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Make Your Own Bernie Shirts and Signs

Updated on June 23, 2019
Virginia Allain profile image

Virginia is a passionate progressive and now leads a group of women activists in her retirement community. It's not safe to ignore politics.

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Save Money By Making Shirts and Signs Showing You Are a Bernie Sanders Supporter

Fans of Bernie Sanders are endlessly creative in supporting their favorite presidential candidate. They make their own signs and design t-shirts. Some do this because they're crafty and some are just thrifty. You can too. Here are some projects for you.

If a local march, phone bank party, rally or other Bernie Sanders' event is coming up soon, you'll want to get busy fixing your signs and figuring out what you are going to wear. Sometimes you just don't have time to order something or you can't find a design that fits what you want to say.You can too. Here are some projects for you.

Try some of the ideas below to make your own signs and t-shirts. You can do it. Here are some projects to get you started.

Convert your 2016 shirts to 2020

Make a photocopy of the shirt and cut out the paper 2020. Draw around it with a fine-line permanent marker, then fill in the center part by hand.
Make a photocopy of the shirt and cut out the paper 2020. Draw around it with a fine-line permanent marker, then fill in the center part by hand. | Source

Handmade Bernie Sign

This example shows a 2016 sign, but just adjust that for 2020.
This example shows a 2016 sign, but just adjust that for 2020. | Source

Painting Your Own Bernie Sign

Mackenzie Williams‎ on February 12·- I'm tired of having to see Trump signs in my neighbor's windows so I decided to use my artistic abilities to my advantage and paint a huge Bernie sign.

The picture above is not the finished result. I stuck it in my window and wrapped lights around the perimeter of the sign. All in all, let's just say there's now a totally huge Bernie sign on my street that's impossible to miss now.

Here's a Light Brigade in Action - Baltimore, Maryland

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Making Lighted Bernie Signs

Have you seen a lighted Bernie sign? A popular activity for Bernie Sanders supporters is to gather on a street corner with signs. They are getting increasingly sophisticated now with lighted Bernie signs that are especially eye-catching after dark. If you want to make a promotional sign, read on down the page.

This video shows the technique for making a neon look sign that can blink. The YouTube tutorial for this goes step-by-step, so I think the average person could do it. This kind is called an electroluminescent sign.

Here are suggestions for using the sign:

  • Choose a busy street corner and gather some friends for an evening. Hold up the flashing, lighted signs and wave at the passing cars. You can use painted signs too, but those are harder for someone to read from a moving car. You want to get people to Honk for Bernie or Beep for Bernie. It’s a way to get his name out to new people and to encourage those already committed to voting for him.
  • Another site to use the illuminated signs is on an overpass. Choose an overpass with a sidewalk so you are safe from traffic. Hold up your signs for the drivers to see as they approach to go under the overpass.
  • When you go to a festival or park in a mall lot at night, put the sign in the front or back window of your car. While you are in shopping, it will blink and attract attention from people passing by. It also makes it easy for you to find your car after shopping.
  • If your local ordinances allow, add stakes to feature the sign on your front lawn.

For a large sign, you can have five people, each holding a section.

The Overpass Light Brigade site has video instructions for making this kind of lighted sign.

Get some friends together for a work night and make the signs together. If everyone chips in $10, that should cover the cost of supplies. Look at the link above for what is needed to assemble these.


Participating in a Light Brigade Event

My friend from Baltimore participated in a Light Brigade event. She's the one waving on the right side (holding the B). I asked her if the panels were heavy. Here's her answer.

"Just unwieldy if you're trying to hold more than one and wave too! Gotta stabilize them so they don't fall. off the bridge wouldn't be good... Each two are hinged together though, so that helps. I'm not sure if they were a thin plywood or a pressboard material.. wasn't thinking that much about it then. Each one has it's own battery setup for the lights of that panel. Christmas tree lights, each light with its own drilled hole. Joe, the guy who created them, did an amazing job. Yes, I want to do it again. They've done it on the stretch of York Rd that crosses I-83 north of Towson.

Stenciling Bernie Logos onto Sheets for Marches and Rallies

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Stenciling a Large Sign

Eric from the Columbia Gorge 4 Bernie group made this amazing stencil out of a used piece of paneling! We are using it to spray-paint sheets at a sign-making event.

We were blown away that he brought this to our sign-making event! You could hang these sheets on the side of a house or office building or hang them from line tied between two trees in a park for an outdoor rally or a Bernie pot-luck gathering.

Another Friend Made Large Bernie Signs with Zazzle

With Zazzle, you upload your design and order a sign. If you are in a hurry, you can pay extra to expedite it. You can also take your design to a local print shop or an office supply place like Staples or Office Depot.
With Zazzle, you upload your design and order a sign. If you are in a hurry, you can pay extra to expedite it. You can also take your design to a local print shop or an office supply place like Staples or Office Depot. | Source

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Fred Thompson Made This Sign for the Back of His Truck

Here's how he did it: I made the sign with an overhead projector. Traced the image and painted it!
Here's how he did it: I made the sign with an overhead projector. Traced the image and painted it! | Source

Examples of Signs for a Rally or a March

Click thumbnail to view full-size
This sign would work great for an information table where you're handing out Bernie Sanders literature at an event or on a street corner.  Use a stencil or stick on letters from a discount store. Hand-painted sign at the rally in Kissimmee, Florida.
This sign would work great for an information table where you're handing out Bernie Sanders literature at an event or on a street corner.  Use a stencil or stick on letters from a discount store.
This sign would work great for an information table where you're handing out Bernie Sanders literature at an event or on a street corner. Use a stencil or stick on letters from a discount store. | Source
Hand-painted sign at the rally in Kissimmee, Florida.
Hand-painted sign at the rally in Kissimmee, Florida. | Source
Source
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Awesome Scrap Cardboard Letters Spell Out BERNIE

Read the story behind these letters (below). They are created by a homeless man in Los Angeles.
Read the story behind these letters (below). They are created by a homeless man in Los Angeles. | Source

The Homeless Man Who Makes Cardboard Bernie Letters

Mary Jane tells about these, "There is a homeless man who lives down the street from me, he creates all sorts of different Bernie art that blows me away.

