Okay, so I had this idea floating around in my head for a bit – making a 7-11 shirt. Don’t ask me why, sometimes these things just pop up, you know? Seemed like a funny, kinda random thing to have. So, this weekend, I finally decided to just do it.
Getting Started
First thing, I needed a blank shirt. Dug through my closet and found a plain white t-shirt. Perfect. Didn’t want anything fancy, just a basic tee. White seemed like the best background for the logo anyway.
Next up, the actual design. Obviously, the 7-11 logo. I hopped on my computer and searched for a decent image of it. Found a pretty clean one, nothing too complicated. Saved that to my desktop.
The Actual Making Part
Now, how to get it onto the shirt? I thought about fabric paint, but my hands aren’t that steady, figured it would end up looking like a mess. Screen printing felt like way too much effort for a one-off shirt. So, I went with the old classic: iron-on transfer paper. Had some lying around from another project ages ago.
Here’s what I did:
- Checked the transfer paper instructions. Mine was for light fabrics, which was good since my shirt was white.
- Important step: I had to mirror the logo image before printing. Almost forgot that! If you print it normally, it’ll be backward on the shirt. Used a basic image editor to flip it horizontally.
- Printed the flipped logo onto the shiny side of the transfer paper. My printer decided to be difficult, took a couple of tries to get the colors looking okay. Nothing major, just typical printer annoyances.
- Let the ink dry for a bit, like the instructions said. Didn’t want smudges.
- Then I carefully cut out the logo, leaving a tiny border. Tried to make it neat.
Ironing Time
This is where you gotta be patient. Got the ironing board out, set the iron to the right temperature (no steam!). Placed the cut-out logo face down on the shirt, right where I wanted it. Chest area, slightly off-center maybe? Eyeballed it.
Then, started ironing. Pressed down firmly, moving the iron around constantly over the paper backing for a minute or two. Made sure to get the edges real good. You have to apply pretty decent pressure.
Waited for it to cool down a bit – not completely cold, but warm. Then, slowly, carefully, started peeling the paper backing off. It came off pretty clean, actually! The logo was stuck right there on the fabric.
The Result
And there it was. My very own 7-11 shirt. It looks… well, it looks homemade, haha. It’s not like official merchandise or anything, you can tell it’s an iron-on. But that’s kinda the point, right? It’s got character.
So yeah, that was my little project. Took maybe an hour total, not counting the digging for the shirt and fighting with the printer. Pretty simple, kinda satisfying to make something yourself, even if it’s just a goofy shirt.
