Glitter Polka Dot T-Shirt

Hi friends! I’m Kristen, I’m so happy to be here to share my polka dot project! I blog over at Capturing Joy where I like to share photo tips, DIY projects, and my family favorite recipes.

Recently, I made a glitter anchor shirt for all of my family to wear on a trip we took. I loved how it all came together, and I thought it would be fun to make a glitter polka dot t-shirt to share here.

I used vinyl paper as my stencil, because I like how it sticks to my surface (I also hear you can iron on parchment paper). I am fairly new to my vinyl cutting machine, and love it’s capabilities, but I haven’t invested a lot of time in figuring it all out. I think my blade broke halfway through my cutting process and wasn’t able to fix it. SOOO, I had my big dots at the bottom, which I planned to graduate up and have just a few spaced at the top. Instead I used a mini hole punch I had on the top half. I actually like how it turned out with my subtle color/polka dots with most of the attention at the bottom!

I found the template for the polka dots on the Silhouette program. I used fabric paint, glitter, and fabric mod podge. The painting part is pretty quick, but there are several drying stages that it’s best to find a good spot out of the way (unlike I did on my kitchen counter) for proper drying time.

Here are the basic steps

Apply vinyl
One coat of pain
Let dry
Second coat of paint
Immediately douse with glitter
let dry
mod podge all over to seal in the glitter
let dry overnight
peel off vinyl

Here is a quick picture collage of the process (most taken at night with my cell phone) and the paint/glitter I used from Hobby Lobby. Conveniently with price tags on them, but I use their coupons from my phone for 40-50% off, and they are used for several projects. (If you don’t have a Hobby Lobby nearby, you can get them on Amazon. Fabric Mod Podge, tulip fabric paint, glitter.)