Freezer Paper Stencils

I love this!
You need: 
freezer paper
fabric glue
a cool little knife
t-shirt
iron

First things first, prewash the t-shirt without fabric softener.

Step 1 is to draw the design you want onto the dull side of the freezer paper. (No, I do not have man hands, that is my husband, I cannot draw an Allosaurus, he can)

For Max's I did the shape of Texas. I just traced it out of an atlas. Worked really well.

Step 2 is to cut the figure out with a blade, just remember you will need the negative part of this, not the inside.

Step 3 is to iron your stencil onto the shirt. Make sure the shiny side is on the t-shirt.

Step 4 is to take your paint, I used tulip brand

I didn't mean to buy the puffy kind on the white but it actually turned out kind of neat.

I squeezed the paint into a cupcake cup and painted it on with a brush.

Don't forget to put a piece of cardboard inside the shirt so that the paint doesn't go through.

The white did need a lot more coats.

Next you wait until the paint is dry. The paint bottle said 4 hours but I say 'poppycock'. An hour was plenty of time, you could even speed the process up with a hair dryer.

Step 5: Once it's dry you peel the freezer paper off...

Step 5 is very important. Put a cloth on top of what you painted and iron for about 15 seconds. This seals the paint, otherwise it will come off in the wash.

There are other instructions on the paint bottle that say to wait 72 hours before washing the garment and to wash it inside out. But our clothes usually sit in the hamper way longer than that :)

Since the Texas was painted on with puffy paint, the it came out raised. That may be kind of obvious but I wasn't sure what it would do since it was painted on. I think it looks pretty cool.

And the finished product...

Will is so excited about his Allosaurus that he thinks it's going to scare people when he wears it. Max didn't notice there was anything on his shirt.

I have also seen this done on baby onesies, pillow slipcovers for throw pillows, tote bags, pillow cases for a bed, even curtains and duvet covers. Lots of fun!