We have a trip planned for Walt Disney World in Florida next spring. We very much enjoy wearing matchy-shirts, and the homemade kind are especially up our alley.
While we have some plans to make Mickey-head tie-dyes for the whole family, I wanted to make these crown shirts for the ladies in our traveling part: me, my sister, my mom, and all four girls. The day we wear these, the gentlemen will all wear their GM/Chevrolet t-shirts. My mom and sister found their own tanks at Kohls.
I started with picking up white t-shirts at the end of the summer whenever I saw them. I managed to get nicely made shirts for Marie, John, the boys, and I at JCP for $4 each. I found the younger girls’ shirts at WalMart for $3 and $4 a piece, depending on the size. I stored them in my closet until the timing was right. And as Columbus Day found my sister with the day off AND a forecast of 70○, we decided to squeeze in an art project!
I found a crown shape online. I picked this one because it wasn’t too delicate or detailed, but it definitely conveyed “crown.”
I printed it on cardstock and cut it out. I did a slightly smaller version for the two youngest girls.
I traced it onto contact paper.
And cut them out.
When we were ready to make the shirt I laid them down on a clean, dry surface (not always easy to find in our house!) and adhered the crowns as straight as I could. (They look great.)
The girls and my sister and I went to town with hundreds of little star stickers.
We set up two folding tables in the grass and put down tablecloths for the Dollar Tree to protect them
We stuffed the shirts with plastic bags.
Now – I have to take the time to talk about the product we used.
When I made the same style shirt in 2007, I used this product:
It worked GREAT. These days, they go for about $8.00 each at Michael’s. I couldn’t find them any cheaper on Amazon, either. I estimated I’d need about 8 of them. Now, if I had time to visit Michael’s 8 times, I could have saved 50% on each bottle. However, I don’t have that kind of time (who does?) and I didn’t want to spend $60+ on dye.
I saw this product while I was visiting the store. It was $30. With my 50% off coupon I got it for $15. Problem solved!
Except there were issues. Plenty of them. Reviews on Amazon are mixed, but some folks said as long as you are careful to unlock the bottles properly they would work fine. So, as I prepared the bottles by adding in water I was careful to unlock each bottle carefully.
We took the dye outside where the plan was I would do the first shirt and we’d see how it went.
Well – problem A was that blue didn’t work even though I unlocked it properly. We found an old spray bottle in the house and used that for green.
Marie left hers to me, and Tabitha did her own. It was way too messy for Johanna. The bottles leaked EVERYWHERE, and it wasn’t long before another color bit the dust. I switched out the sprayers and that worked for a few minutes, and then when I went to switch it back it broke, as well.
Problem B came up when I read the directions that could only be accessed by ripping OPEN the box. The dyes were only most active for 45 minutes. Um… how then were we to do the backs?
Kelly kept the girls busy as I finished up.
Problem C was they were more than a little messy.
The boys helped us carry the tables into the garage. I forgot to take a photo of that. I went to Michael’s with another 50% coupon and bought another package.
The next day I flipped them all over and did the backs myself. I also bought a handful of spray bottles for $1 each to use if/when the sprayers broke. Well, they broke alright. But the problem with the sprayers I bought was they sprayed too wide or too fast. The too fast mode saturated the fabric and the dye went UNDER our star stickers. Problem 4 (although not related directly to the product, it only happened because the product stunk.)
Wednesday, Marie and I worked for well over an hour removing the stickers.
I think they came out really well.
There is an extra one a size between Tabitha and Johanna so Hanny could grow into it, potentially, if we wanted to wear them another time in a later year.
If I do these again I will either use the original product, or try this new one I saw the second time I went to Michael’s.
Dayspring Disciples 
