DIY Screen Printing Father & Son Matching T-Shirts

This is a SUPER easy DIY screen printing tutorial on making a father's day gift. My husband is extremely difficult to shop for, but his passion is cars. He works on them for a living, builds project cars, and now with our new baby, he buys him every car toy imaginable (but he likes playing with them too!).

Here are the 3 simple steps

Step 1: Designing the Artwork

In a WordDoc on my PC, I created two images with the Eras Demi ITC font. I sized them to fit a mini screen printing stencil and a regular 8.5x11" stencil.

I set my computer print settings to Highest DPI, and printed the images onto ink jet transparency film that was provided in the EZScreen screen printing starter kit

Step 2: Making the Stencil

Following the manufacturers instructions (EZScreenPrint stencils), I made two stencils by exposing them outside on a sunny day for 1 minute. After exposure, the stencils soaked for 15 minutes, then were washed off with a soft brush and "cured" back outside in the sun to make them permanent.

Step 3: Printing the T-shirts

Using blue painters tape, I secured the stencil for my husband on a gray Gildan brand t-shirt. With an orange squeegee, I applied speedball brand black screen printing ink and went over the stencils until it passed through all of the design area. Lifted the stencil and washed off the ink.

I used the same technique with the small baby onesie, but used opaque pearly white, again in speedball brand screen printing ink.

Step 4: Finished!

Once the ink dried, I heat set them with an iron for several minutes. Now they can be washed without fading. My husband LOVED the father's day gift as it was personalized precisely for him and his love for cars (and our son!).

Thanks for viewing my tutorial!