How to Print a Design Onto a Shirt Using Sandpaper

Sandpaper may not be the first thing you think of using for art projects, but it just so happens to one of the best new crafting ideas out there. If you thought there weren’t any more easy innovative crafts out there anymore, you were wrong.

Thanks to Cindy from Alpha Mom, you can create a DIY t-shirt screen printing project that will not only surprise and impress you, it will really be a great project to do with the kids.

As Cindy wrote, “This is a super simple sandpaper printing technique that will keep your kids busy and make one cute shirt!”

Transferring images onto fabric using sandpaper may sound like a tricky task, but it is actually a lot easily that it sounds, especially with Cindy showing us all how it’s done.

To begin, she gathered all the materials she would need: crayons, a plain t-shirt, fine sandpaper, and an iron.

Next, she colored the design of her choosing onto the rough side of the sandpaper, creating a very thick layer of crayon.

As you work, keep in mind that any image you create will be reversed on the shirt.

After the coloring was complete, Cindy placed the shirt and the sandpaper together with a piece of cardboard in between. The drawing should be face-down and located exactly where you want the image to appear.

She then placed a paper towel over the sandpaper, pressing down with the hot iron for just about 39 seconds.

“Gently lift one edge and make sure you have a good print before totally removing the sandpaper,” says Cindy. “Iron a bit more if you need to transfer more of the crayon.”

As soon as that step is complete, the image should be transferred onto the shirt and your hard work is almost done!

To finish it off, Cindy did place a couple paper towels over the design to iron it one final time to remove any excess wax from the fabric itself.  She then placed the shirt in the dryer to 20 minutes to really bring out the bright colors.

That’s it! Just keep in mind to wash the new shirt by itself the first time as some of the colors may run slightly.

Learn more about Cindy’s project, here.