What do you think of Chloe’s new tee shirt? See below to download the dragonfly stencil.
Freezer paper stencils are awesome! Not as “perfect” as screen printing, but easy and fun for single projects just the same. Watch out family, you may all be getting stenciled items for Christmas this year…
Wading through all the tutorials available, I found this one to be pretty helpful. Originally, I hadn’t been able to find freezer paper at my local supermarket (although I did see it recently at Fred Meyer). I opted to go with the large freezer paper sheets from Dharma Trading Post, since I was going to order some t-shirt blanks anyway (1,2,3,4). The nice thing about the rolls though, is you can make your stencil any length, but I think I read somewhere that craft freezer paper may have a better bond.
I’ve tried two brands of ink so far – Speedball Fabric Screen Printing Ink (which my husband already had from previous screen printing projects) and Jacquard Professional Screen Printing Ink. I don’t know if the Speedball ink was just too old, but it took two applications to get good coverage. Afterwards, the directions say to iron for 3-5 minutes on each side to set, which seemed like a really long time. I prefer the Jacquard. It applied better, nicely staining the fabric, and just needed one application for full coverage. Plus, it only took 1 minute to heat set.
While some of the ideas shown above are mine, others came from places like Arthur’s Silhouette Clipart Plants and Animals and Briar Press. I’d love to hear in the comments section if anyone has a favorite, because sometimes I just can’t decide. Also, Greta was sweet to post a photo of the yellow butterfly top and matching socks I made for her daughter Ava’s first birthday. Want to make your own butterfly, dragonfly or flower shirt? Click here to download the free stencil pdf.
Cute. I haven’t done any freezer paper stenciling at all. (I’ve always bought my freezer paper at Walmart near the aluminum foil. I use it when I buy meat in bulk.)
This is fantastic, great gift idea. I’ve been following your blog for ages and got inspired to comment. Keep that creativity going Emily, we all appreciate it. Congrats on the new camera. I’ll be trying this out very very soon
Thanks Jessica, that is so nice!
Oh, I never checked Walmart. I was surprised, however, that even the package at Fred Meyer mentioned how it was “great for crafts!”
I love this idea! Last Christmas I did some t-shirt iron ons, but this sounds like it would be a bit more creative, I like it.
These are too cute!!!
Nice! It looks like Chloe is saying… can you believe it, my mom made this!!!
She’s so adorable!
Love the dragonfly! And love the red on white- prefect. I’ve already downloaded your free stencils and can’t wait to do more. Thank you!
Hi. I would love to see the PDF of the stencils you have, but your link to it isn’t working. Is there another way to get it? Thanks!
Thanks for letting me know, Kristy! I moved my blog a while a go and ended up loosing a lot of my files. I tried to re-create that pdf, so it should be available for download now.