Designing a t-shirt (or T-shirt) with your own design can be a creative and fun activity. What's more, you can make money with the designs you create. Whether you want to print your own design or use a professional printing service, you can still create your own t-shirt design at home.
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Method 1 of 5: Planning a T-shirt Design
Step 1. Think about what your design will represent
You might want to promote your cleaning company, or your rock band, or maybe your favorite sports team through your designs. It's also possible that you just want to wear a t-shirt that has an illustration you created yourself. What's important is that the design of your t-shirt will depend on the purpose for which you created the design.
- If you want to promote a particular company, band, sports team, or brand, you need to focus on logos. The Nike product logo, which is famous for its swoosh, is a very simple logo but a very effective design. You can highlight colors or mascots in creating designs aimed at promoting sports teams. As for the band, you can highlight the band image or other illustrations that represent the band's style or music.
- If you're making a t-shirt that features an illustration or image you've made yourself, focus on how the illustration will look great when printed on your t-shirt. Think about the originality of your illustration, as well as the play of color in your illustration to make the design interesting.
- You can try using a photo on your t-shirt design. Use your own photos, or photos from the internet that have public use rights. Apart from that, you can also buy stock photos to add to your photo collection.
Step 2. Choose a color scheme for your design
When designing a t-shirt, it is important that you pay attention to the level of color contrast that will be used. This means, you need to know that some colors will appear either lighter or darker when printed on colored T-shirts. Keep in mind that some colors appear more vivid on colored T-shirts, whether light or dark, when viewed on a computer, but when printed, the resulting colors are slightly different.
- When wearing a shirt with a bright color, avoid using pastel colors such as yellow, light blue, or bright pink. Although these colors can still be seen on your shirt, they can't be seen clearly when viewed from a distance. Especially if you are designing a t-shirt with a logo, make sure to use a contrasting color in your logo so that the logo on your t-shirt can be seen from a distance.
- If you decide to use pastel colors, outline in dark colors around the text or images in pastel colors to make them easier to read or see.
- Dark t-shirts look great with bright ink, like pastel colors. Be careful if you use dark colors on a shirt that is also dark in color such as dark blue (cardinal), maroon, or dark green. Even though on a computer review these colors look good, during the printing process the colors from your t-shirts can damage the printed colors, so the result is that the colors look duller or even brownish.
- If you use Adobe Illustrator to create your designs, the Global Colors setting can give you a lot of options with a variety of color schemes.
Step 3. Add dimensions to your image
Even though your design is now colored, without dimensions your design will look flat. To create depth (dimension) in certain parts of your design, add color to the bottom of your design so that your design seems to have a shadow. The presence of these shadows can define your design and also, of course, give dimension to your design.
- If you use graphics processing software with a large capacity for image manipulation, such as Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Gimp, Adobe Illustrator, or Paint Shop Pro, you can use a standard image and then make adjustments to the image until it is exactly what you want.
- If resizing is necessary, creating vector outlines in the Inkspace application can be an effective way to resize an image.
Step 4. Balance your design
This balancing includes combining all parts or visual elements so that they become a unified whole design. In addition, this balancing also depends on the composition of your design. Maybe your design has lots of small elements like stars, images of plants or animals, or it may have one big main element like a photo.
Think about how to make your design look cohesive so that all the visual parts or elements fit together properly. Keep in mind that a balanced design is much more eye-catching
Step 5. Position your design on the t-shirt
Maybe your design fits better in the center of the shirt, or on the top left of the shirt, or maybe across the main body of the shirt.
- If you are designing a t-shirt for a product brand or company, placing a simple design in the center of the shirt will be effective.
- You can also print a brand slogan (like Just Do It) or song lyrics on the back of the shirt.
Step 6. Finish your sample design
It is recommended to make a sketch of your designs first before printing them on your t-shirt. Try making a few different designs with different color combinations. Always pay attention to the use of dimension and color contrast in your designs, and make sure that the images in your designs are balanced and cohesive.
If you're in doubt about your design, ask your friends, family or coworkers for opinions on designs and color schemes that might work
Method 2 of 5: Creating a Digital Image of Your Design
Step 1. Use Adobe Photoshop to refine your design sketch
However, this method may not work well if the sketch you draw on paper is not clearly drawn. But if you have a clearly drawn sketch, follow the steps below:
- Scan your sketch to a computer, then edit the sketch with Adobe Photoshop.
