2.26.2007

at what point did this become a crafting blog?

okay, new obsession time :: i'm like a year behind the trend, but i'm discovering the joy (and ease) of freezer paper t-shirt templates. i first read about the templates at the angry chicken and my little mochi blogs last year. but it took forever to find the freezer paper; i checked all my local supermarkets and target but couldn't find it. i jumped for joy when i spotted it a couple of weeks ago at the albertsons near ian's french class.

although i love the samples at angry chicken and my little mochi i needed a good tutorial on how to do it. a quick google search brought up a nicely detailed one at unwindknitting.net. i just followed each step and created this ::

i wanted a subtle design so i placed the stencil along the side of the shirt so a bit of the design shows on the front and back. i drew the branch/leaf design freehand directly on to the paper side of the freezer paper and cut it out with an exacto knife. after ironing the template onto the shirt i applied several heavy coats of white paint on to the shirt with a short-bristled brush. i let it dry for 24 hours, peeled off the stencil and heat set it. i thought using white paint on a dark colored shirt wouldn't be very successful but i'm really happy with the results. the paint dries soft on the shirt and the coverage is pretty good. [please read the tutorial if you plan to make a template because she goes over some things i don't mention here.]

ian is helping me design a shirt for him. it's a king penguin design with "king of them all" on the back. i think the colors are coming out great on his. i did this with a two-step process because i'm using two colors right next to each other. it should dry by tomorrow morning.

the supplies i used :: cotton/poly shirts from michaels by jerzees ($2.50 each on sale), freezer paper by reynolds, 2 oz. fabric paint by plaid. each shirt, in total, costs less than $5 and it's an original. i'm going to paint a few more shirts and some onesies for some friends' new baby girl.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

These are fantastic! You really are so talented and I am glad the creativity bug has been biting you lately because then we all get to see the amazing creations you have been coming up with. What an inspiration you are and I will have to check in more often here so you can keep me inspired and encouraged and best of all viewing such wonderful projects!