Crafting by a not very crafty mum - 1st Father's Day

I wanted to make something personal for Big E for his first Father's Day. Like a lot of men, he's pretty resistant to buying new clothes. He cycles to work and has a selection of very old and tatty t-shirts that he wears before he gets changed into his workwear. 

His collection includes ones that have acid stains/holes from his time in a chemistry lab and two flu vaccine marketing t-shirts that he loves dearly.

So, if he is willing to wear this tat, I assumed he would wear something me and Little E could make him. I was pretty certain I could decorate a t-shirt somehow and since it would just be for cycling, Big E would probably wear it.

My first step was to purchase a cheap t-shirt. I looked around and eventually got a plain white one from George at Asda. £5 and it feels pretty good quality. Time will tell!

I got fabric paint from Unique Creations in Summertown - a great little shop for these things - and was planning to use some fabric pens I had already bought from Pen to Paper in Headington (a subject of a blog to come and another super shop).

There is lots of inspiration online, but I had a horrible suspicion mine would turn out nothing like their photos. Perfectly printed feet from an 8 month old? Unlikely... So I decided I would write on the front and then let Little E "freestyle" on the back and see what happened!

Ideally I wanted to complete this task outside. I was terrified of getting paint on everything. Of course May/June can be temperamental in Britain, so I tried to plan ahead. I managed to write on the front of the t-shirt one day while Big E was at work. It needed 5 hours to dry, so I needed to have a day where I could get the task done in the morning and then pack it away later.

Then the rain came... It ideally needed to be hot and sunny, so I could have Little E in only his nappy, but time was running out!

Finally, a nice day came and I rushed out to complete my task. Unfortunately, this meant I was pretty ill prepared. I had laid out an old table cloth and the t-shirt, but the wind kept catching both of them. Eric was in a bad mood and not keen to help. Worst of all, once I coated him in paint, I didn't have a good way to clean him up! Uh oh... I managed to bundle him up, get him upstairs and into the bathroom to clean him off. I had to resort to a bath in the end, because the wet wipes weren't cutting the mustard. Fortunately, it all scrubbed out of the bath with no trace.

So, as I expected, the back of the t-shirt is a mess, but it is a mess "composed" by our little one. I got one pretty decent handprint.

The big day has been and gone. Good news...Big E loves the t-shirt. I think anything our little ones "make" for us melts our hearts. He is wearing it to work today.

I think I bit off more than I could chew with an 8 month old. Hopefully next year I can give Little E some fabric pens and let him scribble away.

If you do decide to use fabric paint, I think the key is to do a lot more preparation than me. Pin the t-shirt down, have something between the t-shirt layers (the paint soaked through to the front in places) and, most importantly, something to clean your baby up outside!