More Velveteen Shirts

So I've been creating a lot of shirts lately, and this is what I've got so far.

These are all using Velveteen Paint, which you can see the DIY here!

 These are my Star Wars Rebel Tank, and my Iron Man reactor Shirt.

I used a regular fabric paint as a base coat, and after it dried I applied the Velveteen Paint. It worked out great because I wanted it to look 'rough' and two tone.

The Iron Man Shirt was actually a coverup job, I did a bleach job on it, and it turned pink not white (hazards of bleaching).  So i painted over it, by hand, and did two coats of the velveteen paint. It looks great now, shirt saved!

This one is actually the first time I tried the paint, and I think if I were to do it over I'd put a second coat of paint in some places. Also, I would leave the stencil on until after it dries!

But over all it turned out rather well.

Velveteen T-Shirt DIY

So I've been experimenting with different fabric paints and I have been enjoying using Velveteen Fabric Paint. To me it makes the shirt seem less 'homemade' and I like the texture it creates.

So here's what I do to get these shirts.

1) I Create a stencil (just like when I bleach my shirts). I've been using 'Martha Stewart: Adhesive Stencil Film' because I find it's durable enough to reuse the stencil again.

2) Place your Stencil on the shirt and then slide newspaper or cardboard between the layers of the shirt to prevent the paint from bleeding through.

3) Paint it using fabric paint that says "Velveteen". I prefer flat square synthetic brushes (cheap from the dollar store) because you get the best coverage. The instructions on this brand is to wait 4 hours for it to dry.

TIP - If you want it 'thicker' in texture after steaming then do a second coat after you have given it 20 minutes to dry.

4) Remove the stencil carefully. If you wait until it is dry (assuming you haven't globbed the paint on) it is best because you don't risk smudging or smearing your paint.

It will be shiny in colour, and you can leave it like this and wear it around now. But if you want the velveteen texture just keep going!

5) Plug in your iron and set it to 'high steam' or cotton. Ever iron is different, but you need the steam and nothing else, so if you have a steamer then that's great too.

6) Making sure that lots of steam is coming out, place the iron about an inch above the fabric and hold for a second or two until the paint reacts.

(The top part is done, the bottom isn't. Just so you can see the difference as you steam.)

7) Make sure you got any smaller parts. I haven't been able to over steam it, so dont' be afraid of going over it a second time if you know you missed parts.

All Done!

Few Thoughts to add...

You can use Velveteen paint over other fabric paint, like I did here with my Star Wars Shirt.
You don't have to Stencil, you can free hand!
Don't over saturate the material, if the shirt is inside out, you should barely be able to see the paint.
Two coats, especially in thin areas, can really help the paint 'pop' when steamed.
Double check the paint you are buying, instructions might vary.
Use cheap brushes, because the paint washes out with water and soap, but it can dry in teh bristles and ruin good brushes!

DIY Bleach Shirts - Birthday Gifts

So I made some more shirts, with a combination of bleach (see DIY here) and also some spray t-shirt paint. I wish I had stuck with just bleach for the eyes, but this is what I got. (For the price and result, the spray can fabric paint won't be a repeat purchace.)

I'm glad I got lots of comic book fans as family, it makes takes some of the stress out of designing.

Bike Painting

So this summer I decided to purchase a cheap but working bike. The price was right, the paint was not. No problem.

I took off the gear shifts, handle brakes, kickstand, water bottle holder, and the front tire. Sanded it all down until the paint was rough. The worst bit was sanding off the plastic decals, because I couldn’t get them off any other way.

Then I painted it, by brush, with a green rust guard paint. A tiny can of it was like $6, and I didn’t use more than half of the can. I did a second coat to touch up places. Make sure you let it dry for a good 24 hours before doing anything with it!

Then I had a stencil cut out, of birds, and proceeded to spray paint a white rust guard paint over the green. The spray can cost about $4 and I still have a bunch left. I plastic wrapped the places I didn’t want to get pain on and/or had it taped off.

My one mistake was thinking I could use the same stencil for both cross pieces. Two things happened:
1) I got paint on the top piece I didn’t mean to
2) I had bought my plastic adhesive that I cut the stencil out of from the dollar store, so it was thin and ripped when I went to remove it after the first use.
So I ended up having to cut a second stencil anyway, and have some mistakes that I didn’t want to go back and paint over with the green paint again.

Over all I’m very happy with it, but if I were to do it again, I would try and not rush the end.

Either way I don’t’ think anyone is stealing this bike!

Inspiring Speech

Chris Hadfeild spoke at NSCC Convocation for the 2013 Center of Geographic Studies (COGS) students.

It was great to hear and I want to pass it along to you.

More DIY Bleach Shirt

I got the third shirt done, but this one took a lot longer to do because it was way more complicated to cut out. Because of that there is only the one design of it. 

 

To see the my how to bleach DIY just click the link to see the older blog.

 

This one was a wrap around design and I'm happy with it, and so is Mike, so that's good.

 



The one thing I still don't like the little spots from the spritzer bottle. No sure why they happen!

Bleach T-Shirt DIY

Been wanting to try this one out for a while and finally did.

I took a design and used an exacto-knife to cut it into a clear adhesive plastic (the type you buy at the dollar store to protect books). I ended up with two copies of the design, a negative and a positive cut-outs.

So I put one on a red shirt and the other on a blue shirt.

 

The blue shirt I just wanted the image bleached so I used cling wrap over the rest of the material to prevent any unwanted marks. The red shirt I was trying to be more artistic with and bleach all around leave the design red.

 

Remember - Where the plastic is will REMAIN that colour, and the bleacj will change the rest.
Think backwards, it helps.

 

I placed old newspaper between the front and back of the shirts to prevent the bleach from soaking through.

 

 

 

Using a small spray bottle (the type in dollar store travel kits) I sprayed bleach on the shirts, slowly over time to see them develop.

 

TIP - Use gloves this is Bleach.
Also use paper towel to dab away extra bleach that settles on the non absorbing plastic to prevent drip marks.

 

This was the end result.

 

 

 

I worked the blue shirt a bit by cutting it and braiding the sides, and making it something I would wear.

 

 

Things I would change:

I wish the spray bottle was a more even mist, but I couldn't prevent the small dotting.

Also i would use less bleach on the red shirt, next time I won't do it outside on a sunny day because it was hard to see how much the bleach had developed.

 

All I all I think it was a great outcome though!