Totoro T-shirt

 "We all need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it's not easy."

(Kiki's Delivery Service; 1989)         

Recently, my sister and I got into Studio Ghibli’s movies. If only we discovered them sooner! We watch one movie every Friday evening. So far we’ve seen: My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away,  Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, Secret World of Arrietty, Whisper of the Heart and Kiki’s Delivery Service and we’re glad there’s still so many to go. Thus, I came up with the idea to give my sister a T-shirt with Ghibli’s logo for Christmas. After little research I decided to make one instead of buying. My sister was so happy when she opened her present! So today I want to show how to make one yourself.

difficulty: easy
estimated time: 2 and a half hours (including drying)

You need:

• white T-shirt
• carbon paper sheet
• a printout of logo (in Downloadables)
• tape 
• a ball pen
• old newspapers
• a fabric marker
• an iron

Step by step:

1. Put the T-shirt on a hard surface. Put the carbon paper sheet in a right place on the T-shirt (with the copying side facing downwards), and put the printout of logo on it. Attach them to the T-shirt using tape.

2. Strongly pressing the pen, draw along the lines. Remember about every tiny line.

3. Remove the carbon paper and the template. Sorry for the low quality of my logo, but it turned out that the fabric of my T-shirt wasn’t very cooperative. But it wasn’t THAT bad, so I continued.

4. Put some old newspapers inside the T-shirt, under the place with logo, to prevent the paint from soaking through the fabric and staining the other side.

5. Using the fabric marker, draw along the lines. Before using the marker read the instructions – some of them need to be “put into operation” by pressing the writing part or the pump on the end.

6. Leave the T-shirt to dry for about 2 hours. I also added some soot sprites on the sleeves.

 

7. After this, fix the picture by ironing it on the other side for 5 minutes. And your t-shirt is ready to wear :)

Downloadables:
- Printable version (pdf)
- Logo Studia Ghibli

And here's little something to enjoy the crafting process even more : 

Next tutorial: Costume Party