Ilovethe holiday season. My children always want?t0 make handmade presents for everyone.?The past couple of years we have created?Christmas t-shirts for my younger children. My eldest created her t-shirts when she was in public school.? Later after they have grown up I plan to make a memory quilt of all the special shirts we have made?and collected from our travels.? When I taught in public school we used to?make Christmas Tree t-shirts for second graders, and I have?continued the tradition with my own children.
Materials:
- Acrylic Paint
- Paint Brush
- Water Container
- Choice of work surface (t-shirt, canvas, etc.)
- Modge Podge and or Fabric Medium (follow directions)
Step One:
Make sure you place a piece of cardboard inside your t-shirt, and?if it has long sleeves you can tie them together in the back. This also helps to keep the shirt from moving around while you work.? Make sure you flatten and smooth?out the t-shirt so that your work surface is free of wrinkles. Then you are ready to begin painting. I choose to paint the paint?onto the hand using a brush. That’s just to prevent extra messes and blobs of?paint on your work surface. ?I chose to work upside down and’started at the top of the tree. You can choose to do it either way. I? began at the top near the neckline, and worked my way down. Each row I made just slightly longer than the row above it. Continue this process until you reach your desired’size for?the tree.
Step Two:
I painted the star and?the tree trunk onto the t-shirt.? Before I stopped for the day I also drew the strands for the Christmas lights in a zigzag pattern going down the tree.? Just like if you have wrapped your lights around your Christmas tree.? Now wait overnight to give your t-shirt plenty of time to?dry.? The last thing you want to do is mix all your colors for the Christmas lights.
Step Three:
The next day I begin by pouring out my paint colors?in the pattern we planned to use for the lights.? I practiced with my five-year-old first so that she could understand the process of how we were going to paint the lights.? We made sure to wipe her thumb each time we changed colors.? This time I allowed her to just place her thumb in the paint.? When you are creating the lights you may need more of a blob of paint in order to see them.
Step Four:
If you did not use a fabric medium this is when you would paint your surface with Modge Podge.? If you choose to, but is not necessary you can?paint over any areas that needed extra paint.
