Father’s Day is coming up soon here in the States, and my boys really wanted to create something to give their dad. I found this tutorial for transferring a crayon drawing on sandpaper onto a plain white T-shirt, and the instructions looked really, really simple. We first tried it out with some shirts for the boys, and the results were great! Not only was it incredibly easy to do, it took very little supervision from me, and the final result was beautiful. Now the boys are super excited to design one for dad for Father’s Day! PLEASE NOTE: since you will be transferring the picture upside down from your sandpaper, the image on the T-shirt will be a mirror image of what your child drew. So, I would stay away from any words (which will get transferred on backwards), and stick to simple images.
What You’ll Need
- sandpaper (I used both coarse 60 grit, and a finer 220 grit. coarser will get you more texture, finer will let you get more details in your drawing)
- crayons
- white t shirts
- iron
- paper towel or regular towel
- ***IMPORTANT*** since the drawing will be placed backwards to be ironed onto the t shirt, whatever you draw will be mirrored on the t shirt. So it is best NOT to draw any words.
This is all you’ll need for this craft (minus the iron). The two different sandpaper is a bonus – you can get away with one type!
First, draw your picture onto the sandpaper. I let my youngest use the coarser grit sandpaper.
My oldest wanted more details in his drawing, so I let him have the finer grit sandpaper.
My youngest and his finished sandpaper drawing. He wanted to fill up his whole piece of sandpaper.
He didn’t really believe me that it would print onto the t shirt.
Second, place your sandpaper upside down on your t shirt, and iron on the COTTON setting (with no steam). I also placed a paper towel in between the t shirt to make sure there was no bleed through. I ironed for about 2 minutes, the coarser sandpaper took longer than the finer grit one. Just keep lifting up to check to make sure the crayon has melted onto the shirt.
Voila! That is it, two easy steps! That is how you make a sandpaper art t shirt. To “set” your design, take a paper towel (or a cotton towel), and iron for about 20 seconds on top of your crayon design.
A close up of my older son’s design. I love the surf boards.
Happy, happy kids! They loved that they were able to make their own shirts, and tell people they designed it themselves. Next, we are working on a design for dad’s shirt for Father’s Day (SHHHHHH don’t tell him). Happy Crafting!
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