How to Design a T-Shirt with Sand Paper and Crayons

Many people, both children and adults love designing their own shirts. However, fabric paint is often expensive and when children are involved it can be quite messy to use. You can simplify the process and save money at the same time by using the following method. This project involves using inexpensive items that are usually readily available in many homes to make customized designs on t-shirts.

While this project is fun for children to participate in, adult supervision is recommended because use of an iron is required to complete the project.

Begin this project by obtaining a t-shirt that you wish to add a design to; I suggest you use a white shirt but other light color shirts will work also if the design colors are bold enough. You will also need: an iron, a sheet of aluminum foil, sandpaper, crayons and an ironing board or other surface that is safe to iron on.

You can start by preparing your t-shirt for the transfer of the design. Lay the t-shirt out on your ironing board and smooth out any wrinkles. This is important as wrinkles will interfere with the design; iron the shirt beforehand to remove any wrinkles if necessary.

Once the shirt is wrinkle free place a piece of aluminum foil inside the shirt, between the front and the back layers of cloth. Make sure that the piece of aluminum foil is at least slightly larger than the design that you plan to use. The foil will prevent the crayon wax from bleeding through the front layer onto the back layer. I once forgot this step and ruined the t-shirt I was using because the wax bled through and effectively glued the front and back layer together. After you have placed the aluminum foil smooth out any wrinkles that you created on the shirt.

After you have prepared the t-shirt simply draw a design with brightly colored crayons onto the rough side of the sandpaper. Make sure to press down hard on the crayons when drawing your design to ensure a thick layer of wax on the sandpaper.

Now that you have made the design, place the sandpaper rough side down on the part of the t-shirt where you would like the design to be located. Heat your iron to its warm setting and prepare to press part of the design at a time. Press small portions of the design, one a time, for ten to fifteen seconds until you have transferred the entire design. Lift off the sandpaper and allow the shirt to cool; this will set the design.

It is safe to wash the shirt in a washing machine on a cold setting, but I have found that hand-washing the shirt in cold water makes the design last longer. After washing always hang the shirts to dry. If you make the mistake of drying one in your clothes dryer you will ruin your shirt and most likely ruin the other clothes in your dryer as well.

This project allows for a lot of variation and can keep many kids occupied at one time making their own custom shirts. This design method is not limited to t-shirts it is also suitable for bandanas, tank tops, pants, etc.