DIY Hunger Games Shirts

As I mentioned earlier this week, I loved The Hunger Games books and am looking forward to seeing the movie this Sunday. To make the experience more fun, I invited a group to go see the movie together.  I told my friend Wendy that I was planning on making myself a shirt and she said she wanted one, too. Then my husband wanted one and before I knew it Wendy and I were making shirts for our entire group of eight.  After some brainstorming and failed ideas this is what we came up with.  These DIY Hunger Games shirts were pretty easy to make and ended up looking pretty awesome at just over $6 each.

Chose and cut out the stencil of your choice.  I chose the mockingjay symbol. Use an X-acto knife for more precise cuts.  Once you have your stencil prepared, lay it on top of some freezer paper (tacky side down) and cut around it so your stenciled item is duplicated on the freezer paper.

The next step is to iron the freeze paper stencil onto your shirt (tacky side down). Make sure you feed the shirt onto the ironing board as this ensures the freezer paper really adheres to the shirt.

Using a spray bottle filled with 1/2 water and 1/2 bleach, spray around the stencil in any pattern you desire.  Place cardboard or freezer paper inside of the shirt to prevent the bleach from soaking through to the back of the shirt. You will have more control over the design if you stand on a step stool and spray the shirt from above.  Evaluate your spray and make touch-ups as needed.  Wait 2-3 minutes and then carefully remove the freezer paper stencil from the shirt. Once the shirts have dried, toss them into the washer.  Move on to the next step after the shirts have been washed and dried.

Next I painted the arrows with gold glitter fabric paint. I did not go all the way across but rather painted the arrow as if it was behind the circle and the bird. Make sure to place something inside of the shirt so the paint does not seep though.

Once the front of the shirts were completed I moved on to the back. We used iron on adhesive, a die-cut machine, and white cloth but you can use any iron on product you want. Originally we planned on adding “District 12” to each shirt, but them I came up with the idea of selecting the best district for each person based on occupation or hobby.  I grew up fishing and love to fish so my shirt says District 4 (fishing district).  One shirt is for a friend woman who runs a large produce co-op and it says District 11 (agriculture). For a description of the different districts go here but beware of spoilers if you have not completed the series.

Here is the completed product. It took some time since we were making eight shirts while watching our kiddos but we really were satisfied with the results.

Click here for updated shirt back and a blue version as well.

I also lucked out since my friend Wendy is a wonderful baker and she decided to throw together some Hunger Games cupcakes for the heck of it. She made them super easy so even I could replicate them. That’s me wearing her District 9 shirt (grain district). Check out the cupcake below.  I am also including the image we used to make our mockingjay stencils.

 Hunger Games Cupcakes by Wendy at Around My Family Table

Here is the image for the stencil.