close-up of smiling girl and dad as he wears a white t-shirt with hand-painted tie on it

Crafts

Father’s Day Hand-painted Tie T-shirt DIY

If you want to get Dad a cooler, fun, and more comfortable version of a real tie for Father’s Day, how about the t-shirt tie version? Yes, I am talking a tie that’s printed onto a tee!

Fun for kids to make! Fun for Dads to wear! Different and special!

Supplies needed to make a T-shirt with a Hand-painted Tie:

a pre-washed cotton t-shirt in Dad’s size
fabric paint
a sponge (natural or synthetic)
re-positional tape like painter’s tape or masking tape or even washi tape (not pictured)
a paint brush
paper plate or palette for paint
a piece of cardboard that will fit inside your t-shirt (to prevent wet paint from seeping through)
wax or parchment paper

Now let’s get started!

How to make a T-shirt with a Hand-painted Tie:

1. First, position your tape in a tie-shape. (See above top left.) This will make it a lot easier to paint onto your t-shirt and not worry about messiness. You could free-hand it but we found that fabric paint can be a bit messy and t-shirts a bit stretchy, making painting on fabric a bumpy process. However, if you are feeling creative and skilled, by all means free-hand away!

2. Then dab your sponge in a bit of fabric paint and lightly sponge on the base color of your tie. Easy does it. We like this way of fabric painting because it dries a lot quicker and is less stiff when it dries than a thick layer of paint.

3. Once your base color is dry, add detail. We chose green spots (and some black smudges by accident because my sponge accidentally swiped the tiniest bit of black paint and the rest was history but we don’t think it ruined the end result. We’re going to call it camoflauge-esque.) You could do stripes or flowers or any design you like but we kept it simple.