My 7 year old son is a crazy police lover/supporter! He has recently being telling me that when he is a police officer he wants to be part of the K-9 unit. He has even be trying to train our Great Danes how to be police dogs.

Two years ago, I made this Future Police Officer shirt for him and it’s almost looking like a rag now. This year, for his birthday I knew I needed to make him some kind of K-9 shirt.  So I went to work and designed one. Here is how I did it . . .

Supplies

Police K-9 Unit

*I bought a nice soft shirt on the clearance rack at The Children’s Place for $2.

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.

For my template, I made the SVG below. Then I cut the template out of vinyl to use as a stencil. -Note: I made my image H 3.7″ x W 3.3″-

Download zip file of SVG and PDF below. 

Police K-9 Unit

Step 2: Stencil Placement

Fold shirt in half and 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. (I measured the distance from the center fold to make sure it would be level/straight.) 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 to ensure everything is well stuck, like I did here. Police K-9 Unit

{For a step-by-step picture tutorial on how to stick the stencil correctly check out this post.}

Now place the template on the shirt. 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 a paint brush with screen printing white paint and paint over all the areas of the stencil that need to be done. I let it dry for several hours and then did a second coat.

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, like I did here. Police K-9 Unit

That’s it! Now it’s ready for your future police officer to wear when he goes “on duty” training his dogs.Police K-9 Unit