Here’s a story from LaFraise that doesn’t leave the North American contingent of the readership feeling left out. Their Seattle-based (IIRC) blogger, J3concepts, has put together a nice round-up of Adobe Illustrator tutorials he’s found on the tutorial website Tutorialized. The tutorials aren’t necessarily geared towards t-shirt design, but they could be pretty helpful if you’re still getting to grips with the features in Illustrator. Heck, these tuts may even turn me into a t-shirt designer!

And don’t forget, you can still get 25% off your order at LaFraise by entering the coupon code LFSALES08 in the checkout.

Illustrator Tutorials Roundup @ LaFraise

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Tags » adobe illustrator • Coupon Codes • design • DIY • howto • illustrator • j3concepts • lafraise • resource • T-shirts • tutorials

If you’re starting out in the tee game, and you’ve got ideas but don’t know how to get them onto your computer screen, then A Better Tomorrow (the German design contest and streetwear store) are here to help you. Andre (which is so much cooler than my way of spelling our name) has compiled a list of t-shirt design tutorials that should be able to getting you on track to creating a design that will be horribly mocked by people in Threadless submission critiques.

Google translate has actually done a pretty good job of converting this from ABTs native German, so it doesn’t read like an abstract poem.

Shirt design tutorials on the A Better Tomorrow Blog

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Tags » a better tomorrow • design • DIY • german • howto • list • resource • tutorials

If you want to learn how to screen print from anyone, a company that makes really cool tees is a pretty good choice. I’ve never attempted screen printing, but I’d imagine that if I were going to give it a go then I’d need a fair amount of instruction, and my SpideyAndy-sense is telling me that Print Liberation team have the skills to make a pretty looking book.Costiness=$25 Link (Amazon Link)

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Tags » book • books • DIY • howto • print liberation • screen printing • screenprinting

That title is fairly well laced with snark, but its only meant in jest, Johnny Cupcakes is an inspiration to a lot of small clothing brand owners, and he seems like a nice guy too.One of the nice things that he does is give out advice to pretty much anyone that asks. The latest example of this can be found on Emptees, where Johnny has posted about how he runs some parts of his business. If you follow JC (the man and the brand) as closely as I do then there probably won’t be too much that is new to you, but if you’re thinking “who on earth is this man/delicious baked treat hybrid?” then click on through, but be warned, its a pretty long read.

Johnny Cupcakes lays some knowledge on Emptees [Photo Credit: Sean Future]

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Tags » DIY • howto • johnny cupcakes • resources

If you don’t get the title, Ashlee Simpson/Wentz is pregnant (right?) so… in a few months there’ll be baby puke on her clothes, not paint, and given the choice, I’d prefer paint to puke. I think this is actually a pretty cool looking t-shirt, you could really have some fun if you were making one of these up for yourself, and you’d always end up with a unique tee.

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Tags » Ashlee Simpson • Celebrities • DIY • paint • T-shirts • white

At first I thought “ha, cool”, but then I realised that this would likely be a bit of a nightmare, there’s a reason why people don’t make carpets like t-shirts. I’m not ragging on the crafter since its a cool project, but I can’t imagine it lasting very well. If I were to attempt something similar (and if I were to have a HYA-only office, I think I probably would) I’d lay the tees on the floor and then have a thick layer of glass or perspex raised up a couple of inches above it. That’s probably overkill, but hey, you know it would look awesome.T-Shirt Rug @ Instructables

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Tags » DIY • instructables • project • recycle • rug • T-shirts

After seeing rather a lot of sub-par t-shirt videos being posted to YouTube (and therefore my new baby, TeeBurst), I felt that I needed to raise my spirits by finding some videos that were actually worth a few minutes of your time.

1. Justice - D.A.N.C.E: I thought I’d kick off the list with one of my favourite French DJ duos of the moment, Justice, and their amazing music video for D.A.N.C.E which features loads of clever CGI’d tees. I’m amazed that no one has ever released these designs as I’m sure they’d be popular with more than just fans of Justice.
2. The Most T-shirts Ever Worn At Once: There are two videos on YouTube claiming to hold the record for most t-shirts ever worn, one posted by an American radio station, and this one posted by the Guinness Book of World Records… I know who I’m going with (that and the 155 tees to 244 tees discrepancy).
3. How To Fold A T-Shirt: I think this video is proof that I am so manly, I actually need to watch a video to teach me how to fold a shirt! In reality I actually watched it several times before nailing the technique completely, and it has turned into a great space saver for my ever-growing collection of t-shirts.
4. How to Screenprint T-Shirts by Make Magazine: There are lots of tutorials out there showing you how to make your own t-shirts, but Make’s video (with some help from Etsy) is a bit more professional than most out there.
5. How To Stencil Your Own T-Shirts: If you want to design your own tees but aren’t ready to take the leap into screenprinting, the Threadbanger crew have you well covered with this great instructional video about how to stencil your own t-shirts.
6. The human flipbook: Already HYA featured, but still worth another viewing. How this is promotion for a sandwich shop I don’t know, but it is cool!
Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri on Vimeo.
7. Connected Ventures Lip Dub: I’m stretching a bit with this one, but I couldn’t really have a list of videos without putting in a lip dub, could I? Here, the Connected Ventures crew (the people behind BustedTees and Defunker & some other non-tee related sites) lip dub to HarveyDanger’s “Flagpole Sitta,” and trust me, it’s awesome, and kinda makes me wish that I worked in a cool office.
8. Spreadshirt’s Hands Per Piece: A very, very cool video from the Spreadshirt team showing just how many people are involved with the production of a tee from Spreadshirt. Its reassuring to see how much effort goes into the creation of one of their garments, considering when people usually think of POD services they imagine them to be a rather soulless process.
9. T-Shirt Folding Machine: If #3 was too much effort for you then this t-shirt folding machine might be for you (providing you aren’t too lazy to make one). This is a pretty cool promo by All-Tribes too.
10. Origami T-Shirt: Here’s a video showing you how to make an origami t-shirt out of a £5 note. May I suggest that you try this with a regular piece of paper first?Do you know of any other cool t-shirt related videos? Post ‘em if you got ‘em.

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Tags » DIY • folding • Justice • list • Lists • printing • record • storage • t-shirt • video • youtube

Instrucables, a sort of how-to/DIY site that I may have mentioned in the past, is hosting a contest all able T-shirt hacks. I know there are lots of smart people out there that have major skills when it comes to making a t-shirt look a lot less like a t-shirt, and whether you’re interested in adding your idea (what? there are people that don’t use a t-shirt as a strainer when making jam!) or just looking for a bit of inspiration, its worth a click through to the entries. The prizes do seem to be somewhat lacking, but I don’t think this is a major Instructable contest.Instructables T-shirt hacks contest

[Note: I've never used a t-shirt as a strainer when making jam, though in an emergency situation it may well work]

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Tags » competition • DIY • hack • instructables • t-shirt

Check it out:

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Tags » DIY • fashion week • nyc • threadbanger • video

Lindsey from Threadbanger dropped me a line to show off their awesome new tees. I can’t see them for sale on their site, but hey, this is Threadbanger, just go make your own!They’ve also got a new Thread Heads episode available, there’s way too many names for me to mention this week, so either just watch the embed (below) or read about it here.

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Tags » craft • DIY • t-shirt • threadbanger • video