He made these 3D Bernie letters from cardboard boxes. He's not often there, but I stopped to talk to him once and he was very adamant that we need Bernie to win to make real change in this world and we talked about how terrible TPP is ...

I'm so moved and motivated to keep fighting for him and all of us.... We ALL need this revolution!"

Make a Bernie Shirt to Wear

Iron-On Letters - Horizontal BERNIE Design

This inexpensive shirt gets the Bernie treatment with iron-on letters from the fabric department.
This inexpensive shirt gets the Bernie treatment with iron-on letters from the fabric department. | Source

Steps for Ironing On the Letters for the Bernie Shirt

Click thumbnail to view full-size
Start with a cotton t-shirt or a cotton-blend shirt that can stand up to the heat of an iron. You can see that this one was quite inexpensive.
Start with a cotton t-shirt or a cotton-blend shirt that can stand up to the heat of an iron. You can see that this one was quite inexpensive.
Start with a cotton t-shirt or a cotton-blend shirt that can stand up to the heat of an iron. You can see that this one was quite inexpensive. | Source

Margaret and Her Homemade Bernie Shirt

Bernie hugged me and my daughter and told me how much he loved our homemade Bernie shirts. I got to sit in the second row!!!! I also met Jane Sanders and Nina Turner.
Bernie hugged me and my daughter and told me how much he loved our homemade Bernie shirts. I got to sit in the second row!!!! I also met Jane Sanders and Nina Turner. | Source

Margaret Ellen Bradford - I've had a few people message to ask if I am selling shirts. I am not. I just used an iron on transfer. Anyone who was interested in purchasing one, I encourage you to make it yourself for $5, and then donate the other $10 it would cost to buy this shirt over to the Sanders' campaign!

If you do decide to make your own shirt, please remember to mirror the image so it is backwards when you print it on the transfer, so it comes out correctly when you place it on the shirt!

Use a Design from Your Computer to Print, Then Iron-On a Shirt

Avery Printable Heat Transfer Paper for Dark Fabrics, 8.5" x 11", Inkjet Printer, 5 Iron On Transfers (3279)
Avery Printable Heat Transfer Paper for Dark Fabrics, 8.5" x 11", Inkjet Printer, 5 Iron On Transfers (3279)
This iron-on transfer works with an inkjet printer and a dark t-shirt. It comes with five sheets in the pack, so you can apply the design onto five shirts. If you want a really big design, you can print half on one transfer and half on another, then line them up to iron onto the shirt. That's a bit tricky. Click on through to Amazon if you want to see transfer sheets to use on white shirts.
 

Another Design with Iron-On Letters

Check the craft section at stores like Walmart or the big-box craft stores for plain colored t-shirts. These are often budget priced.
Check the craft section at stores like Walmart or the big-box craft stores for plain colored t-shirts. These are often budget priced. | Source

Steps for Ironing-On Bernie on a T-Shirt

Click thumbnail to view full-size
Find iron-on letters in the craft section at Walmart or a fabric store or craft store. Try out different arrangements of the letters to suit yourself. Read the directions for how long to apply the iron and what temperature to use. For these letters, you peel off the backing, position them on the fabric, then cover with a cloth before placing the iron on them. The instructions said to use the "cotton" setting on a steam iron.
Find iron-on letters in the craft section at Walmart or a fabric store or craft store.
Find iron-on letters in the craft section at Walmart or a fabric store or craft store. | Source
Try out different arrangements of the letters to suit yourself.
Try out different arrangements of the letters to suit yourself.
Read the directions for how long to apply the iron and what temperature to use.
Read the directions for how long to apply the iron and what temperature to use.
For these letters, you peel off the backing, position them on the fabric, then cover with a cloth before placing the iron on them.
For these letters, you peel off the backing, position them on the fabric, then cover with a cloth before placing the iron on them.
The instructions said to use the "cotton" setting on a steam iron.
The instructions said to use the "cotton" setting on a steam iron.

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Colorful Hand-Crafted Shirt Design

I took this photo at the Kissimmee, Florida rally for Bernie Sanders in March 2016.
I took this photo at the Kissimmee, Florida rally for Bernie Sanders in March 2016. | Source

Steps for Making the Shirt Pictured Below

  • Get a t-shirt and a tube of fabric paint. You might already have a shirt on-hand that you can use.
  • Try on the shirt and determine the section where you want your message.
  • Remove the shirt and place it on a flat surface.
  • Put newspaper or cardboard inside the shirt in case the paint seeps through.
  • Decide what you want to write or draw on the shirt. Sketch it out with a pencil on some paper first to practice and decide on the spacing.
  • Test the paint on some paper first to get a feel for how it flows out.
  • Write your words or draw your graphic.
  • Leave the shirt flat for a number of hours for the paint to dry. Check the instructions on the paint for this.
  • Enjoy your newly created, one-of-a-kind Bernie Sanders shirt.

Use Fabric Paint to Decorate a Bernie T-Shirt

It took just a short time to make this, using a squeeze tube of fabric paint and a plain t-shirt.
It took just a short time to make this, using a squeeze tube of fabric paint and a plain t-shirt. | Source

© 2016 Virginia Allain

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