely cover the pattern. On the other hand, for minor, detailed elements or tweaking, use a small brush with stiff bristles. With having the products prepared in this way, you can start painting! Textiles do not like a “dry brush” – always apply enough color to do a full stroke. Additionally, paints for fabrics combine well with water, thanks to which they can be diluted and spread better through the material. Such a procedure will allow you to create artistic smudging or shading. Remember also that by diluting the colors you will avoid the crust effect on the T-shirt.
TWEAKING
After finishing work, you can gently remove the stencil from the T-shirt right away, at the same time, being careful not to smudge the pattern. The painted fabric should dry at room temperature for about 24 hours. The next important step is to preserve the pattern so that it does not fade or wash off. All you need to do is turn the dried T-shirt inside out and iron it. The temperature will allow the paint to better penetrate the material’s fieber, which will make it resistant to cleaning any dirt. Such a well prepared T-shirt can be washed at 40 degrees.
