Hamilton PSA T Shirt competition 2009

Summer Fete 2009 Design a t-shirt, wear it to the fete, enter the competition and perhaps win the prize for the best Junior or Infant design Hamilton Primary School PSA Winners of the 2008 competition

The theme for the design is ‘Animals’

Choose an animal to put on to your t-shirt

What is your favourite animal?

Think what would look good on a t-shirt

The picture needs to be based around

Try to make your picture eye-catching

Use bold, simple shapes – don’t make the pictures too detailed or over-complicated

Use strong, bright, fresh colours

Think about the size of the picture in relation to the size of the t-shirt

Think of using patterns or repeated images

Your design needs to be:

Design considerations If your design is going to be symmetrical you need to know where the middle lines and centre are before you start Identify your picture area on the t-shirt The central chest is the normal area but you might want to use the sleeve areas or the back of the t-shirt Try to imagine what the t-shirt will look like on and try to imagine where the creases of the fabric will be and where the picture won’t be seen in full The colour of the t-shirt material will be white as it is the easiest to use as all shades of colour will stand out well against white

Planning your design

Firstly plan out your design on a piece of A4 paper

Use a lead pencil to begin with

If you can, find images to help get you started from the resources you have available – books/magazines or perhaps from the internet

You could copy/trace images and them adapt them

Be prepared to make changes to your design at the beginning as your ideas might change once you’ve started

Think about keeping the shapes you use simple and not too detailed to make it easy for you to paint it on the actual t-shirt

Think about what colours you are going to use

Once you are happy with your design plan

you can transfer it onto the actual t-shirt

using a light coloured fabric pen/chalk or

charcoal pencil

What colours can be used

Fabric paint comes in lots of different colours but can be mixed just like poster paint so you can use whatever colours you like

Normal paint techniques can be used to apply paint

Once the paint is dried and fixed by ironing, the t-shirt can be worn and washed again and again

Textures can be created by using sponges, coarse brushes or

splattered on but mind your other clothes or surroundings!

Other materials include marker pens, highlighter pens,

crayons and 3D embossed squashy gel type pens

Ribbons, sequins, feather or other things can be stuck or sown

onto the t-shirts but they might not be able to be washed and

will be ‘one off’ creations

Use of stencils

You might want to think about using a cut out stencil for large areas of colour and use a sponge to apply the paint – this a quick and effective way of applying paint

You might want to find an image and copy/trace it to get the general shape of something and then adapt it

Use block printing

You could make your own printing blocks or use a potato to print on to your t-shirt. It is a quick and easy way to create some really bright and eye-catching pictures

To make a good design Keep design simple Not too detailed No words, just a picture Clean bold use of colour

Make your design stand out from the crowd

Which animal will you choose?

The choice is yours

Start your design now Do a plan of your design on an A4 piece of paper