The Mama Shirt
Several weeks ago, my nephew’s lovely wife posted an image of a t-shirt design and I loved it. I’m sure you’ve seen it on the web, especially on Etsy. There are two versions of wording: “I went from Mama, to Mommy, to Mom, to Bruh.” and “Mama. Mommy. Mom. Bruh.” The one she shared had the second wording. I took it as the names your kids call you. My sons call me Mama, Mommy, Mom and Dude. There was no transition. All three call me mama and mom, my middle mixes it up with mom and mommy. I spell it Mommy but he’s using it more as the Spanish “mami”. He’s been embracing his Puerto Rican blood since my Ancestry DNA test in 2015 confirmed that I’m half Puerto Rican.
I’m not sure which version of the shirt first appeared on the web. As with anything else, someone comes up with a great idea and the internet immediately copies it. Just search Etsy and you’ll find hundreds of listings for crafted items that vary slightly from others. Since I’ve never been a fan of HTV (heat transfer vinyl) I wanted to try my hand at making a screen print shirt. It’s definitely my aesthetic because I use my Silhouette Cameo to cut vinyl as stencils, preferring to paint wood and glass rather than apply vinyl to the projects. I just dig hand painted projects more.
The first vinyl cut which I did WRONG! I forgot to “mirror” the final image because I’m used to designing, cutting and applying to wood. With screen print you need to flip the vinyl. Lesson learned.
My first screen print shirt. I paid a lot of attention to the prep work when applying the vinyl to the screen. I wanted to make sure that bleeding didn’t happen so I squeegeed the stuffing out of that vinyl so there were no bubbles.
I love how it turned out. I purchased the half sunflower SVG file from the Silhouette Design Store for $.99, played around with fonts for an hour or so and settled on the design above. Speedball offers several screen printing kits for beginners. You can purchase them on Amazon.
The kit on the left was shared on Silhouette’s Facebook page which triggered this whole project. They share all kinds of great projects that can be made using their products. I have a Cameo 4 and Portrait 3, so I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting project ideas.
The kits are just under $50 on Amazon but I decided to buy individual supplies since I already have craft vinyl and I can create my own stencils. I purchased a 9-inch squeegee, a 14 in. x 10 in. 110 monofilament screen and a basic screen print fabric ink set all Speedball brand, through Amazon.
Today I’ll heat set the paint once it’s been drying for 24 hours. Speedball recommends 24-48 hrs. I’m testing the minimum time this first shirt. We’ll see how the paint holds up after several wears and washes.
T-shirts are just the start. I also want to create seasonal pillow covers, kitchen towels, aprons and tote bags. My son and daughter-in-law recently started a new business, so I’ll definitely be working on some t-shirts for them with their logo.
That’s all the time I have for blogging today because my craft projects are calling!
Peace,
Nim
