Custom Grandparent T-Shirt: The perfect present idea!
This is seriously one of my favorite grandparent present ideas EVER! And I don’t EVER use all caps unless I REALLY mean it. My dad loves this custom grandparent t-shirt we made for him. Whenever he wears it he gets this cute little “I love my grand kids” smile on his face.
B– drew this picture of my dad years ago and it is the best likeliness of the man I have ever seen. The kid is a genius. How he could convey so much of my dad’s essence in so few lines is amazing. I get a fit of the giggles every time I look at it. When he drew it, I knew that it belonged on a t-shirt, or maybe even in the Louvre.
I love this idea for Christmas, birthdays, Father’s Day or Mother’s Day. I think I am going to see if I can commission a portrait of myself next.
How to Make a Custom Grandparent T-Shirt Using Your Silhouette Cameo
1) Give your kid a marker and have them draw a picture of their grandparent or any other picture would also work. Don’t use crayons, pencils, or pens because you want nice bold lines that your Silhouette Cameo can trace easily. I have also found that with iron-on vinyl it works best when the lines aren’t too thin. Thin lines have a tendency not to adhere to the fabric as well.
NOTE: If you don’t have a Silhouette Cameo, don’t cry. You can also scan in the picture and use the iron-on transfer method I describe here. Or you can trace the image through the shirt with a Sharpie. Or you could trace the image with a pencil and then cross stitch over it.
2) Scan the drawing and save it as a jpeg.
3) Open your Silhouette Cameo software and then open up your jpeg that you saved.
4) Click on your “Trace Window.” It is the little yellow box with the blue x in the upper right-hand corner.
5) Click on “Select Trace Area” in the tool bar and select the area you want to trace.
6) Play with the settings below to get the cleanest lines you can. You may have to go back and play with it a bit. You can also clean it up a bit by right clicking on it and selecting “Release Compound Path.” This allows you to go through and weed out the pieces you don’t want. This is a lot easier the simpler the drawing is.
If you need more help with this step, Silhouette has a great video that shows you how to do it. It even shows you how you can trace a photo. VERY COOL!
7) Once you have the image the way you want it, you can cut it like you would any other iron-on vinyl project. If you haven’t used iron-on vinyl before, this is a great tutorial.
The Siser Easyweed is one of the more durable brands you can buy. The heat transfer vinyl is also a little harder to weed than the other stuff, so it is nice to get something that makes it easier.
