Introducing our 2010 Patriotic T-shirt!
It turned out well, don’t you think… and it was by far the easiest of our patriotic t-shirts to make. To make the Eagle-tee, you’ll need a t-shirt, washed in mild detergent and dried without fabric softener; fabric paint in white, brown, yellow, black, and glitter fabric paint in red, white and blue – we used white, brown, yellow, and black acrylic paint mixed with a textile medium (a bit cheaper than the fabric paints, and equally as permanent on the shirts) – and nine pipe-cleaners (chenille stems).
- Cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside the washed and dried t-shirt. This will keep the paint from bleeding through to the back of the shirt.
- Paint the palm and four fingers (not the thumb) of your child’s hand brown. Carefully place on the shirt. Repeat with the right hand, overlapping the palm-prints slightly.
- Have your child make a loose fist with his left hand. Paint the pinky side of his fist right. Place this carefully above the brown palm prints, moving the hand slightly to create a feathered look.
- Paint the three middle fingers of one hand white to create the tail feathers.
- Use a pinky finger to create the beak and eye.
Note: Depending on how thick your paint goes on, you may need to allow a bit of drying time between the colors.
If you checked out our post this afternoon, you are probably wondering where the pasta fit into our t-shirt design. Our original idea was to glue the pasta on a piece of cardboard in a firecracker shape, to paint the pasta, and to stamp the fireworks on the t-shirt around the eagle. In the meantime, however, I found a simpler way to make the fireworks on the Family Fun website. (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE that magazine and website?!). There is an easy-to-follow video here.
- Take three pipe-cleaners in your hand. Fold them in half and twist about half-way up creating a handle of sorts. Spread the spokes in a wheel-like manner. This will be your fireworks stencil.
- Dip the spokes of your fireworks stencil into the glitter fabric paint (or spread the paint onto the pipe cleaners with a paint brush); then press the stencil onto the t-shirt. You may find you have to gently press each of the spokes onto the shirt to enable the paint to transfer well.
- Repeat, using the same color or another, rotating the spokes of the stencil just enough to not entirely overlap the first application. Use a separate fireworks stencil for each color
- Continue until you are happy with your fireworks and your completed t-shirt.
- Allow the paint to dry. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for setting your paint.
Ryan is extremely proud of his 2010 patriotic t-shirt. Connor has been at Grandma’s all week. He’ll be home Saturday, just in time to make his t-shirt for the Fourth of July holiday.
So, what do you think? Are you going to start a new tradition in your family this Fourth of July? If you try any of our t-shirt ideas, or another, I’d love to see the finished product. Be sure to leave a comment with the link to your blog post or photos.