Graphic Tee

There are a lot of t-shirts out there with kinda cool grungy graphic designs on them. The problem is they are too tight and have these teeny sleeves which don't look that attractive on those of us that aren't teenagers. I had bought a t-shirt from Eddie Bauer and thought I'd jazz it up by creating my own iron-on graphic design.


I used the Print Shop program and some free swirly looking digital scrapbooking elements that I had collected to make the design. The circles were some samples of fabric that I liked on some fabric websites. I copied the fabric image onto my design and cropped them into circle shapes. Then I printed the design onto iron on paper sheets. (You can purchase these at most office supply stores.) Remember if you have words on your design to check the command to reverse the design before you print.


I cut the design out close to the edges. Then with a hot iron with no steam I ironed the design, pressing hard and being careful not to move it. I ironed it for several minutes, then let it cool for about a minute before removing the paper.


Here is the end result. This is closer to the true color - the rest of the pictures I took at night and the color is off.


I used mostly dark images in this design because the shirt was dark and I knew it would mute the colors. The one part I don't like is on the left - it was a lighter color swirl and you can't see it at all, it just looks like a muddy mess. I'll know better next time. I'd like to try something similar on a lighter color shirt because I know the results will be better.