Have you created art on your clothes?

HoneyNut

HoneyNut

Well-known Member
Location
Maryland
I bought some t-shirts last month and they are just plain colors and I wish they had designs. I found some youtube videos about creating artistic designs on clothes and now I'm wondering if my completely untalented unartistic self could manage to decorate my t-shirts without ruining them.

Has anyone here tried it, and if so was it successful or just a big waste of money on art supplies and messed up looking clothes?

 

50 years ago we all were tie-dying shirts... I;m not an arty person, so what was ok 1/2 a century ago for me, wouldn't e today... but hey why not try on just one T-shirt ?
 
I made a Halloween shirt a couple of years ago by cutting out a stencil outline of a pumpkin, adhering it to a black t-shirt front, and then adhering eye, nose and teeth shapes on the shirt.

I then sprayed a bleach solution on the front of the shirt and let it sit for a few minutes before thoroughly rinsing it.

Where I sprayed it turned a mottled fiery orange and where the stencils were stayed black.

So, I had a batik-looking orange pumpkin with black features. It looked pretty good.

I've not tried this method on other colors of t-shirt, so I don't know if you get the orange hue or not.
 

I haven't tried painting on to textiles but, I like the idea. What I have done is created a "poster" on my computer and printed it off on fabric - you can get packs of printable fabric sheets - can either be sewn or made into a banner or something for charity events etc. All different kinds of printable fabrics on Amazon.
 
hollydolly said:
50 years ago we all were tie-dying shirts
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I have two tie-dye shirts I bought off ebay a couple years ago. I'm sure I'm too old to wear those but I do anyway, ha. But my new boring t-shirts are yellow, red, gray, and olive-green.

I'm thinking maybe I could try buying some fabric markers and try them out on white hankies. I love art but doubt that I can produce any.
 
HoneyNut said:
I have two tie-dye shirts I bought off ebay a couple years ago. I'm sure I'm too old to wear those but I do anyway, ha. But my new boring t-shirts are yellow, red, gray, and olive-green.

I'm thinking maybe I could try buying some fabric markers and try them out on white hankies. I love art but doubt that I can produce any.
Click to expand...
If you are not too confident @HoneyNut maybe look for some stencils to start with?
 
HoneyNut said:
I have two tie-dye shirts I bought off ebay a couple years ago. I'm sure I'm too old to wear those but I do anyway, ha. But my new boring t-shirts are yellow, red, gray, and olive-green.

I'm thinking maybe I could try buying some fabric markers and try them out on white hankies. I love art but doubt that I can produce any.
Click to expand...
Do you not have an old plain T-shirt you could try it out on first ?
 
HoneyNut said:
I bought some t-shirts last month and they are just plain colors and I wish they had designs. I found some youtube videos about creating artistic designs on clothes and now I'm wondering if my completely untalented unartistic self could manage to decorate my t-shirts without ruining them.

Has anyone here tried it, and if so was it successful or just a big waste of money on art supplies and messed up looking clothes?

Click to expand...
Oh! This sounds like so much FUN!!!
I don't like to WEAR clothing with designs but this would be so much fun to create your own designs on clothes!
@HoneyNut, Something for the soul is never a big waste of money! If you do this, will you show us how they
turned out? Hope you go for it. It sounds exciting!
 
Murrmurr said:
I used to paint various scenes and designs on my plain white gym sneaker in high school.

Some years later Vans shoe company made a fortune doing the same thing.
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Back in the early 60's, "spatter painting" white tennis shoes was *the thing* at my school. You loaded up a toothbrush with paint and raked a pencil across the bristles, thus spattering paint on the shoes.

And then there were "senior cords". All through my elementary and junior high years, I would see the Seniors walking around campus wearing their Senior Cords on Fridays (pants and skirts....no trousers for girls in those days) that were painted with pictures and lettering indicating their clubs, sports and interests.

I could hardly WAIT to get to be a senior and have my own cords but alas, by the time I got there, they were out of style.
 
Trish said:
If you are not too confident @HoneyNut maybe look for some stencils to start with?
Click to expand...
My original thought was to use a stencil, but the YouTube artist pretty thoroughly pooh-pooh's that idea as being no more individualistic as buying a commercially printed t-shirt. And her art on t-shirts does make them look so beautifully unique, I'm just concerned that I'd manage to do for example a halfway decent tree and then wind up with a jarring picasso-like lion below the tree.
 
hollydolly said:
Do you not have an old plain T-shirt you could try it out on first ?
Click to expand...
I would have had if I hadn't downsized all my belongings last year to a small set of clothes that would fit in a few suitcases in my car for traveling. I see that Amazon sells packs of white t-shirts, but I already have a bunch of boring white handkerchiefs that are never going to be seen by anyone, so they probably would be adequate to practice on.
 
Gaer said:
I don't like to WEAR clothing with designs but this would be so much fun to create your own designs on clothes!
@HoneyNut, Something for the soul is never a big waste of money!
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It sure looks like soul satisfying fun when I watch the artist's videos. I'm waiting for my next credit card cycle, then I would like to buy a few starter supplies, but apparently I need a lot of stuff, not just the fabric paint. I'd need to buy an iron, and tracing + carbon paper, binder clips to hold the shirt against cardboard (I see they sell t-shirt shaped cardboard pieces but I get enough amazon boxes I don't think I need to spend cash on cardboard!), and paint brushes. I guess it would not be that much as long as I don't get carried away by all the choices on Amazon.
 
HoneyNut said:
My original thought was to use a stencil, but the YouTube artist pretty thoroughly pooh-pooh's that idea as being no more individualistic as buying a commercially printed t-shirt. And her art on t-shirts does make them look so beautifully unique, I'm just concerned that I'd manage to do for example a halfway decent tree and then wind up with a jarring picasso-like lion below the tree.
Click to expand...
I wonder if that YouTuber has ever used stencils? You can use them to create your own designs, you can even make your own stencils. Once you have become more confident, you can try freehand. Years ago when stenciling was popular, I used them a lot. The thing with art is that you experiment and find your own style and what works for you. (y)
 
HoneyNut said:
It sure looks like soul satisfying fun when I watch the artist's videos. I'm waiting for my next credit card cycle, then I would like to buy a few starter supplies, but apparently I need a lot of stuff, not just the fabric paint. I'd need to buy an iron, and tracing + carbon paper, binder clips to hold the shirt against cardboard (I see they sell t-shirt shaped cardboard pieces but I get enough amazon boxes I don't think I need to spend cash on cardboard!), and paint brushes. I guess it would not be that much as long as I don't get carried away by all the choices on Amazon.
Click to expand...
@HoneyNut I have had lots of hobbies - usually creative stuff - and have learnt the expensive way that, it is best to just get the basics you need and have a go.

A couple of years ago, I bought some plain aprons and fabric pens (Amazon) for my niece's children and they had fun decorating the aprons. The pens were really good and the designs washable. All you need are some plain t-shirts or even cheap tote bags and a set of fabric pens or paints. Consider the "childrens" pens/paints - they do the same jobs as the expensive stuff. Experiment and see if it's something you want to do more of and, if it is, upgrade your supplies as you think is necessary. (y)
 
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I didn't watch the video, incase this was not mentioned:

If you do want to make cheap stencils, Freezer Paper is very useful. Iron the Freezer Paper shapes/stencils to the fabric as that will work as a "resist". The paint won't stick to wherever the freezer paper had been ironed to.

Put some brown paper bags or cardboard inside the clothing item to keep the paints from bleeding to the back or front while it dries.

Here's some ideas: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=freezer+paper+stencils&atb=v189-1&ia=web
 

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