How to Repair a Screen Print

how to repair a screen print

Before school started, I took my middle school daughter shopping for a few cute shirts that would help her feel confident at her new school.  She had previously been homeschooled, then attended a small Christian school for 5 years before moving to a large public school this year.  She was going to have enough things to be nervous about, and I didn’t want clothing to be one of them.

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The first shirt had a large screen print on the lower back that said “love” with a smaller matching print on the front pocket.  After the first washing it looked like this, sigh.  I didn’t keep my receipt or the tags, or it would have gone straight back to the store. (The front pocket still looked perfect.)  I tried to convince Heather that the worn look was “cool” but she didn’t agree and pronounced the shirt unwearable.

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I had some white acrylic craft paint in my stash, so decided to try painting the words back on with a brush by hand.  I could have taped it off first, but I have a really steady hand and didn’t want to take the time.

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Before painting, I slid a scrap piece of foam board (cardboard would have worked too) inside to keep the paint from seeping through to the front of the shirt.  It would have been a disaster if I had skipped that part. Then started painting.  I got a few drips of white paint on the navy blue shirt, but had rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs on hand to quickly clean up any accidents.

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It looks almost like new, especially from a distance.  The painted texture is a little stiffer, and the flakiness of the screen print is still there under the paint roughing up the texture.  I’m a little nervous about how it will wash with the screen print the way it is.  I’ll update you as soon as we give it a try.

I’ve used this paint for stenciling on clothing before and it washes well after it’s cured.  I will cure it by letting it dry for 24 hours, then ironing it with a steam cloth before washing.  When Heather came home from school and saw it, she was really happy!

 

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