written by marieann

I made this stencil for a girl in a personal swap. It’s on an American Apparel t-shirt, which made the stencilling very stressful since I would be wasting a shirt worth more than $2. I had to do some handpainting around the buttons due to a boo boo but you can’t tell unless you look at the original stencil. This is perfect for your gaming geek friends.

There are stenciling tutorials (that make it easy, here and here.

Click to download/print full pattern:

written by marieann

I also made this stencil for my friend for the holidays. She loves shooting stars and I wanted to try my hand at a multi-colored stencil. I added the dots afterwards by dipping the end of my paintbrush in paint. Perfect dots every time!

There are stenciling tutorials (that make it easy, here and here.

Click to download/print full pattern.

written by marieann

I think this shirt is adorable! Give it to a friend to tell her how much you love her, in a funny way.

There are stenciling tutorials (that make it easy, here and here.

Click to download/print full pattern.

written by marieann

Caro and I went to the Tegan and Sara concert and Northern State was the opening band. This is the name of their new album and they were wearing t-shirts to advertise. We thought that it was a really amusing phrase so we made our own.

There are stenciling tutorials (that make it easy, here and here.

Click on the image to view/download the large image. Just print on regular paper to make the stencil.

written by threadslinger

Front:

Back:

Miss Marie was kind enough to let me borrow her book, 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim, and Tie Your T-Shirt into Something Special by Faith Blakeney, and so I made this shirt from the book. It was really easy to do (no sewing required, just some scissors), and a good way to re-design a plain t-shirt. I also did a stencil on the front of the shirt (plenty of excellent tuts on this site about stenciling, check one out here) to make it a bit more exciting.

Materials Needed:

T-shirt
Scissors

Directions

1. Cut along the bottom edge of the shirt so that it is rounded out at the edges (in the book this is called a hipster style)
2. Cut out the neck of the t-shirt starting about 1 inch from where the sleeve begins to make a scoop neck.
3. Cut out a square out of the back of the shirt starting just below your shoulder blades.
4. With square you cut out of the t-shirt cut into swirl starting on the edge and working your way into the middle of the shirt. It will end up as a long t-shirt string.
5. Cut 4 slits on the sides of the cut out square on the back of the shirt. Take the t-shirt string and thread through holes on the sides of shirt, tie at the bottom.

written by marieann

I made this stencil from a photograph of one of my favorite spots in Honolulu. This hula girl was on the construction signs across from my work and I loved seeing her every day. See my previous posts, here, for general stenciling tips and here for bridge building instructions. She’s got a very detailed skirt but she’s really an easier stencil than most because she’s just one solid cutout.

Click on the pattern to view/print the full size stencil:

written by marieann

My boyfriend treated me to orchestra seats (center, fourth row) for the Mary Poppins musical on Broadway for Valentines’ Day. It was fantastic. I cried and laughed and really had a great time. He offered to buy me a shirt but they were so pricey. And not as cool as I could make. So, after some craftster inspiration, I made my own.

Materials
Acrylic paint
Fabric medium
T-shirt to paint on

Tools
Xacto knife
Packaging tape
Printer
Stencil brush (that is, the kind with very short bristles, shaped like a circle; it is made for this very purpose)
Very thin brush

Instructions/Tips for Stenciling:
1. These are the stencil patterns. Print them on regular paper. (Click to view the large size)

2. Put one layer of packaging tape over the entire design. This is so that the paper doesn’t tear and so that you can reuse the stencil without tearing. Some people stencil in different ways but this is my favorite way (that’s why I’m giving it as my tip, hehe).
3. Cut out the design (leaving bridges in the letters, as explained in this post). I find that its easiest to cut out small things by making very tiny straight lines. Don’t try to curve the Xacto blade as it doesn’t turn out very accurate or smooth. But if you just make a small straight cut every chance you have to do so, it’s easier.
4. Tape the stencil to the shirt. I don’t use sticky adhesive spray but that is because I do dry brush stenciling. I put a rolled up piece of tape under the island still attached between her body and outstretched carpet bag holding hand to be sure that piece also stayed flat.
5. Mix one half paint with one half fabric medium. Dip the brush lightly into the paint. THEN, and this is CRITICAL, stamp out the brush on something else until there is barely any paint at all left on the brush.

See my paint holder on the upper right, and on the lower left, my paint dobber? Seriously, dob nearly all the paint off, this is why it is called a dry brushing technique.

6. Stamp onto the shirt. Because you barely have any paint on your brush, you’ll have to dip it back into the paint multiple times. But this is the way that you ensure you don’t spill outside the stencil.

7. Do that everywhere. You’ll probably dip and stamp out at least 10 to 15 times to paint everything. Leave the stencil stuck to the shirt for about five minutes to let the paint set up a little bit more before you remove the stencil.

8. Use your small paint brush to fill in any bridges or to smooth any rough edges.

9. This final tip is from other people and I have decided to start trying it. After the shirt is completely dry, layer a towel on top of the design and iron it. This will ensure that the paint stays attached and vibrant longer. I don’t usually have that problem with shirts unless they’ve been washed dozens of times but it’s definitely worth the extra effort.