DIY: Graphic Tees without Iron on Transfers

It seems like it has become a yearly tradition for me to make one of these DIY graphic tee tutorials. This is a slightly different one from what I did last year which remains as my most popular post. You can check it out over here. This one is slightly more tedious but you open up your options to make more intricate designs. 
Cute But Psycho Tee:

Materials:

• Thin brush
• Fabric paint
• Tank top
• Cute but psycho printout: http://www.tinylinks.co/4G63

Instructions:

1. Place the printout under your shirt. Mine was pretty sheer so the printout showed right through quite easily. If you are having trouble, you could use a light board underneath. If you don't have one, use a tablet with the screen brightness turned up. 
2. Using the thin brush and fabric paint, carefully outline the words. 
3. Let the paint dry for at least 24 hours. Iron on the back to set the paint. 

Brandy Melville Good Good Good Vibes Halter:

Materials:

• Thin brush
• Fabric paint
• Halter top
• Good good good vibes printout: http://www.tinylinks.co/4G3V

Instructions:

The easiest and fastest way to do this DIY would be to use an iron on transfer paper but it was a total fail for me so I simply outlined it like in the previous one. 

If you are using iron on transfer paper, remember to read the instructions of your paper. Typically, you would need to flip the image so that it looks mirrored before printing. Cut away as much excess as you can to reduce the amount of iron on paper being transferred. Go over the paper with an iron using the heat setting as recommended by your transfer paper. 

I think I heated mine way too low so the paper did not stick fully. Some parts stuck and I managed to peel off the backing paper at those portions but it mostly did not stick well and I had trouble peeling the backing paper off. Hence, the old fashioned method.

Embroidered Good Vibes Halter:

Materials:

• Sewing materials
• Halter top
• Pencil
• Good vibes printout: http://www.tinylinks.co/4G4i

Instructions: 

1. It is a good idea to try on your shirt to determine where you would like the embroidery to go on. Mark out the general position.
2. Slide the printout under your shirt like in the first tutorial and outline the design with a pencil.
3. Once you've got your design outlined, take a needle and some thread and back stitch through the design. You can consider going over each stitch two or three times to make it thicker but I only did one for the entire outline. 

In case you are totally clueless on how to sew, you can watch my video for a better illustration on how I did it. But basically, knot your thread before threading it through the back of your shirt at the starting point. Thread your needle through a point slightly ahead to form the first stitch. Now that your needle is back on the under side of your shirt, you can start the back stitching process. Thread your needle one step forward again from the under side to the top side, then bring your needle back under by going through the previous hole. Go back up from the under side in the next step forward and back down using the same process. Finish your entire stitching process with a double knot. 

xoxo