Freezer Paper Stencil...

I first heard about freezer paper stenciling off of this GREAT blog MADE. Dana has tons of awesome tutorials of how to repurpose old adult clothing into kids clothes. She's amazing, and you should definitely check her blog out.

Anywho...last night I finally got to it, and made an anchor stencil out of freezer paper, and made this cute little onesie for little man...

It's certainly not perfect, there are a couple pretty big boo-boos at the bottom of the design...but not too bad for a first attempt, eh?

Here are the basic steps for creating a stencil out of freezer paper...

a. Make sure you get Freezer Paper!!! Wax paper will stick to the t-shirt when you try to remove it, and parchment paper just won't stick. Freezer paper is the stuff your local butcher uses to wrap up meat, fish, etc. It's matte on one side and shiny on the other, and available at your grocery store.

b. Trace your design onto your freezer paper. I used a light box, but I would think if you're design is really dark, you may be able to see enough to trace onto your freezer paper. You can also just free hand your design onto the freezer paper directly.

c. Cut out your design out with an exacto knife or scissors. Remember that you're wanting to create a stencil so anything that isn't covered by stencil will get painted. In my anchor stencil I had to cut out a circle for the top

d. Shiny side down, iron your stencil onto your fabric with a medium - high iron (no steam). Make sure you iron down all of the edges, knooks, and crannies of your stencil to keep paint from seeping through. I obviously didn't do a great job at ironing on my stencil, hence the boo boos...ha.

e. Using permanent fabric paint (I used the Tulip brand. Michaels, Joanns, and Hobby Lobby should all carry it) paint your fabric making sure to paint all edges and using even smooth strokes. I only needed to paint 1 coat of paint on this guy, but if several coats are needed, wait a couple hours between coats.

f. Let your fabric dry overnight or at least several hours before peeling your stencil off. It should come off pretty easily.

g. To finish and seal the paint onto your fabric, cover the design with a cloth and iron it (leaving the iron on your design for around 30 seconds or so).

Voila...you're finished! In my unprofessional opinion :) this was really a relatively easy project, and I can't wait to stencil again! For a more detailed tutorial on freezer paper stenciling, check out Dana's tutorial HERE.

Yay...it's Friday! And I have Monday off for President's Day...double Yay!!!
Have a fantastic weekend!!!