Have you ever seen a graphic print tee or a specific design that you like on a shirt but don’t want to spend a fortune on it? Or even if it may not be over the top in costs, but you simply can’t be spending that amount of money on it right now? Follow these easy-to-follow steps and you can make your own graphic tee from home for a quarter of retail prices.
The first step is finding a design that you like or want. Just browse online and that will help you get ideas of what you might be looking for. With that in mind you should hit up a website like Ebay or browse other sites for iron-on transfers. I personally prefer Ebay because I am able to find hard to find designs and at cheaper prices. I was also able to bargain with seller since I wanted to purchase more than one iron-on transfer from them, and managed to get them for a really good price with free shipping. Now, for the shirt. Try to stick with a lighter-colored shirt, preferably white. It’ll help the design stand out better. You can get inexpensive shirts at places like Wal-Mart or if you are a girl you can check out stores like Forever21 or Old Navy where they sell plain shirts that are fitted and sell for a very decent price.
Once you have your iron-on transfer and shirt available, make sure that you find a hard surface like desk or table. Do not use an ironing board, trust me. You’ll need a hard surface to prevent the iron-on transfer from shifting. Make sure the surface is clean or if you want, you can put a wrinkle-free pillowcase underneath the shirt (just make sure the pillowcase is completely smooth). Also, make sure the shirt you will be ironing on is complete clean (use a lint roller if necessary to get rid of any strays. This is completely necessary because any stray lint will get stuck with the transfer which won’t look too good. Preheat the iron to the maximum heat possible but do not steam. Get your iron-on transfer and trim around the edges. Don’t cut too close to the design so you can leave some room for it when it sets. Also, a word of advice, don’t cut the shape too complicated because it’ll be more difficult when removing the transfer, the rounder the cut the better. Place the transfer on to the shirt (design-side face down) and hold it in place with your fingertip. While still holding the transfer down firmly in place get the iron and slowly iron one side and slowly move it over the transfer while still holding the transfer down. Once you feel that the transfer has begun to set, you may remove your fingertip and begin to slowly iron the entire transfer. Make sure your iron the entire transfer firmly and evenly to make the design set. You will probably have to iron the design for a bout a good minute, but make sure you don’t burn the fabric. You can start to tell that the design has set if you noticed the edge of the transfer has curled into the shirt and the edges aren’t lifting off from the fabric. Once finished ironing let the design cool for awhile. Once cooled, try peeling off the transfer from one edge. If the transfer sticks too much you’ll have to reheat it and iron it for a bit more. Once you have successfully peeled off the transfer, you can set the dye by placing a baking sheet over it and iron the sheet for about 10-20 seconds. I personally have not done this to some of my shirts, and they still come out just fine. The whole process sounds pretty detailed, but it is actually really easy to do and is relatively simple.
As for wash and care, the iron-on transfer should be safe enough for machine wash. Just make sure you turn the shirt inside out. I would refrain from using the dryer since extreme heat could make the design fade faster and possibly even crack. If you want to be extra particularly special with your shirt and prolong its wear-ability, I would stick with hand washing and line drying it.
Overall the process took only about five minutes and my whole purchase was under $10. I saw the exact same design on a less attractive shirt (it was just a regular t-shirt, not fitted like the one I had acquired) and it was retailing for $35! So needless to say, I got quite a steal. And if you’re like me, it always feels great when someone compliments your shirt and you can get to tell them that you put it together yourself!
