DIY T-shirt Printing: SoftScrub Style

We've been working on our up-coming apparel venture fairly intensely over the last couple of months, and in the process of getting creative, we stumbled upon this super easy, yet super trick technique for creating a vintage-style logo print with a mist of SoftScrub, of all things. Added bonus: sparkling white sinks.

**Hey! Make sure you do this in a really well ventilated area! (Duh, I know....)

STEP 1: Print out your design



Try to print your design on some heavy weight paper stock. This will give your stencil a longer life. Using a pair of scissors or an X-Acto Knife, cut out your design. It will look something like this:



STEP 2: Seal your stencil



Apply a liberal coat of any color spray paint to the front and back of your stencil. This will add to its longevity by creating a barrier between the paper stock and the SoftScrub you will be spraying on later.

STEP 3: Find some spray adhesive.



We use Aleen's Tacky Spray, available at most craft stores, but 3M's Super 77 works great too, and is available at the Home Depot.



Flip your stencil over and give it a quick coat of adhesive. It doesn't take much! Let the adhesive dry until it's tacky to the touch, but not wet.

STEP 4: Prepare your shirt



It's a good idea to slide some cardboard up the shirt so the SoftScrub won't make it's way through to the back of the shirt and create a stain. Be sure the shirt is perfectly flat.

STEP 5: Align your stencil



Carefully align your stencil just how you want it. Use your fingers to press all the stencil edges down to make a nice "seal" against the shirt. Then, use some scrap paper to block the rest of the shirt from any SoftScrub overspray, as shown below:



STEP 6: Prepare your SoftScrub formula

Add some SoftScrub (ours was called "commercial," and of course you want the variety with bleach) to a spare spray bottle (recycle an old windex bottle, for instance), and then add water until the spray pump will easily shoot a fairly fine mist.



Carefully shoot the fabric area revealed by your stencil. Get crazy with your spray pattern to create blotchy, zig-zag, or wavy effects. Spray more on the areas you want to turn out lighter, and less where you want a more subtle effect.



Step 7: VOILA!

Lightly blot your stencil with a paper towel so you can remove it without dripping any SoftScrub solution. Then, rinse out the entire shirt. Remember that the longer you leave the solution sitting on the shirt before rinsing it out, the lighter the overall effect will be. Give your shirt a nice laundering--be sure wash it alone or with a towel you don't care about the first time after printing to be sure all of the solution washes out. Then, hang it out to dry, and you're ready to turn heads in your crazy new fashion statement!



The best thing about this technique is that is leaves the shirt perfectly soft where you have created your design. Compare that to a thick, plasticy patch of paint if you were to do this skate-punk style using spray paint instead of SoftScrub.


I can't get enough of how cool this process is--Maybe we'll do some limited edition shirts just for fun!