DIY St. Patrick’s Day T-Shirt Stencil

To be honest I’ve never been much of one for St. Patrick’s Day. Maybe it’s a bigger deal in different parts of the world, but in my little neck of the woods, it has never been much more than a day where you wore green panties and then pinched the heck out of anybody who pinched you first for not wearing green without doing their homework.

Last year I spent the day with my entire family and just because we’re all so mean to one another we made sure to wear green somewhere, somehow. My youngest nephew was incredibly concerned and wore a prominent green tee and informed everyone that they had better not pinch him. It turns out we had the day wrong and celebrated a day early which means I got to get my pinch on!

So when Amy asked for a DIY for a Saint Patrick’s Day gift, I have to admit I took some time to draw my brows together and have a big think. I called around asking people what kind of a Saint Patrick’s Day gift they’d like to receive and it was a toss-up between a tee shirt or a green beer. I think you can guess which way we’re going here…

For this project you will need:

• green t-shirt
• Silhouette Cameo cutting machine OR x-acto knife
• vinyl with a sticky backside
• spray adhesive
• cardboard
• Keep Calm font (or free Silhouette cut file here)
• shamrock graphic (free Silhouette cut file here)
• cheap foam brush
• textile paint (or acrylic paint + fabric medium)

Either use a Silhouette, or the method used in this post, to make your stencil. Use either tool designed for removing the bits, an x-acto knife or just about anything with a point.

Put a piece of cardboard inside of your shirt to keep your paint from bleeding through to the back. They sell cardboard forms at craft stores, but you can use any old piece you have lying around.

Trim your templates out of the vinyl.

Remove the paper backing and give a healthy dose of spray adhesive. Wait until the spray becomes tacky before proceeding.

Apply your vinyl pieces onto the shirt, taking care to remember that some letters have shapes inside of them.

Give a quick peek around and make sure that your stencil has nicely adhered. Any place that has bubbles will not have nice, crisp edges.

Dip your brush into your paint and dab away any that is excessive. Keeping the brush straight up and down, bounce it to apply the paint. Use as many coats as needed for the finish you want. I prefer the kind of aged, not solid coverage, so I use 2  coats.

Either allow it to dry naturally or bust out your hairdryer. When totally dry, remove your stencil. You may need tweezers or another implement to remove the little pieces, or perhaps you could use your fingernails (I have none so I don’t know about all of that).

Be sure to hang onto your stencil because this baby is reusable! Keep calm and shamrock on, y’all.

Allison

A crafter since her earliest years, Allison spends a little time every day making something. She crafts, sews, paints, glues things onto other things, and is a firm believer that a life spent creating is a life worth living. Visit Allison’s blog, Dream {a Little} BIGGER.