Last week, we took our kids to Disneyland. Let me just start out by saying that Disneyland was soooo magical! As a kid, my family and I went to Disneyland several times and I distinctly remember everyone in the park wearing Disney shirts, either just a generic Disney character or their name with Mickey ears, family reunion disney shirts, or something along those lines. So, when we decided we would take the kids I made up my mind that I was going to paint us matching shirts. I have seen so many shirts done like this and I love the idea of having my kids’ names on their shirt, but it secretly made me nervous {stranger danger}. So after many days of molding it over in my head, I opted for a design that would have everyone’s names on the shirt. I designed it into a subway art layout adding a few Mickey images and I ended up loving the end result more than I thought I would.
While at Disneyland we received at least a comment or two at every ride we rode. The characters looked at our kids’ shirts and asked who was who. We had many families ask where we had our shirts done because they wanted to get some made too. Our kids loved the attention from the shirts so much that I even ended up hand-washing them in the hotel tub and hanging them to dry so that the kids could wear them a second day in Disneyland. {Silly, I know, but the kids couldn’t have been happier.}
Note: For these shirts, I did the same steps as I did for our Halloween Trick-or-Treat bags.
Supplies:
- Shirts (I went to Wal-mart)
- Acrylic paint (Buy on Amazon –Black
- Fabric Medium (Buy on Amazon – Fabric Medium
- Sponge brush (Buy on Amazon – Sponge Brushes 9pk
- Stencil of some kind
- Tacky Spray (Buy on Amazon – Krylon Easy Tack
- Cardboard Box
Step 1 : Prep
Begin by wrapping a cardboard piece in parchment/wax paper and placing in the shirt so that paint doesn’t seep through to the other side. Now I measured the shirt across and subtracted 6″ to determine what size I wanted to make my template. (Ex. This shirt is 13″ so I made my template 7″ wide.)
For my template, I made a subway art design making sure to include everyone’s name. Then I cut the template out of vinyl to use as a stencil. To add your own names, just place this SVG into your cutting software, split/break the image and delete our names. Now you can re-arrange the layout and add your families’ names. Download zip file of SVG, PNG, and PDF below. 
Step 2: Stencil Placement
Take stencil or vinyl and stick to shirt. Place vinyl, with it’s backing still on, where you want it on the shirt and tape down. Flip up and remove backing. Spray vinyl with a tacky spray. I use Easy Tack by Krylon. Flip vinyl back down on the shirt and press firmly. Remove the transfer tape slowly making sure all the vinyl stuck well to the shirt. I then use my Mini Pizza Roller
{For a step-by-step picture tutorial on how to stick the stencil correctly check out this post.}
Now place the template on the shirts. If using freezer paper, iron it into place. If using vinyl, stick it on using this method with tacky spray. I also have a video here that shows how I do it using another shirt I made.
Step 3: Painting
Take sponge brush with fabric paint or acrylic paint {mix the fabric medium with your acrylic paint to make the paint flexible to help prevent cracking when washed} and dab paint within stencil/vinyl.
Step 4: Finishing
Once the paint is completely dry {I wait 12-24 hours, just to make sure} remove the vinyl stencil and cardboard from inside the shirt. Then place a piece of scrap fabric over the painted areas and heat set the paint with a hot iron.
Ta-da! You are done. Now get your bags packed and head over to Disneyland.
