Watermelon is one of those things that just screams summer. It’s one of my greatest memories of summers growing up. In fact growing up I had a sponge painted watermelon shirt just like this one that my mom made for me. The 90’s are coming back, so why not bring back painting with sponges?
So the other day I decided to bring back the 90’s and make my daughter a watermelon shirt using sponges. If you add penny loafers, dorkier pants, geeky glasses and 5″ tall bangs, this picture could have been me 25 years ago. (BTW…. OUCH! It literally hurt today when I was doing the math to figure out that I’m old enough to say it was 25 years ago.)
A lot of things from the 80’s and 90’s are coming back in style so why not sponge painting? OK well everyone that had a sponge painted bedroom probably has good reasons why they don’t want to bring it back. But I remember a crate full of differently shaped sponges that my mom used for various crafts to paint with. There was a teddy bear shape, a circle to make beach balls, flowers, cars and then there was the watermelon.
Making a watermelon print shirt using sponge painting is easy. Really easy.
The great thing is that this is a craft that even a child can do. Let them make their own summer shirts.
Here’s the tutorial for you: How To Make Watermelon Print Shirts.
You’ll need a white shirt, the cheapest sponges you can buy, wax paper or newspaper, paintbrushes and red, green, black and white paint.
First lay out the shirt flat on a surface. Place newspaper or wax paper inside the shirt to keep the paint from leaking through to the other side of the shirt.
You can use fabric paint. But… I’m cheap. I don’t like having to pay for different paints so I just use craft paint. I do it all the time and it always holds up. If you want to use craft paint but don’t trust it by itself than you can actually buy a textile medium paint (look in the craft paint section). Mix the textile medium paint in with the craft paint and it transforms it to fabric paint.
Cut the sponges into watermelon shapes. I could only find sponges with an abrasive scrubbing side. If that’s all you can find than they will work but you only want to use the actual sponge side.
Now paint your sponges. Red goes on the tip, then add white in the middle mixing it some with the red and finally add a green stripe at the bottom. This is easy. Don’t over think it.
You don’t want too much paint. It should not have globs of visible paint on the surface of the sponge.
Place the sponge on the shirt and press down gently and quickly. If you hold it down for too long the paint will spread on the shirt and you’ll have leaking watermelons.
If you pull the sponge up and it didn’t leave enough paint, simply reposition it and do it again in the same spot.
Keep printing all over the shirt, including on the sleeves. Don’t forget to slide something inside the sleeves first to keep the paint from seeping through onto the other side.
It’s already looking cute right? But you forgot one of the things that watermelons are famous for! Seeds!
Using the wooden end of the paintbrush, add watermelon seed dots to the watermelon prints as shown. Mine were kinda haphazard and clumsy feeling but it’s just a small detail, they do not have to be perfect.
Then you should have the perfect watermelon print that you can use on bags, napkins, watermelon party decor, t-shirts and so much more!
Don’t forget to sip Watermelon Lemonade while you make your new t-shirts!
If you love this idea please pin it!
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