DIY: Graphic Tee

I did another one! This time for myself. I bought a Tshirt from Forever 21 again (only RM19) and got out my sharpies. It hardly needs explanation but a step-by-step follows nonetheless:

Le T-shirt and le markers de fabrique.

With Tshirts that are too opaque to trace on, start with a practice draft. Place it on the shirt and position it until satisfied.

A close-up for good measure. 

I usually do a light outline first before going over it again. 

Tip: buy a t-shirt with tight knits rather than loose knits. The softer and stretchier the Tee the more bleed and the more difficult to get crisp lines on.

The finished product: A geeky tee for the social scientist is all of us. I added a box around the words. You may notice that its also slightly off-centred. damn.

Tip: Don't draw it off-centre!!!! Also, try to make sure the pattern is smaller than your chest area so that it's visible at all times.

DIY: Fabric Marker Gifts

Over Christmas I did a few of these personalised T-shirts with Sharpie fabric markers and they turned out great! So easy to do and perfect for when you need something personalised but haven't had time to shop. Most of these only take about 20 minutes to do and that's with my non-existent drawing skills.

This was for a friend of mine who is getting married soon! The plain cotton tote is from MUJI and I can't remember exactly but I think it only cost about RM4 on average depending on the size. The fabric Sharpies you can get from almost any stationery or craft store. I bought mine from Art Friend and Popular Bookstore. They come in a set of 4 colours and cost about RM17 a set.

You can freehand it or draw (with a regular sharpie) on a piece of paper first. Some T-shirts are too thick for the paper to show through so you'll have to freehand and hope it all turns out OK.

                             

Place the piece of paper and something thick inside the bag and trace. The marker does seep through sometimes so the backing is a must. Lefties will know why I'm tracing upside down.

It's probably best to press the design with a hot iron to "seal" in the ink but there's no indication on the package that you have to.

I don't know how to match colours without making things look tacky so I almost always go with black. I like these markers because the tip is brush like and very fine so its possible to do very detailed drawings like this cartoon ball-and-chain.