DIY Watercolored T-shirt Tutorial

Update: This t-shirt is now available as a make-it-now project in Cricut Craft Space. Head over and make it yourself.

I absolutely love creating for my daughter, but when she lights up after seeing the project, I get giddy! This DIY Watercolored T-shirt project is probably the most she’s ever loved something I’ve made for her. Would you believe me if I told you that she’s worn it every day since?! BECAUSE SHE HAS!!!

So when Cricut asked me to create something using their soon to be released “Trendy T-shirts” cartridge I got so excited. The images on it are freakin darling!! Plus, they have new fonts that just released, and I used the “Seaside” font on the lettering for the design. I’m love with it plus all the other new fonts.

So I picked out the fun unicorn image from the Trendy T-shirts cartridge and started with just a black iron on image. I put it on the shirt and loved it exactly how it was….but I knew that it needed a little bit of color.

I wasn’t sure where to go from there, but with how popular watercolor has been lately, I had the idea to try a watercolor technique for the shirt. 

OH MY GOSH I LOVE IT. I can’t wait to make a ton more shirts using the same technique because not only is is so simple, but I love the fact that you can customize and make the shirt completely your own. Nobody else will ever have one exactly like yours.

So back to the beginning of the shirt…..cut your image out of iron on vinyl MAKING SURE TO CUT IT IN MIRROR IMAGE. Then weed all the excess vinyl off of the plastic layer. Then place the image where you want it on your shirt and iron it on according to the instructions on your vinyl package.

Once fully adhered to the shirt, remove the plastic layer, flip the shirt over and iron a bunch more to make sure the vinyl is fully attached! Then let the shirt cool completely.

So for the water color technique we just used a multi-surface craft paint by Martha Stewart and watered it down to a liquid. I put a SMALL dab of paint on a paper plate and then poured some water over the top and mixed it in until fully mixed together. 

Because the paint is a very thin liquid now, you need to put a piece of cardboard in between the layers of the shirt before starting. This will keep the paint from “bleeding” onto the back of your shirt. Also, make sure to paint a little bit away from your already placed vinyl because the liquid will spread a bit once placed on the cotton.

Once you are done painting with all the colors, let the paint dry completely before removing the cardboard from the shirt.

For washing, I would suggest washing according to the shirt instructions and then laying flat to dry. If you need to iron, do it inside out with a cloth covering the vinyl/paint area to prevent any color bleeding from the heat!

What design would you watercolor on your shirt?

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