- Erase rough sketch lines. You can play with the available filters, colors, brightness and contrast levels, color saturation levels, and other effects.
- Add lines, splash effects, or other decorations that can make your design look more dynamic and balanced.
- Ensure that the overall layout of the design is consistent while maintaining visual proportions, and use consistent styles and cohesive colors in your designs.
Step 2. Use computer software to create a design if your sketch on paper is not satisfactory
You can sketch a line with Adobe Photoshop.
If you have a drawing tablet connected to your computer, use Adobe Photoshop or a similar application and you can immediately draw and color your sketches on the tablet
Step 3. If you like, add text to your design
Choose a typeface that fits your overall design so it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the design. Make sure the typeface you use can keep the overall design balanced.
- Think about the typefaces used in famous logos or designs. Keep in mind that the typeface used must relate to the overall style of the brand or company being represented. Nike's slogan, Just Do It, for example, uses a simple but bold typeface, like its logo. On the other hand, the typefaces used to promote a sports team or garage rock band usually have a lot of added embellishments or a more elaborate style.
- Make sure the filters you use in your design also apply to the text. If you have multiple layers working on your design in Adobe Photoshop, drag your text layer below the photo effects layer so that the effect filter can be applied to the text.
- You can use a typeface that you can download for free from sites like defont.com. Apart from that, you can also download brush stroke patterns from sites like brusheezy.com.
- If needed, find out how to add typeface to your computer, illustration application, or Adobe Photoshop.
- If you feel challenged, you can create your own lettering or brush stroke designs.
Step 4. Create a prototype
The easiest way to make a prototype is to print out the design you've made then stick it on your t-shirt and iron it so that the design sticks. But if you want to test the quality of your design, it's a good idea to use a printing service to produce a professional prototype.
Step 5. Start producing a t-shirt with your design
For small-scale production, you can print your design on the t-shirt by ironing your design on the t-shirt.
If you want to produce t-shirts on a large scale, you can again use a printing service to print your designs on t-shirts
Method 3 of 5: Screen Printing Your Design
Step 1. Gather the materials you need for the screen printing process
The materials needed include:
- Plain T-shirt
- One 50-milliliter bottle of degreaser (can be purchased at craft and painting stores)
- 1 liter cold water
- One big brush
- 500 milliliters of liquid emulsion
- One small bottle of sensitizer liquid
- One bottle of screen printing paint
- One dip tray
- One squeegee (a tool commonly used to clean or level liquids on a flat surface, such as glass)
- One wooden stick
- Hair dryer
- Transparent paper (or transparent plastic binding)
- Screen printing
- You can buy screen printing at craft supply stores, or you can make your own by purchasing a mesh sheet (a sheet of netting generally made of wire, used in the screen printing process) and a canvas retaining frame. Spread the mesh sheet over the retaining frame and use a stapler to attach each corner of the sheet to the corner of the frame. For standard designs on brightly colored T-shirts, you can use sheets of mesh from 110 to 195 mesh. Meanwhile, for more complex designs with multiple colors, use mesh sheets with 156 to 230 mesh.
Step 2. Prepare screen printing
Mix the degreaser with cold water. Use a large brush to stir the mixture, then brush the mixture on the screen printing.
- Make sure you sweep the mixture on both sides of the screen printing. Plus, you don't have to rub too much of the mixture on both surfaces.
- Let the screen printing dry for a few moments.
Step 3. Pour 20 milliliters of water into the sensitizer bottle, then shake it for about a minute until the solution is well mixed
After that, mix the sensitizer solution with the emulsion solution.
- Add the sensitizer solution to the emulsion solution.
- Use a small wooden stick to stir the mixture thoroughly.
- After adding a sensitizer, the color of the emulsion solution will change, from blue to green. In addition, small bubbles will appear from the emulsion solution.
- Close the bottle of the emulsion solution and then store the bottle in a dark place for an hour. After an hour, check to see if the foam has disappeared.
- If after an hour you still see foam in the emulsion mixture, let the mixture sit for another hour until the foam is completely gone.
