Doily Heart Stencil T-Shirts

I saw this Valentine's Day kids craft idea last year in Family Fun magazine, but we didn't get around to it in time.  That turned out for the best though because this year the girls had an opportunity to do it with their grandmother, and now they all have coordinating shirts they can wear together on Valentine's Day.
Here are some tips we found for making this project go smoothly with kids:



1.  Place a large piece of cardboard in between the two layers of t-shirt to keep the paint from bleeding to the other side. Also, if the cardboard is large enough, it will help to keep the fabric from being wrinkly and difficult to deal with.

2.  If you don't have fabric paint, acrylic works just fine.  The only real difference is that fabric paint dries softer and more flexible, but they both work.

3.  Position the doily closer to the top of the t shirt than the middle.  It looks better on the person when it is worn that way.

4.  Roll a small piece of tape and place it under the doily to help keep it from moving around while you are dabbing on the paint.

5.  We used two layers of paint for the inside lacey part of the stencil and a single layer on the outside.  The outside feathery look gives the image a little depth.

6.  Add iron on appliques for extra fun!

Have you tried this project with your kids?  Any fun creative twists or helpful tips?