We have a tradition in the Byrd house. Every year for Father’s day we make personalized t-shirts to wear that honor Mr. Byrd. What better gift for dad than to have all your kids parading their love for him on father’s day?
There’s been years that I’ve planned well in advance and have made amazing shirts and then there’s years like last year where I might have forgotten until the last minute. This year was different. I knew that I need to work on t-shirts but I was sick all week.
So the day before Father’s Day we made him comfy on the couch and turned on the World Cup and then ran outside to quickly make three t-shirts.
These shirts were so simple and the girls were able to do almost all of it themselves. That’s the thing they enjoyed the most. They were able to design it and make it with minimal help from a parent.
If you’re looking for a fun craft to do this summer, I highly recommend making shirts like these. It doesn’t have to be for father’s day, you can add any saying or phrase to them.
I might even make myself one that says “Jane Austin is my homegirl”. I’m sure Jane Austin would love that.
We started by placing the shirts on a trash bag so overspray from the paint wouldn’t get on the concrete.
Then we placed a sheet on self paper inside the shirt so that the paint would not bleed through to the other side. You don’t have to use shelf paper, it’s just what I had on hand. You can use wax paper or cardboard.
(That’s not a tattoo on her arm to match the unbrushed air style – we had just returned from a swim meet and they write their event numbers on their arms.)
Then we got to work.
We used Tulip Neon Fabric Spray Paint, fabric alphabet stamps by Scribbles, and a fabric ink pad which were all found at Hobby Lobby.
If you do this I suggest that you first show your kids the different effects you can achieve with these paints. If you spray close with the nozzle perpendicular to the fabric it leaves rings of paint. If you spray it at an angle to the fabric, it leaves a pretty even spray and if you press the nozzle down firm but slowly it gives a drippy paint effect. Both of my older girls like the circle ring effect that it left close up. I prefer the more even paint look but I wasn’t wearing the shirts so I just let them go for it.
My four year old did have trouble with the pump nozzle, it was a bit too hard for her to press down but the older two had no issues at all.
We painted the fronts and then immediately flipped them over to do the back of the shirt.
I found that the paint stayed damp but didn’t transfer off the shirt or smudge on the shirt. It was a definite perk to the spray fabric paint over traditional paint or tie dye. It was a quick technique and easy to handle immediately.
After their shirts were painted to fit their taste, we broke out the fabric stamps.
I had never used fabric stamps before and wow! I loved them!
They were so so simple and the fabric ink stayed soft rather than a thick paint texture.
I can’t wait to find a way to use these again soon but I will! Why did I wait so long to try them? Once again my 9 and 8 year old did this by themselves but the 4 year old had an issue pressing them down hard enough.
And then before we knew it, they were done!
We had to convince Ellie to write Ellie loves Dad rather than Ellie loves Rainbows but she’s 4 so we’ll give her a break.
We hid them in the garage overnight and then threw them in the dryer the next morning to heat set them. They were the easiest shirts we’ve made so far.
Seven years later and it’s still a tradition. We’ve done many things ranging from freezer paper stencils, printable fabric transfer, fabric patches, glow in the dark fabric paint, and yet this years was a real winner.
There we go – a great and easy gift for father’s day not to mention a great tradition.
