Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Add color and artwork
Fill a large saucepan with hot water and add you preferred fabric dye to the pan according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Stir the dye mixture and put on your gloves. Hold a t-shirt under hot running water and place the t-shirt into the saucepan.
Set the saucepan on your stove top burner and bring the dye mixture to a simmer. Stir the mixture for 30 minutes. Remove your shirt from the dye and rinse it under lukewarm water.
Turn the water to a cooler setting and continue to rinse the dye out of the shirt until the water runs clear. Dry your t-shirt in the dryer or air dry.
Wash your pan, gloves and spoon with equal parts chlorine bleach and water.
Add additional colors to the shirt through a process known as "tie dyeing." Open sheets of newspaper and lay them down on your kitchen table or floor. Place your t-shirt on top of the newspapers.
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Grip the center of the front of the t-shirt with your fingers and lift your fingers straight up from the shirt.
Tie a rubber band 1 inch down from your fingers and then wrap another rubber band around the material 1 inch down from the first rubber band. Wrap four additional rubber bands in this fashion.
Repeat Steps 7- 8 on the back side of the t-shirt. Wear your gloves. Combine a gallon of hot water with 1 cup of the soda ash in a bucket. Blend the mixture with a spoon. Set the t-shirt in the bucket and wait 30 minutes.
Prepare different colors of fabric dye according to the manufacturer's directions and pour each color into a separate squeeze bottle. Squeeze the shirt out and lay it on top of the newspapers.
Squeeze the dye from one bottle onto the top tip of the bunched material at the center of the t-shirt on the front side. Apply a different color of dye between the first rubber band and the second rubber band. Add more colors in this manner on both sides of the t-shirt.
Wait a full 24 hours and unwrap the rubber bands. Rinse the shirt out under cold running water for 15 minutes and place the shirt in your dryer or air dry.
Print images or words on your t-shirts using a screen-printing technique. Find an image online or in one of your image files. Alternately draw an image by hand and scan it into your computer.
Select the film or transparency setting on your printer and change your resolution settings to the highest option available. Print the image onto vellum paper. Rinse a silk screen and prepare the emulsifier solution according to the instructions on the back panel of the bottle.
Place all of your screen-printing equipment in a darkroom. Wait until the screen is completely dry then apply the emulsifier on both sides of the screen. Wait 35 minutes for the solution to dry.
Trim down the pieces of foam until they fit on the frame. Lay the screen over the pieces of foam rubber and position the printed vellum paper face-down on the screen. Tape the centered image down to the screen.
Set the glass on top of the image. Move the halide light 18 inches over the screen. Read the back panel of the emulsifier solution to figure out how long you should keep the light over the screen and follow these instructions.
Fill a spray bottle with hot water. Turn the halide light off. Lift the glass off of the screen and remove the printed image from the screen. Leave the screen in your darkroom. Spray the entire screen with water.
Position your image in front of a fan and let the fan blow over the image for 25 minutes. Clamp the image onto the press. Lay the shirt in the press and then set the screen on top of the shirt.
Squeeze ink horizontally along the edge of the screen by the clamps. Hold the squeegee down at a 45-degree angle. Slide the squeegee forward until the ink covers the screen.
Pull the screen up and lay the shirt in front of a heater. Blow the heat onto the shirt for 30 seconds.
Fringe cut
Cut your shirt to make fringe along the bottom and sides if you want to avoid sewing your t-shirt. Try the shirt on and decide how many inches you want to reduce from the width of the shirt with your tape measure.
Divide this measurement in half and make horizontal slits along the side seams of the t-shirt according to the length of the quotient. Space the slits 1 inch apart to create a series of thin fabric strips between the slits.
Cut down the side seams of the shirt to separate the fabric strips in two pieces. Tie the two pieces of each strip together in a double-knot.
Cut fringe slits up from the bottom of the hemline toward the center of the shirt.
Take in seams and change the cut
Turn your t-shirt inside out. Put the shirt on and pin along the side seams to mark the placement of your new seam lines. You can make the lines slightly curved or straight. If you want to bring the sleeves in, separate the shoulder seams with the seam ripper and fold the fabric along the shoulder seams where you would like it to sit.
Measure the length of the shirt to determine the desired placement of the hemline around the bottom of the t-shirt.
Insert a pin in the fabric to mark the position of your new hemline. Measure 2 inches down the side seam from this pin and draw a line in chalk around the bottom of the shirt from this point.
Fold the fabric along the bottom of the shirt over 1 inch and iron the fold line. Repeat. Stitch the along the fold line.
Machine-stitch the new side seams and shoulder seams. Cut away any extra fabric to reduce bulk along the seam lines.