Thursday, June 10, 2010

Chalk Board T-shirt.

Remember the fad a few years ago with shirts that had velcro strips on them that you could attach velcro letters to so that you could personalize your shirt? I remembered it and was thinking my nieces would enjoy those shirts. Then I remembered how just about everyone lost the letters and how the velcro started looking a little manky after a few wears and washes. So I put that on the shelf and started thinking of different ways of making shirts that can be personalized and re-personalized. I came up with a shirt that you could write on, then erase and write on it again. I used a plain ole cotton t-shirt (I actually bought it at the Dollar Tree) a foam brush, a piece of cardboard that fits inside the shirt, blue painters tape and some chalk board paint from the craft store. I dunno if the paint in the hardware section is the same as the paint in crafts but the one I got said it would work on most porous surfaces.

Anywhoodles to get started you need to wash your t-shirt on a regular cycle then dry it. Next you'll want to put the cardboard inside the shirt and tape out a rectangle on the front of the shirt with the painters tape. I eye balled it but you can measure if you want. Make sure the tape is pressed down really well also because if it isn't the paint will bleed under it and you won't have clear lines. You can see in the pic that I had a spot where that happened. Now you just need to paint the chalkboard on evenly over the rectangle. Let it dry then do a second even coat and let that dry for 24 hours. Now get a piece of chalk and go over the whole rectangle covering it with chalk and then wash the shirt again on your gentlest cycle. After that you can write any message you want on the shirt. I wrote an ode to my favorite blog for this picture.

2 comments:

  1. You could cover-up any areas that bleed under the tape by drawing a frame around the chalkboard area with fabric paints... There are lots of them that come in bottles specifically designed for direct to fabric doodling. It would be a nice finishing touch for the chalkboard area.

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  2. Thanks for the idea Andi. I had planned on getting some lace trim I saw at my favorite Dollar Tree but painting a frame would be easier and faster. :D

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