How To Design A T-Shirt On Canva

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Last updated on 26 March 2025

It wasn’t until I was writing this post here about things you might know you can make in Canva that I discovered I could learn how to design a t-shirt in Canva! Not only that, but I could get it printed right there from the website itself without having to leave it. Canva really upping its game (again!).

I’ve had a lot of fun playing around with potential t-shirt designs since then, and while I’ve only ever had one printed (it was Pirates of the Caribbean themed, just in case you were wondering), I can see so much potential for future projects!

And lucky for us all (especially those of us who maybe aren’t designers!), it’s really simple to create a design, choose a size and colour for your t-shirt, and hit that ‘order’ button!

How to design a t-shirt on Canva

Create a Canva account
Choose a template or start from scratch
Create your design
Make sure it’s print-ready
Choose which colour t-shirt and size you’d like
Order your shirt
Wait patiently for it to arrive & wear with pride!

Create a Canva account

If you don’t have a Canva account, now is the time to make one. I highly recommend the pro version, but you can design a t-shirt in Canva for free.

You just need to create your account with an email and password. Easy as!

Choose a template or start from scratch

Now that you have your Canva account ready to go, you can search for t-shirt in the search bar.

What you’ll see is a bunch of different t-shirt templates (like below) that you can use or you can start from scratch with a blank ‘t-shirt’ which is right at the beginning of the line up of templates. This is going to be the right size that you need it to be to start your design.

Create your design

Go to town! Create your design however you’d like. Just remember: There are limited colour options (2025) for the t-shirts themselves: black, grey, dark grey or white. So keep that in mind when you’re creating your design.

You could use:

Different fonts
Elements on Canva
Images on Canva
Ones that you’ve uploaded yourself
Fun things like QR codes or graphs

The world is your design oyster! Remember that really small, tiny details may not come out as well in the print.

Make sure it’s print-ready

When you have it ready, make sure it’s ready to be printed. You’re going to need to check things like:

The Margins: Make sure the design doesn’t go to close to the edge of the white space. You can generally check this when you see it on a human as you’re choosing your t-shirt colour and size etc.
Colours: Make sure that the colours are all going to work with your designs and with the t-shirt colour you’re choosing
Contrast: Is there enough contrast on your design? Yellow on white, for example, needs to be a dark yellow, otherwise it might be tricky to see

Choose which colour t-shirt and size you’d like

You’ll be able to see what it’s going to look like when you choose which colour t-shirt you’d like (black, grey, dark grey or white) and what size you’re going to have. There is a sizing chart, too, which means you can either measure yourself or your fave t-shirt to get a size that works for you. Below is a screenshot of the colours and sizing, and the people wearing your design.

Note: If you’re not happy with the colours on offer with Canva, download your design as a PNG with a transparent background and use a Print On Demand website to upload your design and print it on a colour t-shirt of your choosing.

Order your shirt

When you’re happy with your design and your t-shirt, order it! Canva will grab your design and make sure that it’s printed on the colour and size of the t-shirt that you have ordered.

Wait patiently for it to arrive & wear with pride!

When it arrives, unbox with excitement, try it on and marvel that you’ve just designed a t-shirt in Canva! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I think my one took about a week to get to me.

Why would you want to create a t-shirt on Canva

There are so many reasons you might want to create a t-shirt on Canva. I ended up doing it just for fun, but here are some other ideas:

Personalised gifts: Create a t-shirt for birthdays, anniversaries, or special occasions.
Family reunions: This would be so much fun! Imagine the photos!
Business branding: Promote your blog, business, or side hustle with custom merch. I’ve actually done this before, too! I have a This Splendid Shambles t-shirt.
Events and celebrations: Whether it’s a bachelorette party (or a hens party as we say in New Zealand), wedding, or baby shower, custom t-shirts would be a lot of fun for an event.
Share your hobby: Show off your love for books, travel, coffee … whatever!
Fundraisers or awareness campaigns: If you’re running a fundraiser, this would be an easy way to get custom t-shirts.
Inside jokes and/or funny quotes: Bring the lols with a t-shirt with a hilarious quote or meme.
Matching group outfits: Great for vacations, friend trips, or work retreats!
Just for fun! Because sometimes, you just want a t-shirt that speaks to your mood or personality.

🎨 10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Create in Canva

And there you have it! Hopefully, you can now see just how easy it is to design a t-shirt on Canva – and it doesn’t take long to get to you either. Whether you’re making a shirt for yourself, your family or friends, for event … it’s so easy to do!

Now tell me: what kind of t-shirt would you love to create with Canva? Drop your ideas in the comments!