Step 4. Pour the emulsion mixture on the screen
Drop the emulsion mixture along the surface of the screen and use a squeegee to spread it over the entire surface.
- The emulsion mixture will seep on the screen, so make sure you smooth both sides of the screen.
- You can also use the dip tray to coat the screen with the emulsion mixture. Place the screen on a clean towel and then tilt the screen, facing you. Line the screen with a dipping tray and carefully pour the emulsion mixture onto the screen surface.
- Allow the emulsion mixture to dry. Keep the screen in a completely dark place for about twenty minutes. You can use a fan to speed up the drying process.
Step 5. Place the transparent paper that already has the design printed on the screen upside down (the part that is printed on the design is facing the screen)
Now, you are ready to burn your design image on the emulsion. Make sure you place a sheet of glass on top of the transparent paper so that the transparent paper is crushed and cannot move.
Step 6. Turn on a 500-watt light bulb to transfer the image from the transparent paper to the emulsion
Let this process last for about 15 minutes.
- The length of this process will depend on the light and the emulsion you are using.
- Usually there are specific instructions regarding the light needed in the image transfer process on the emulsion package you buy.
Step 7. Clean the screen after the transfer process is complete
Leave the screen submerged in water for about two minutes, then remove any remaining emulsion using water from a hose or shower.
Step 8. Glue the waterproof adhesive tape around the inside of the screen
Later, the flat part of the screen will be placed facing the shirt, while the inner side (which has a frame on each side) will be used as a place for you to pour ink.
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Make sure that later no ink seeps or leaks through the gaps around the screen frame. Therefore, you need to stick waterproof adhesive tape around the screen frame to close the gaps.
Design Your Own T Shirt Step 8
Step 9. Lay your plain t-shirt on a flat surface
Make sure your shirt is not folded and there are no creases. After that, place the screen on top of your shirt, with the flat side facing the shirt. Position the screen so that later the design you create is printed on the part of the shirt you want.
- Insert a piece of cardboard into your t-shirt to keep it flat and free of wrinkles. In addition, by inserting cardboard, you can later easily move your t-shirt to a safe place to dry without worrying about the printed design being damaged due to the t-shirt being folded or wrinkled when moved.
- If possible, ask a friend to help hold the screen while you pour the ink.
Step 10. Pour a tablespoon of ink on the inside of the screen (the part with the frame on each side)
Use a squeegee to spread the ink over the entire surface of the screen.
- Because the mesh is quite thick, you need to be more careful in doing this step.
- Do not press too hard so that the ink does not seep and leak through the screen.
Step 11. Smooth the ink and once the entire screen is covered with ink, you are now ready to print your design on your t-shirt
- When using the squeegee, do so with both hands and form a 45° angle of inclination so that the pressure generated by your hands is evenly distributed. If possible, ask your friend to hold the screen so it doesn't move.
- Continue to spread the ink over the entire surface of the screen, especially the design.
Step 12. Use a hairdryer to dry the ink and focus the drying process on the design
Do this for a few minutes.
- If you are using multiple screens, make sure you have dried the ink on the first screen first before using another screen to add another design to your t-shirt with a different color.
- If you do this screen printing technique well and the drying process goes well, then your t-shirt will be safe when washed in a washing machine (the ink will not fade).
Step 13. Wash your screen after use
Use cold water when washing and scrub with a sponge to remove the ink. Dry the screen with aerated way.
Method 4 of 5: Stenciling Your Design
Step 1. Gather the materials needed to stencil your design
These materials include:
- A black-and-white print of your design. To make work easier, print your designs in black and white.
- A sheet of transparent paper or contact paper
- Hand-crafted special knife or exacto knife
- Plain T-shirt
- A piece of cardboard (make sure it's big enough to cover the front of the shirt you're going to use)
Step 2. Paste your printed design on the contact paper
Contact paper is a transparent paper commonly used as a book cover (often used as a sticker). Contact paper has two sides, one flat side with a smooth surface and one side with removable adhesive. Paste your design on the adhesive contact paper side so that your design is visible from the other side of the contact paper and make sure your design doesn't turn upside down when visible from that side.
