My kids love wearable art. Making it is fun and telling everyone they made it themselves is even better! This DIY t shirt printing method is especially do-able because it doesn’t require any specialty fabric paints or markers, just plain old crayons.
Using sandpaper to print your own t shirt….
Did you guys know it’s possible to heat set plain old crayons to be permanent on cotton fabric? You can! It’s easy and uses up old crayons instead of investing in more supplies that you only use for one project! Grab an old shirt and get ready for DIY t shirt printing..
While you could color straight on to the fabric we’re going to color on sandpaper and then transfer that image to the fabric for this DIY t shirt printing process. If you have ever watched a child try to color on fabric I will tell you it’s not easy. Fabric is stretchy and squishy. Unless you stretch it it’s almost impossible for a little one to color back and forth without the fabric wadding up in a really frustrating way.
Sandpaper doesn’t do that. The scratchy texture adds a nice sensory element to coloring and a textural element to the final print. We used a fine grade of sandpaper. The rougher the sandpaper the more texture will show in the final print. Either will work; use what you have!
Choosing a successful design for your DIY t shirt printing design…
Printing an image reverses it, like a mirror image. This can be a tough concept for kids to get. I discourage words or letters for that reason. (Although my kids were certain they could write their words in mirror image that doesn’t seem like the best idea for new writers!)
Sandpaper is not a precise art. It’s rough which doesn’t allow for sharp, clear lines. (That’s why this is a great project for using up old crayons. Save the new box for another day!)
Choosing a subject that’s large, graphic, and easy will allow for success!
Adding color to your DIY t shirt printing process…
Lay that color down heavy! I like to think of this as a bit of exercise for little fingers. Crayon shouldn’t be fine lines but big, heavy blocks of color. You’re trying to deposit the crayon wax onto the sandpaper, lots of it. All of our Crayola crayons worked for this. These Metallic FX crayons were especially soft and easy to deposit on the sandpaper. But again, use what you have.
We cut our images out when they were done being colored. There were lots of little crayon “bits” floating around. Cutting them out avoided ironing those specks onto our t-shirts.
Print your own t shirt….
Now to transfer the image from sandpaper to t shirt. Turn your t-shirt inside out. Place a piece of cardboard inside the t-shirt and preheat your iron to high.
You want to place your colored sandpaper inside the t-shirt (which is inside out,) crayon side touching the front of the t-shirt. This means your iron will be ironing the wrong side of the t-shirt and directly under that will be the colored sandpaper. Make sense?
Updated: I’ve had some questions on this part! Make sure the crayoned sandpaper is touching the front of the shirt when it is ironed. Where it is touching is where the design will be!
Now cover all those layers with a layer of parchment paper to protect your iron. We ironed all of our individual pieces at once but our designs didn’t need to be too precise. You could do it one piece at a time.
Apply iron moving it very slowly with a little pressure. Feel free to peek and make sure you’re happy with the amount of color transfer before peeling your layers apart.
Turn t-shirt right side out and iron again; still protecting your iron with a layer of parchment paper. Keep your iron on high heat to ensure you’re heat setting your fabric printing.
Setting your DIY t shirt printing project…
One more step to fully heat set your craton fabric printing; the dryer. Throw your t-shirt into the dryer on high heat for a half hour or so. Alone. Do it with just your printed t-shirt just in case any waxy pigment is still coming off!
I also washed and dried this tee by itself the first time. I couldn’t tell that any crayons-y wax came off at all- just being safe!
Wear and enjoy…
This would be super fun and easy to do with a group for a birthday party or Scouts. You could print your own t shirt, pillowcases, bandanas, anything cotton! I’d love to know how your hand printed t shirts turns out!
If you love the sensory elements of this sandpaper printmaking project but don’t have fabric available check out this post on how to do a similar monoprint on paper!
Can you add more than one shirt that has been printed on in the dryer or will they bleed together? Thinking of doing this with a group.
I did two at once and they did not bleed. I did iron them really hot and long before hand. I think any excess wax comes off at that point! let me know hw it goes! This would be a good cheap-ish project for a group!
Sounds like a great project for my pre-k-ers.. question.. Is there a type of sandpaper that is good to use or does it not matter? Thanks so much.
The example in the pic was done on super fine sandpaper. It doesn’t have much graininess at all. It works with any type of sandpaper it will just have more or less texture based on what you choose. They make great prints on paper as well!
So, your crayon will be coming off of the sandpaper onto the back of the shirt’s front side, since it is inside out. Thus, the wax will be laid down inside the shirt and seep through to show on the front when you turn it back right to wear. Am I correct? Sounds like a fabulous project to do with my 7 year old grandson who loves craft projects. 🙂
SO you want the crayon to be in contact with the front of the shirt. The you want to iron the backside of the shirt. You’re transferring color to the front of the shirt but just ironing the backside so the heat transfers through. The crayon will not be dark enough to show through the inside of the shirt! You can do this same process on paper too! Have fun and let me know if you have any more questions!
