Freezer Paper Stenciling

This is one of my favorite crafts, because of how easy it is, and how great the results you get with it are.

First step is to buy yourself some freezer paper. It can usually be found in grocery or big box stores in with the saran wrap, parchment paper, foil, etc. Make sure you get the kind that has a waxy/plastic-y backing on one side.

Then you need to pick out a design. Silhouettes, or drawings without a lot of details are the easiest, and definitely the way to start out. Google-ing " X silhouette" is an easy way to do it, and if you are good with your printer, you can even feed the freezer paper right through it (making sure that you print on the flat, paper side). Or you can freehand a design, which is what I often do. The nice part is that YOU will be the one cutting out the areas you want to paint, so if you have to draw the thing a bunch of times to get it right, it's no big deal, you can just keep drawing over the same area.

Then you want to cut the design out. I like to use an Exacto Knife and a cutting mat, but scissors will work too if your design isn't too intricate. If you are cutting out an area that you want to keep (say, for instance, the middle of the letter O) it can be helpful to mark those with an X or something before you start cutting, so that you know to keep them.

After that, get out your iron and ironing board. Set the heat setting for the type of fabric you are ironing the stencil on to. If you really love your iron, you will probably want to put some type of thin cloth between the iron and the stencil, to ensure that you don't get any of the plastic-y stuff on your beloved iron. I do not do this. :) It only takes a few seconds to bond the stencil to the fabric. If you are adding the cut out area (like the middle of the letter O), it's better to iron on the outside part first, and then place the smaller sections on and iron them afterward, that way there's no worrying that something shifted when you were putting the iron down.


So this is where you should be thus far. This is a robot ironed on to a onesie. I've found that lighter fabrics work best... darker colors will need multiple coats of paint to hide the color of the fabric.

Now it's time to paint! I have a small set of brushes I use, plus a bunch of foam ones, which are great for covering larger areas. For paint, I use DecoArt NON-DIMENSIONAL fabric paint. It's like regular acrylic craft paint, except its specially designed for painting on fabric (so it won't come off the first time you wash it). There is also a fabric medium that you can add to acrylic, but it requires additional steps after the paint dries.

EDITED TO ADD: You'll want to make sure to put something between the layers of fabric so that it doesn't bleed through - I've found that cardboard works really well, and is usually readily available. :)

I like to remove the stencil as soon as I'm done painting. That way you don't have to worry about the paint on the stencil sticking to the paint on the fabric when it dries, and peeling off when you remove the stencil. The paint probably takes about 24 hours to really dry, but you can add details and such after about 10 minutes or so (or sooner, of course, if you want to blend colors).


Add some details (or not), and you're done! These can be washed with your normal laundry, just try to remember to wash them inside out, as they should last longer that way. :)