“Ahhhh . . . summer. What power you have to make us suffer and like it.”
-Russel Baker-
(AFTER READING THIS BLOG POST – SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM FOR THE PHOTOS OF THE GRANDCHILDREN WEARING THE SHIRTS)
We are closing in on our annual get-together with all of our children and grandchildren. I had great fun making personalized t-shirts for the kids. This year I used images from some favorite children’s books to personalize each shirt.
I prowled my image collection which I titled Children’s Book Illustrations and found one for each child which reminded me of them. ( I have long collected images I love and kept them in various files in Picasa) I added a name to each image I had chosen and printed each one onto an iron-on sheet which I ran through my color printer. Next, I ironed each image onto a t-shirt. While doing this I was in domestic heaven because it was so fun and the images were some of my favorites from delightful children’s books by very talented artists.
Here are a few hints:
- You cannot use illustrations for commercial gain. That means you can’t make shirts like these and sell them. These t-shirts are for personal use only.
- I buy white cotton shirts when they are 4 for $10. This time I found them at JoAnn’s.
- Buy the shirts big. They shrink !
- Wash the shirts BEFORE you iron on the image.
- I buy June Tailor Iron-On Print ‘n Press Transfer Sheets for Ink-Jet Printers at Hobby Lobby because I can always use a 40% coupon at a minimum. The Value Pack of 10 sheets is $18 at regular price so you can see that the coupon is essential. I have not found anything less expensive anywhere else. If you have . . . tell me.
- BEFORE YOU PRINT YOUR IMAGE SELECT MIRROR IMAGE UNDER YOUR SPECIAL PRINTING INSTRUCTIONS SO THAT YOUR NAME/TEXT WILL PRINT CORRECTLY.
- For the girls’ shirts I made a small slit in the underside of the hem around the sleeves and threaded some tiny elastic into it. That made the sleeves puffy and thus more girly !
Done.
The Sequel !
So cute!