DIY Mama, Papa and Baby Bear Family T-Shirts

By the time I hit my third trimester I was in serious nesting mode. With Annabelle’s nursery complete, I was going stir crazy and turned my attention to crafting. I had seen pictures of mama bear t-shirts on Pinterest and Etsy, but couldn’t bring myself to spend the money on them.

Me being me, I decided to make my own using my Silhouette Portrait. Since I already owned the heat transfer vinyl and the baby onesie, the total project cost was only $6. Even if you had to buy everything, the total project cost would be less than $40 (and you’d have 4 extra onesies!)

In this post I’ll share:

The mama, papa and baby bear design files I used,
Sources for the t-shirts,
A quick tutorial, and
A full supply list.

The Designs – $3

I thought about designing my own files, but when I found these cute already complete designs by Sweet Afton on the Silhouette Design Store I decided to take the easy route and just buy them. You can’t beat $3!

Mama Bear Cut File, Silhouette Design Store
Papa Bear Cut File, Silhouette Design Store
Papa Bear Cut File, Silhouette Design Store

I was worried that the scripty font was too girly for Andrew’s shirt but he assured me it wasn’t and that he’d wear it. (But at that point I was pretty emotional so maybe he knew I’d cry if he said he wouldn’t!)

The T-Shirts – $6

One of the benefits to making my own shirts was that I got to hand pick all the t-shirts and sizes. I started this project over Memorial Day weekend, so I got some killer sale deals on the t-shirts.

Michaels was having a sale on their tees, so I snagged Andrew’s shirt for $2.99. Old Navy was having a tank sale, so I scored my tank for $3. For Annie, I had a leftover newborn onesie from another project I’d done, so I just used that!

Here are links to the products I used:

Tee for Dad – Gildan Short Sleeve Adult T-Shirt – Heather Military Green, Michaels
Onesie for Baby – Gerber Unisex Baby Onesies, Amazon
Tank for Mom – Old Navy High-Neck Swing Tank

Most of these aren’t on sale right now, but if you’re planning on making t-shirts I recommend waiting for a good sale and stocking up when you find a deal!

The Tutorial

If you’re doing this tutorial I assume you have basic working knowledge on how to size and cut a file using your silhouette. If you haven’t worked with heat transfer vinyl before, I recommend checking out this blog post on Silhouette Heat Transfer Vinyl Tutorial for Beginners from Silhouette School Blog.

Here’s a quick run through of how to make the shirts.

Purchase the design files from Silhouette Design Store.
Open in Silhouette design software and adjust to the appropriate size.
!!IMPORTANT!! Mirror the design. (If you don’t the design will be backwards!)
Cut out your design files using the Silhouette.
Weed your design.
Follow the instructions on your heat transfer vinyl and iron the design on to your t-shirt.
Wear proudly!

This is our little family wearing our shirts!