DIY Kids Graduation Shirt

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Happy Friday Everyone! Whew. The end of the school year is quickly approaching. My daughter is in kindergarten now, but I remember last year where her last week of preschool was a bittersweet week with my daughter. I always knew that day would come, but the emotional side of it didn’t prepare me on what I felt. The feeling of my daughter growing up and yes…I did get a little teary eyed because that feeling was overwhelming.

However, on the last day of school, my daughter wanted me to make her a last day of school shirt, even though I had her whole outfit planned…she had different plans. In the back of my mind, I thought, “why are you telling me this now, on the morning of,” and then another thought popped up, “this will be my chance to make her something for her last day of preschool.” So, I brainstormed and made her a shirt.

First, I looked up some free images and found nothing that was really cute or that fit what she wanted, so that is when I turned to my usual store….Etsy. When I looked up some SVG images through Etsy, I found this cute Unicorn Pre-K Graduation SVG. When I asked my daughter if she liked it, she gleamed with excitement and said yes. Then, came the next problem. I thought that I didn’t have enough vinyl to make the design, but turns out that I did (thank goodness).

So second, I turned on my Cricut machine and cut the design in these different colored vinyls: black glitter (for the eyes, the outline for the ears, and the graduation cap), light pink (for the Pre-K letters and the inside of the ears), and yellow (for the horn, the tassle, and the Graduate letters). When the design was cut, I weeded everything out and I did have to cut some things so that way when I went to layer everything, it would line up. Third, I started my iron and placed the t-shirt onto a cardboard cutout of a youth shirt. Then, I layered the design to make sure that everything lined up and that it looked okay.

Finally, I started from the bottom layer (the graduation cap) and started layering from the bottom to the top (tassle, eyes, Graduate letters, Pre-k letters, the inside of ears, and horn). When the ironing was done, I made sure that the vinyl was on there good, let it cool down a little, then had my daughter put it on. Let’s just say that she was smiling so much because she had her last day of school shirt on plus it was something that she was looking forward to.

As a mom, it was a moment that I will never forget because I was able to make something that she thought of that she wanted. Seeing her smile so much and so happy, it warms my heart so much. Plus, when she gets so excited that she jumbles her words, but then when she speaks and says, “Thank you mommy!”…there is no better feeling than that.

When I picked her up from school, I had a little last day of school gift for her. It consisted of a little kitty graduate balloon, her two favorite candy, a coloring book, and a little toy. I asked her how her day was and if she liked her shirt and she replied that she showed it to her teachers and to her friends which they all loved. So, I will take the bittersweet day as a victory that I got to make my daughter smile and happy.

Now, update on the shirt…it is still going strong, even with washing. So, with this design, you will need a Cricut machine and when you turn it on, make sure it is on the iron-on setting. Then, you have to make sure that your vinyl is always on the shiny side down. Other than that, there you have it. I am sure that you can use white iron-on transfer paper if you don’t have a Cricut, but I have not tried it.

Welp friends, that is it for this post and I hope you enjoyed this little DIY project. Now, it is time for me to start brainstorming on a last day of kindergarten shirt. Ah…#momlife. Anyway, if you have made your child’s school t-shirts, I would love to hear about them. I also have the design up on my shop over at Need Mom Creation.  As always, I hope you all have a great week/weekend and I will see you in the next post!

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Featured In: DIY, Mom Life | Tips | February 22, 2020
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