Freezer Paper Stenciling: New Tees for the boys (and me)

One thing I took home from SAW was a burning desire to apply paint to fabric as soon as I unpacked my bags (which took me 5 days).  So this weekend, the boys (all three of them - Mike wanted to give it a try too) and I
sat down with our freezer paper and fabric paints and went to town.
So much fun.
Here's J's:

he used a stencil from his drawing supplies

Here's G's:

(I did the drawing and cutting for this one, G did the lovely paint job)

And here's mine - the sequence of drawings was Mike's fine idea.

So thanks again to Maya for introducing me to this easy/fun/addictive craft, and if you haven't tried it - here's what you need:

freezer paper, fabric paints, an exacto-knife and self-healing mat, a pencil, some paint brushes, and some fabric to paint on.

and here's how:

1.  draw an image you like, or let your kids draw a simple image or trace a stenciled image onto the papery side of your freezer paper (or find one and print it out - I hear you can feed freezer paper into the printer if you cut it 8.5 by 11".

2.  cut it out (use your exacto knife and a self-healing mat underneath)

3.  iron your cut-out image onto the fabric you intend to print on, shiny side down.  We used 100% tees for this project, but I've tried on muslin, and linen, and 100% cotton totebags too.   Make sure all of the edges of your cut-out stencil are securely ironed onto the fabric so paint doesn't bleed through.

4.  paint it (this is the part the kids can do).  As far as fabric paints go, I've now used both the Tulip and Jacquard brand fabric paints, and I liked the colors and the quality of the Jacquard far more!!

5.  Let it dry (this is the hard part - we all got very antsy waiting for the paint to dry, and I eventually had to pull out the hair dryer to speed it along)

6.  Pull off the stencil and admire your fine work!  You're amazing!  (Heat-set your paint with an iron again, before wearing or washing your fabric)

7.  Don your super-cool sunglasses (even if it's totally cloudy and raining) and dance around in your house.

 Tschuss!