No, as I read it, the crayon gets laid down on the FRONT side of the shirt. You iron the wrong side of the FRONT of the shirt while it’s turned inside-out. Imagine placing the designs, crayon side down, on the FRONT of the shirt where you want them to be, and then turning the shirt inside-out! The sandpaper would now be on the inside, with the crayon touching the FRONT of the shirt. You iron on the wrong side of the FRONT of the shirt. Of course you can’t really lay the sandpaper on it before turning it inside out, so you have to turn it inside out first, then place your sandpaper inside the inside-out shirt, with crayon touching the FRONT, if you want the design on the FRONT! Hope that helps. It’s more confusing to say than it is when you do it!
I am dizzy reading this but you are spot on! It does get so confusing to explain but is pretty simple if you just think about putting the crayon so it touched the front of the shirt! Judy- your explanation is perfect!
NO, read the instruction again. The transfer will be going directly onto the front outside of the shirt, but to do that indirectly the shirt is turned inside out.
Sandpaper and crayon should be touching the front of the shirt- where you want the image. To iron it the shirt will be inside out. You got it!! -jodi
Okay, so let’s say the shirt is already inside out. And the place that would be the front would be face up or face down on the table? And So would you be ironing on the back of the sandpaper or on the front of the sand paper through the tshirt with the crayon side face up on the inside out t shirt? Pictures sure would help out with this wordy confusion, lol. But I guess I can just try both and figure out what works.
CaSandra,
There is probably more than one way to do it. We ironed on the back side of the fabric on the front of the shirt. Then under the fabric would be the sandpaper. So iron, shirt, sandpaper; with the colored side of the sandpaper touching where you want the image to be on the front of the shirt! Does that makes sense?
I’m curious, how does the picture hold up over time? With several washings does it get duller? And do I have to worry about the wax getting onto other clothes after the initial wash?
Hi Mary, I washed and dried the printed shirts separately the first time. After that I have just thrown them in with other kids clothes. They haven’t left wax on anything. The image has dulled slightly after 7-8 washes but not significantly. I’m still happy with how the image looks!! Let me know how it goes for you!!
What if you don’t have a drier, any suggestions on alternatives to this step? Thanks.
You could try just setting it with a super hot iron and then letting it air dry. I turned my iron on the highest heat and really gave it some pressure and my image stayed great. I can’t imagine that the drier has more heat than the iron I used. You could always try it on a old rag or shirt! Let me know how it works!!
You might be able to use a blow dryer or a heater If you don’t have a drier!!
Could you use oil pastels or would that be too greasy? This is an awesome idea! We may have to try it with our national art honor society!!
I would guess they would be too greasy. If you try it let me know how it goes!!
Since you’re using high heat on your iron, is it necessary that your shirt is 100 percent cotton?
The t-shirt we used was 100% cotton. I’m thinking it would most likely work on a mixed material as well though. Let me know if you try it!
How did you get the design onto the sandpaper so you can color it in? I am confused about that one.
Hi Wendy,
We just colored right on the sandpaper. It was a free hand design so there wasn’t any transferring of a pattern or anything! Just color away!!
What a beautiful way to transfer images. This is a great project. Thanks for sharing, I will most definitely be making prints on a t-shirt.
-Jacqueline
Thanks Jacqueline! Let me know how it goes!
Thanks so much for sharing this easy, low-cost and fun project to do for young kids and the kids-at-heart. We made this today as our co-op group activity and the kids as well as the moms had fun! Would love to post a pic here but dnt know how. There were about 10 or so kids 🙂 thanks again!
Cheryl- yay!! Thanks so much for letting me know! I cannot figure out how you can post a pic to comments but you can always email me @ [email protected]. I LOVE seeing how projects go for others!!
I just wanted to commend you on such a unique idea! I have kids, and I have Pinterest….so I feel like I’ve seen nearly ALL the great projects out there, and yours is so very unique! Thanks for sharing! Your creativity shows- keep it coming! 🙂 By the way, (and not to be rude to the ones confused) but grammatically, you wrote the instructions perfectly. Self proclaimed grammar nerd. We just have to put a word in… 🙂
Hi Erica~ Thank you! Yes, it does sometimes seem like there is nothing new under the sun. So “unique” is just about the best compliment there is! I’m so glad the instructions made sense to you. I am NOT a grammar nerd so I’m glad to know it all adds up! Enjoy!
Correction on my misspelled name here! Lol
Does the freshly colored shirt leave any wax on the inside of the dryer that needs to be cleaned out afterward?
HI Alice,
I dried our shirts alone for the first time for that very reason. We didn’t have wax come off one the shirts or on the dryer. I hope you have fun with it!
Are/can these directions be made printer friendly?
I would love to try this with my 4th graders!
Fun project!
Hi JEssica,
WHile these directions aren’t available as a PDF you could always choose the “print page” option on your printer.
Do you think this project would work on a shirt that wasn’t white? As long as the color is one that would show up normally? (ie white crayons on a black shirt, blue crayon on a yellow shirt, etc.)
As long as the crayon was darker than the shirt I think it would show up. The more contrast there is the more it will show up!
Will oil pastels work for this project as well?
I’ve never tried it. I would guess they would be greasier than crayons and would not work as well but it’s worth a try!