You can also use transparent paper (plastic binding) instead of contact paper. Glue your design onto the transparent paper using adhesive tape
Step 3. Place the contact paper that has been pasted the printed design on a flat surface
Use a knife to cut out your design.
Follow the outline of the design to cut out the design. The part that is cut off will later become the part that will be inked
Step 4. Remove the contact paper from the paper with the printed design you previously pasted on the contact paper
Now, you have a sticker sheet with a printed design that will later become the inked part. Stick the sticker sheet on your t-shirt. Make sure that no part of the sticker is folded or wrinkled.
If you are using transparent paper, glue the transparent paper to your shirt using adhesive tape to prevent it from sliding around during the coloring process
Step 5. Insert the cardboard into the t-shirt
In addition to preventing the t-shirt from creasing, the paperboard can also prevent the ink from penetrating to the back of the t-shirt.
Step 6. Use a sponge to color the pattern on the shirt
Make sure that only blank patterns (design patterns) are colored.
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Let the ink dry. To see if the ink has dried properly, try gently touching the area where the ink was applied. If there are ink stains on your finger, it means that the ink has not dried completely.
Design Your Own T Shirt Step 23
Step 7. Remove the contact paper sticker from your t-shirt once the ink dries
Now the design stencil process is complete and you can use your t-shirt.
You can also use the stencil to create designs on other T-shirts
Method 5 of 5: Design Using Bleach
Step 1. Use bleach with care
Designing a t-shirt with bleach is easy and fun. In addition, this method also does not cost much. This method is suitable to be used, in particular, to make the design of the lettering on the t-shirt. But you need to remember that bleach is a toxic material so keep it out of reach of children.
- Avoid direct contact with bleach. Do not let bleach get in your eyes, clothing, or wounds.
- If you have sensitive skin, put on gloves before doing the bleaching process.
Step 2. Gather the materials needed to make a design with bleach
The materials needed include:
- Bleach (make sure it doesn't damage the fabric)
- A brush with synthetic bristles (you don't need to buy an expensive brush as it will only be used in the bleaching process)
- Glass or ceramic bowl
- White towels or washcloths
- White chalk
- A sheet of cardboard
- Dark cotton t-shirt
- In addition to using a dark colored shirt, you can also use a light colored shirt. However, you'll get better results if you wear a dark t-shirt.
Step 3. Lay your t-shirt on a flat surface
Insert the cardboard into your t-shirt so that there are no wrinkles on your t-shirt. In addition, the paperboard can also make it easier for you during the text design process and also prevent the bleach from penetrating to the back of your shirt.
Step 4. Use chalk to sketch your design on the surface of the shirt
The design could be your favorite words or phrases (like “Bazinga!” or “Reach for the Stars!”), the name of your favorite band, or the logo of the brand you're promoting.
You don't have to worry about chalk stains on your shirts because once the bleaching process is complete, you can wash your shirts and the chalk stains will be gone
Step 5. Attach the small clip to the cardboard
This is so that the paperboard does not come off or slide from the shirt during the bleaching process. Also fold the sides of the shirt that are not chalked.
Step 6. Pour the bleach into a glass or ceramic bowl
Use a towel to clean up any spilled bleach and make sure it doesn't get on the clothes you're wearing.
Step 7. Dip the brush in the bleach
Avoid spills from the brush by spreading the bristles against the rim of the bowl.
Step 8. Follow the outline of the design you made with chalk and apply bleach to the outline
To make it even, dip the brush back into the bleach every 5 centimeters. Because bleach absorbs into fabric quickly, you'll need to work on it quickly.
Step 9. When you're done, let the bleach react with the fabric for a few moments
Check your shirt. If there are still parts that don't fade evenly, fade them back
Step 10. Dry your t-shirt in the sun for at least an hour
The color of your design will vary, from dark red, orange, pink, even white, depending on the material of your clothing
Step 11. Rinse and wash the shirt by hand
When finished, hang the t-shirt to dry. You can now see your designs and admire them.
After the washing process, the chalk stains will disappear
Tips
- Keep in mind that digital printing is the easiest way to produce a t-shirt at a time. Screen printing, stenciling, and bleaching methods are better at home, especially if you only want to make a few T-shirts.
- If you have a digital image of your design, it will be easier to use a professional screen printing service to produce your t-shirt.
