My daughter Lena has been loving wearing her new Perfect Pumpkin Shirt this week! Once I bought the materials, she couldn't wait to get started on this craft. These shirts are similar to our "Have A Heart" Valentine's Day Shirts but, of course, they're pumpkins! They're perfect for fall, Halloween, or Thanksgiving!
Lena is 5-years-old (but with fairly good fine motor skills) and managed this project just fine. Younger children would need some help, especially with the stem and vine.
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Gather and prepare your materials.
Materials:
- plain white T-shirt- washed and dried
- piece of cardboard
- 6" paper doilies
- Elmer's washable glue stick
- Fabric paint (we love Tulip brand soft matte fabric paint) in orange, brown, and green.
- sponge brush
- regular paint brush
Directions:
Prepare your work surface. (Surprise!) Fabric paint doesn't wash out of fabric, so cover your table with something that you don't mind getting messy. We have an old sheet that we use for exactly this purpose. Fabric paint can also bleed through, so make your table protection several layers thick or have a vinyl tablecloth underneath.
Place a piece of cardboard inside your shirt. This will keep the paint from bleeding through to the back side.
Using a glue stick, place a paper doily in the center of your shirt. The glue will keep the doily from moving around while you're painting it, but any excess glue will wash out easily.
Squeeze some fabric paint onto a paper plate or palette. Using a sponge brush, fill in the holes of the doily. I reminded Lena of a few things before she started painting:
- Dab straight up and down, so that paint doesn't smear underneath the holes.
- TOO much paint will cause the paper doily to tear and will mess up the pretty pattern of the doily.
- There's no need to put paint on the center of the doily.
- Paint a little bit on the outside of the doily in order to give your pumpkin a more defined outer edge.
Peel the doily away as soon as you've finished painting. Otherwise the glue will dry and it will be difficult to peel away! Using the sponge brush, fill in the center part of the circle that was covered by the doily.
Next, switch to regular paintbrushes to add a small brown stem and a green curlicue vine. Lena made lots of green vines when she painted our Pumpkin Patch Cards so she had had some practice. If your child hasn't painted loops like this before, you may encourage him to try on some scrap paper before doing it on a T-shirt!
Let your paint dry according to the instructions on the bottle. The Tulip paint recommends waiting 72 hours before washing.
Make some for your whole family and you'll have an entire pumpkin patch!
See all the other What Can We Do With Paper And Glue crafts, be sure to visit and follow the Pinterest board below!
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