Mosaic Tee Tutorial

So we did it again. Munchkin kept staring at these tees from Boden catalog...finally making me make her tee inspired by the idea. "Inspired" is the keyword, because the Boden shirts are made with sequins, however, I don't think the munchkin is ready for sequins yet. She doesn't put everything in mouth now...but I wouldn't bet on that yet. So I used Tulip puffy paints to get a similar effect, sans sequins. These were actually pretty easy to make and I'm happy with the way it turned out. More importantly, munchkin seems to be pleased!

Supplies:
Tshirt in desired size ( washed and dried)  - 1
Tulip puffy fabric paints - I bought a set with 6 colors but you can also buy individual colors
A sheet of sturdy paper - I used camera advertising inserts from newspaper

Construction:

Note: I have included the instructions on the color bottle as part of the tutorial, but I would still urge you to read the instruction on your color bottle carefully and following them. The use instructions may change later and they are the final word on how they should be used. So when in doubt follow whatever the label says even if its different from what I did.

1. Place the Tshirt on a flat surface. Insert the paper between front and back of the Tshirt. This will prevent the colors from seeping to the back of the Tee.

2. Draw the desired shape with a pencil.

3. Shake the color bottle before using. Now start from the edge/corner of the shape and use the bottle nozzle to make tiny brushstrokes perpendicular to the edge. Use the nozzle to spread out color a bit. To get a  transitioning effect between colors after 4 strokes, stop spreading the color and leave the strokes more linear. See the yellow color above.

4. Now using the next color spread the earlier color a bit, so it gets partly colored with both colors. Then again do 4 strokes of current color and 2-3 lines of current color. Use the next color to spread these lines. Keep going until you fill the shape outline. Now start the second layer, right below the first one. Repeat the colors in the same order as earlier. 

5. Keep going...

6. Until the whole shape is filled

7. Now the hardest part...let it dry for four hours.

8. Once the paint is dry to touch, use a steam iron on the highest setting. Hold the iron very close to the paint but not touching it.  The steam will make the paint pop. (The colors will also become little less brighter once they pop, so keep that in mind if you're going for some particular shade)


Let dry for 24 hours.


The mosaic shirt is ready.