T-shirt Projects

Team USA turned in some impressive performances yesterday (don’t worry, no spoilers on Friday’s events in case anyone’s got the DVR set), with a day-end NINE total medals including gold in women’s soccer (redemption!), women’s middleweight boxing (all hail Claressa Shields — what a story!), women’s water polo (Maggie Steffens, yes!), men’s triple jump (Christian Taylor), and men’s decathlon (Ashton Eaton and his teammate Trey Hardee for the 1-2!). With all that excitement, it’s hard not to get caught up in the Olympic fever. I know I am.

Here’s a quick-and-easy T-shirt project to get you on the medal podium–at least in spirit! (No grueling hours/days/years of training required.) Just in time for the closing ceremonies, here’s a trompe l’oeil gold medal to wear for the closing ceremony. (Note: Six-pack abs underneath the T-shirt not included.)

Materials:
-Plain T-shirt
-Ribbon or other colorful trim (at least 3/4″ wide)
–Fabric Glue
–Iron-on Metallic Glitter Sheets
-Iron
-Scissors

Make it:

1. Squeeze a generous amount of fabric glue, centered, along the wrong side of the ribbon and press it against the back of the T-shirt neckband.

2. Wrap the ends of the ribbon around to the front of the shirt and glue them in place. Use fabric scissors to trim the ends of the ribbon so they’re even.

3. Trace and cut a 2″ to 3″ diameter circle from the gold iron-on sheet (I chose glitter gold over shimmer gold for the extra sparkle–and there’s silver in the pack, too, but why settle for silver, when you can go for the gold!).

4. Place the gold circle on the T-shirt so it overlaps the ends of the ribbon. Being careful not to disturb the placement of the medallion, fold up the bottom of the T-shirt to use as a press cloth layer between the iron-on and the hot surface of the iron.

5. Press the circle in place with the iron, check that it’s secure, and press again if necessary.

6. Remove the iron (don’t forget to unplug it!), and try on your gold medal tee. Optional: Cut the sleeves of the shirt to your liking.

7. Repeat the process to make more T-shirts so all your friends and family who come over for the closing ceremony can parade around the living room!

Variation:
Decorate the T-shirts with fabric markers or slash them with scissors. I packed my markers on a recent trip to a family reunion so we could have an Olympic-themed T-shirt refashioning session with my young nieces/nephews/cousins. Dorothy opted for a glow-stick necklace in place of a gold medal, while Bri and Allanna were inspired by the US gymnasts who were competing via the TV screen while we crafted (go, Gabrielle Douglas!), and Tom is a big fan of the swimmers (he’ll have to make a few more of these tees to compete with Michael Phelps’ medal record!).

In addition to the fabric markers, we had letter stencils on hand to print out messages, and scissors on hand to modify and accessorize the tees. “Bri is the best at gymnastics” was lettered across Bri’s drawing of the balance beam and uneven bars. And “Swimming: TOM is good” accompanied Tom’s drawing of a freestyle swimmer (we also added iron-on lightning bolts to the sleeves!).

Allanna’s inspiring words were “#1 A True Gymnast Never Gives Up” and Dorothy’s initials personalized her T-shirt (plus an iron-on silver heart to inspire the champion within!).

Happy 2012 Olympics to all, and here’s to all the athletes who competed, whether they took home a medal or not. (We’re looking at you, Sarah Attar! — a true champion, if ever there was.)

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And a nod to my sister, who made some gold medal tees first, and who hosted a totally awesome Olympic-themed birthday party during the opening ceremonies!

Tags: #olympics2012, closing ceremony, crafting for gold, go for the gold, olympic gold medal, teamUSA, tromp l'oeil gold medal

[ Posted on August 10th, 2012 ]