Pumpkin Shirt

I have a friend who has the most adorable granddaughter.  I wanted to make her something unique for her Fall wardrobe, so I painted a Pumpkin Shirt for her.  I think she looks absolutely adorable in it.  I’ll show you how easy it was to make.

Pumpkin Shirt

I didn’t have the shades of fabric paints that I wanted to use, so I made my own.  It’s very easy to mix.

What you’ll need:

A pre-washed T-shirt.  (washed, rinsed & dried without fabric softener)

Acrylic paints in the colors of your choice (I used pumpkin orange, a medium dark brown and black)

Textile medium (this changes acrylic paint into fabric paint)

Paint Brushes in 2 sizes

Thin detail brush

Styrofoam plate for paints

Water & Paper Towels for clean up

T-shirt board or plastic wrap covered cardboard or plastic wrap covered cutting board.  (This is to keep the paint from going through the shirt to the back)

Pumpkin Shirt Supplies

On the Styrofoam plate, add your paints.  Then you’ll want to add the Textile Medium.  Follow the directions for mixing paint with the medium.  I used Delta Ceramcoat which calls for 2 parts paint to 1 part medium. Mix the paint & medium well.

Once the paints are mixed, and using your larger brush, paint in the base coat for the pumpkin.  The shape & size of the pumpkin is up to you.  I needed it to fit a 2T, so mine was small.  This could be adjusted to fit any size T-shirt from infant to adult.

Pumpkin Shirt

Now to add the shading.  Load your brush with the orange paint.

Pumpkin Shirt

Then dip a corner of the paint brush into the brown paint.

Pumpkin Shirt

Work the paint back & forth on the plate so the paints are blended .  By working the paint on the brush, you create a shading with out it looking like a solid line.

Pumpkin Shirt

Now, you want to add the shading to the left side of the pumpkin base by keeping the brown side of the brush even with the pumpkin base.

Pumpkin Shirt

Turn the brush over and shade the right side of the pumpkin.  (reload the brush with paint as needed by dipping the right side of the brush in the orange & the left side in the brown, and work the paint back & forth)

Pumpkin Shirt

Turn the brush so that the brown is on the left side & add more shading to the inner pumpkin.

Pumpkin Shirt

Repeat the shading, reloading the brush & turning the brush as needed.  Once you have all the lines of shading put on the pumpkin, you want to add shading to the top part of the pumpkin to make the pumpkin lid.   To make the lid, paint in small C shaped lines between the shading of the pumpkin base and the brown facing towards the bottom.

Pumpkin Shirt

Reload paint as needed.

Pumpkin Shirt

With the smaller brush, and using a little more brown than orange, make a stem on the top of the pumpkin.

Pumpkin Shirt

Using the detail brush & the black paint, add a face to the pumpkin.

Add face to Pumpkin Shirt

Then I used the detail brush to add a little corkscrew to the stem, and lettering.  You can make it say anything that you want it to.  I added “Grandma’s” because it was for my friend’s granddaughter.  I also added some lines  to look like grass to give it more volume.  Adding the lettering made it look a little top heavy with out the grass.

Pumpkin Shirt

Once the paint had dried, I turned the shirt inside out & pressed the image with an iron on cotton setting to set the paint.  The instructions said 20 seconds.  The shirt can be washed after 7 days.  Turn it inside out on gentle cycle & air dry.

I think little Kayla liked it.  She’s just cute as a button.  hmmm, that gives me another idea. 😉

Pumpkin Shirt

She even sent me ‘kisses’ for the shirt!

Pumpkin Shirt

You can use this technique for any design that you choose and for any holiday.   It can also have a little fabric glitter paint added to it when the paint dries.

Give it a try.  It’s an easy project & makes a very unique gift.

I’m also thinking this would work well on some holiday pillows?  Oh yeah!

Happy Creating everyone!

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