Art T-shirt

As I write this we’re in lockdown and the schools have been closed for weeks now so that means no school uniform – hooray!

In this activity we’re going to customise a plain t-shirt with your own design. You can draw anything you like. Amelie’s favourite this at the moment is cat faces so that’s what she chose. You could do a face, or an animal, or perhaps cover your t-shirt in lots of amazing patterns.

What you need to join in:

A plain t-shirt. It doesn’t have to be white, any pale colour will do.

Pencil

Piece of card

Permanent pens or fabric marker pens (Amelie used Sharpies)

What to do:

  • Place a piece of cardboard inside your t-shirt. This is to stop your drawing on the front going through to the back of the shirt.
  • Using a pencil, sketch out your design. You don’t have to put in all the detail at this stage, just the main shapes.
  • Now start to draw with the pens. You might want to draw a dark outline to your shapes and then fill them in. You can blend with the pens, apply the lightest colour first and then another colour on top.
  • When you’re done, maybe you’ll want to sign your work!

Amelie just decorated the front of the t-shirt, but you could do the back too if you wanted. Follow the guidelines on the packaging for your pens to see if you need to heat fix them and how to wash the t-shirt. A cool wash is probably be best. It might fade over time, but you can always draw back over it with your pens again.

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