Welcome back to the craft room and today’s How I Screen Printed My Craft Empire Shirt post. I have been having a blast with screen printing and today I’m sharing the t-shirt I made for myself. Just like my previous screen printing post, I am using a variety of Speedball products including Opaque Gold Fabric Ink. I am also using the DIY screen printing press that my husband made for me. The directions for the press can be found here: T-Shirt Printing Machine for $30. You can also check out the following video of mine, and watch along as I create this fun shirt.
Craft Empire SVG File
I have made a few screen printed shirts as gifts including the World’s Tall Leprechaun Shirt, and wanted to make one for myself. I wanted it to have a crafty theme because my sister and I were going to the Denver Stamp and Scrapbook Expo. As always, I found a fun SVG design on Creative Fabrica in the Crafting SVG Bundle, Knitting SVG file.
Because I’ve been having issues cutting intricate designs with my Cricut, I wasn’t sure if the flower in the design would cut properly. After a simple test cut, I did have to find another flower shape. I chose a simple flower in Cricut Design Space and changed them out in the design. I also decided to add my blog address as a shameless plug at the bottom of the shirt. When getting ready to cut the full design, I had to stop the Cricut half way through. Why you may ask? Because ONCE again, I neglected to mirror the design. I was running short if time to recut it, so I added a reminder to myself for the next time before saving the file.
Weeding the design took a little while to do. The most delicate portion turned out to be the leaf designs. The inside of the leaves didn’t completely cut through in a few places. To ensure they stayed in place I not only used my Pin Pen Weeding Tool from 143Vinyl, I also had to bring in my Cricut weeding tool. You can see in the video posted above, how difficult that was. In one instance, the inner portion had to be replaced because it just came right out.
Screen Printing: Take One
The t-shirt I used is a Gildan, Ladies V-neck t-shirt from Michael’s. I love how well they fit without being super fitted and tight. They also aren’t as long and boxy as the regular Gildan t-shirts. When screen printing, you need to have some sort of tacky adhesive on the platen to hold your piece in place. This will allow you to lift the screen, check to ensure you have the correct amount of ink and replace the screen if needed. Because I’m new to the screen printing field I used what I had on hand, Elmers Multi-Purpose Spray Adhesive. I thought it might be tacky enough to hold the t-shirt in place. Sadly, it is not. After printing the shirt, I lifted the screen. Not only did I see a lot of spots missing the ink, I also saw the t-shirt had come up with the screen in several places.
I thought I could straighten the shirt out and do another pull of the ink. So not the case! I ended up double printing the majority of the design! Thankfully I am working with water soluble Speedball Fabric Screen Print Ink. The shirt was tossed in the washing machine with a load of bath towels and came out like new. I should have taken a picture of the shirt before washing it. Sadly I didn’t think about it, but trust me, it was not pretty!
How I Screen Printed My Craft Empire Shirt: Take Two
The second attempt was a little bit better. I started by adding a thicker layer of spray adhesive and paid closer attention while pulling the ink. The most important thing; I stopped myself before lifting the screen to check it. I added one more pull of the Speedball Opaque Gold ink and called it good!
As you can see in the last image, there is still a little bit of puckering in the shirt where it lifted with the screen. If I had tried to straighten it out and do another pull, it would have double printed again. Before I make another t-shirt, I do need to invest in the proper supplies for this craft. However, this version of the shirt came out beautifully!
The only place that needed a touch up was the letter “c” in coloradoleen. I attempted to fix it with a small paint brush and although it worked beautifully in the Screen Print A Two Color Canvas Bag, this was a lot more difficult to do. Because I write left handed I was afraid of laying my hand in the wet ink. After the shirt had dried over night, I was able to go in with a little pick and clean up the edge.
Heat Setting The Craft Empire T-Shirt
After 24 hours of drying, it was time to heat set my new t-shirt. Using my HTVRont Auto Heat Press set to 320 degrees I set the ink for 40 seconds.
And just like that, I have a brand new beautiful t-shirt of my own!
Thank you for joining me for today’s How I Screen Printed My Craft Empire Shirt post. I learned some important lessons while crafting this shirt. As with any craft project, the right supplies are critical, and while some DIY supplies work wonders, some do not. I’m curious what DIY tricks you have tried in your crafting adventures. Which ones worked and which ones didn’t? Let me know down in the comments below. Until then, have a fantastic week and I will see you back in the craft room again soon!
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