Before school started, I took my middle school daughter shopping for a few cute shirts that would help her feel confident at her new school.  She had previously been homeschooled, then attended a small Christian school for 5 years before moving to a large public school this year.  She was going to have enough things to be nervous about, and I didn’t want clothing to be one of them.

The first shirt had a large screen print on the lower back that said “love” with a smaller matching print on the front pocket.  After the first washing it looked like this, sigh.  I didn’t keep my receipt or the tags, or it would have gone straight back to the store. (The front pocket still looked perfect.)  I tried to convince Heather that the worn look was “cool” but she didn’t agree and pronounced the shirt unwearable.

I had some white acrylic craft paint in my stash, so decided to try painting the words back on with a brush by hand.  I could have taped it off first, but I have a really steady hand and didn’t want to take the time.

Before painting, I slid a scrap piece of foam board (cardboard would have worked too) inside to keep the paint from seeping through to the front of the shirt.  It would have been a disaster if I had skipped that part. Then started painting.  I got a few drips of white paint on the navy blue shirt, but had rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs on hand to quickly clean up any accidents.

It looks almost like new, especially from a distance.  The painted texture is a little stiffer, and the flakiness of the screen print is still there under the paint roughing up the texture.  I’m a little nervous about how it will wash with the screen print the way it is.  I’ll update you as soon as we give it a try.

I’ve used this paint for stenciling on clothing before and it washes well after it’s cured.  I will cure it by letting it dry for 24 hours, then ironing it with a steam cloth before washing.  When Heather came home from school and saw it, she was really happy!