a tee shirt for dad

My husband is really hard to buy presents for, it gets harder the longer we're together as I keep having to come up with new ideas. This year, I wanted something personal ( from the kids) yet practical for Dad's day. We bought the cotton singlet and tee shirt from the warehouse for $5 each ( I wasn't spending much in case the idea was a flop). Here's what we did:

1. Put a thick wad of newspaper inside the tee shirt

2. Have the kids draw a picture in chalk on the front

3. Go over the chalk lines in bleach using a thin paint brush ( an adult needs to do this bit)

4. Let the bleach dry

5. Wash and dry separately as normal ( to remove the excess bleach and chalk lines)

The colour that the bleach changes the tee shirt too will vary depending on the start colour. I like ours, I won't make the hubby wear them out in public if he doesn't want to but there's nothing wrong with them for around the house- how proud will the kids be that dad's wearing something made by them!?

I'm also wondering if we could draw and cut out simple stencil shapes, place them on a tee shirt and spray the bleach on so it leaves an outline. We might try that with kid's tee shirts when the weather warms up a bit.

newspaper inside

kids draw in chalk

bleach on chalk lines

finished singlet -T's- a car on a road with a rainbow

finished tee shirt- M's portraits

a close up, it's really cool watching the fabric change