Tutorial: Mermaids have more Fun + free printable

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Okay, so a little-known fact about me is that I kind of have a thing about mermaids. If I had three grand to drop, you’d better believe I’d buy one of these babies. So it’s not much of a surprise that one of my first ever pins on Pinterest was probably the one of the t-shirt with the phrase “Mermaids have more fun” stamped on front with a sea star and the sea shell standing in for a couple of letters. I’ve been wanting that shirt for a long time but haven’t been able to find it *for a decent price* anywhere!

So you know what that means…

TUTORIAL TIME!

 hat: forever 21 // shirt: me // pants: gap (purchased from plato’s closet, similar here) // flannel: charlotte russe (old) // bracelets: a lil’ bit of fancy

You will need:

“mermaids have more fun” printable via susanstange.com
t-shirt (purchased from hobby lobby, size xl)
fabric paint
foam brush
freezer paper
x-acto knife
iron with steam setting
*check directions on fabric paint
piece of cardboard

First, print off my “Mermaids have more Fun” graphic for free-fitty-free! My graphic is 6x6 inches, but I printed it out on an 8.5x11” piece of paper.

Trace the printable onto the matte side of some freezer paper (the side that is NOT shiny/waxy) and place that on top of the piece of cardboard. Use the X-Acto knife to very carefully trace and cut out the letters (keep letter and sea creature interiors).

Cut another piece of freezer paper the same size as your printable freezer paper. Place a piece of cardboard inside your t-shirt with the freezer paper face up (shiny/waxy-side up) on top of the cardboard. Place your cut out freezer paper printable on top of your t-shirt in the position you want and make sure it’s aligned with the freezer paper underneath. Then iron the freezer paper printable (no steam) on to your shirt. The printable freezer paper will fuse to the freezer paper underneath the t-shirt without sticking to it permanently. Place the letter and sea creature interiors in their proper positions and iron them too. Make sure the freezer paper is securely fused to the t-shirt (we don’t want any fabric paint leaking where it’s not supposed to)!

Following the directions on your fabric paint, use a foam brush to dab the paint onto your t-shirt, filling in the letters and sea creatures. The directions on my fabric paint then told me to let the paint dry for a time. Then I removed the freezer paper and used the steam setting on my iron to “set” the paint onto my shirt (per directions on my fabric paint bottle).

And voila! I finally have my Dream Pinterest shirt!

All photos are c/o Mariasha Rowland Photography

One day, when I am a millionaire, I will buy one of those mermaid tails!