Freezer Paper Stencils

Greetings, Happy Scrappers!

Polly Liana here, with a tutorial about using freezer paper to create stencils for painting designs on clothes.  Have you ever longed for a “silkscreenish” painted design on one of your plain old shirts?  Well now’s your chance!  It’s quick and easy when you use freezer paper.  My daughter had a cute gray sweatshirt with pink thread accents but it was just a little too plain.  She asked me to add a rainbow star on the front.

Here’s how I did it:

First, I got some freezer paper.  It comes on a roll in the plastic wrap/aluminum foil aisle of most supermarkets.  It’s like a combination of waxed paper and parchment paper.  One side is plain and the other is coated with a thin layer of wax.  The wax part is what adheres to the garment so the paint won’t soak through.

I ironed all the wrinkles out of the sweatshirt.  Sweatshirts are great to use for your first freezer paper stencil because they’re a bit more forgiving and you don’t have as many issues with paint seeping through.

For this project, I used a bunch of Martha Stewart craft paints.  I also used her fabric medium (the big bottle pictured here) to help stabilize the paints for washing.  I got a small bowl and a sponge applicator.

I printed out a star on card stock using my cricut.  Then I traced it on to the plain side of a piece of freezer paper.

When preparing to cut the stencil, I always put an X on the inside of the shape because it’s easy to forget that you’re saving the outside of the stencil, not the inside. I make a small cut in the middle of the star and then cut out to the edge.  You do not want to cut through the outside part of the stencil!

Then I trimmed down the paper a bit so it would fit easily on the front of the shirt.  I positioned it where I wanted it to go with the wax side down.

I then ironed it with a dry iron (no steam) at med-high temp, paying extra close attention to the corners and making sure the inside edges of the star were completely stuck to the fabric.  This next part is important : I took part of a paper shopping bag and tucked it into the sweatshirt.  This ensures that the paint will not soak through to the other side.

I mixed a small amount of paint with a small amount of medium in a bowl.   You do not need lots of paint because the area you’re covering is not very large and you do not want to waste paint.

Next, I dabbed the paint in a diagonal line across the stencil.  It’s fine if it gets on the stencil.

I repeated the process with yellow paint, overlapping a bit with the pink to make some orange.

After completing the rainbow colors and waiting for it to dry a bit, I dabbed on a thin layer of glitter paint.

After waiting for the last layer to dry a bit, I carefully peeled the freezer paper back to reveal the finished star.  When it had been dried completely, I heat sealed it by ironing it with a medium heat dry iron.

This sweatshirt has been washed several times now (inside out) and the paint hasn’t budged.  This technique is a quick, easy, affordable way to personalize garments for you or for gifts.   Give it a try on a rainy spring day!

Have a great weekend, scrappers!