Simple, Homemade And Upcycled Smock Project

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At the request of my daughter (and my delight), we do a lot of projects. A lot. Some simple and some quite messy. And when things are going to get messy, mom insists on a smock – of sorts.

Ever the “green” mom instead of purchasing a smock for art projects, I rescued one of my husband’s old undershirts from the trash. Sure it has a few tiny holes, but for an over-sized smock that covers my daughter’s entire outfit it works great. The problem – the undershirt turned smock often gets mixed back in with my husband’s undershirts in the laundry.

The need to clearly differentiate K’s smock from the rest of the pack, lead to its own project – decorating an art smock.

Materials:

  • Upcycled shirt, of any kind
  • Crayola fabric pens
  • Newspaper
  • Iron

Crayola Fabric Markers DIY Art Smock

After sliding newspaper into the shirt (to prevent color from bleeding through), I let K loose on the shirt with the markers.  Thrilled to be allowed to write on her shirt, after very clear rules about general marker usage, I sat back as she created her masterpiece.

While I waited, I also read the instructions on the package. Good thing too because the fabric markers are not officially set until you iron the design (inside out on a cool setting) then toss into the dryer (alone) for 30 minutes on medium. Zoinks that could have been a laundry disaster!

Once she was satisfied with her creation (at least for now), I set to work “setting” the design. I have a feeling this will be a work in progress and foresee future requests to add on to her smock. In the mean time, she has wearable art to protect her clothes from accidental art disasters that will no longer be mistake as just another undershirt.

DIY Homemade Art Smock for Kids Craft

(Note: Ironically, this project requires the use of two shirt smocks, one to decorate and one to wear while decorating. Because, of course, fabric markers are not washable!)

The Crayola fabric pens come in bright for darks. Although the pens we have are clearly intended for dark color fabrics, we used them with easy on a white t-shirt too.

This is an easy and fun project that is both green and practice too.

Crayola Prize Pack

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Disclosure: The information, products and additional Crayola Back-to-School gift pack was provided by Crayola® through MyBlogSpark.

89 thoughts on “Simple, Homemade And Upcycled Smock Project”

  14. I would help my girls decorate shirts, aprons, anything we can find really and then give the stuff we make to family for Christmas:D

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