Easy, Cool and Craft-Tee
Freezer Paper Stenciling

By Amy Crelly

Summertime is all about taking it easy—as in sandwiches for dinner and popsicles for dessert, naps in the hammock, board games on the porch, and living in flip-flops, shorts and T-shirts. In the spirit of these lazy days, I’ve whipped up this super-easy craft tutorial you and the kids can do together. It’s a much simpler, faster and cheaper method of “screen” printing—with no screen (and no chemicals) required. It’s also a stylish way to disguise a stain or cover up an annoying logo.

What You’ll Need:
• Freezer paper (aka butcher paper)
• Pen
• Image to stencil
• X-acto knife (for parents’ use only, of course)
• Iron (also just for grown-ups or older kids)
• Self-healing mat (foam, cardboard or a cutting board work too)
• Fabric paint
• Stencil paintbrush

Step 1: Pick a T-shirt
You can use any tee really (new, vintage or thrift store finds), but cotton fabrics might work better than blends high in polyester.

Step 2: Choose an Image
Choose shapes based on their outline. You can do a Google image search (key words: “silhouette,” “stencil” and whatever catches your fancy—bird, flower, airplane, etc.), or search clip art. Print out your favorite finds, trace a silhouette from a book or a photograph, draw your own original outline or trace one of your child’s drawings. Use a photocopier to size your image if needed. Once you’ve got it, you’ll place a piece of freezer paper over it (shiny side down) and use a pen to trace the outline onto the freezer paper.

Step 3: Create your Stencil
Take your freezer paper tracing and place it on top of a cutting surface (like a self-healing mat). Using an X-acto knife, cut along the same lines you just traced with your pen (keep the shiny side down). Sharp blades work best, so remember to change your blade every few stencils.
Next, you’ll place a similar-sized, uncut sheet of freezer paper (shiny side up) underneath the surface you want to print on. Place the stencil (still shiny side down) on top of your fabric. Iron lightly over the area (about 10-20 seconds). This will seal the freezer paper in place and give you nice crisp edges.

Step 4: Paint the Image
I used Speedball brand screen printing ink. It’s non-toxic and we already had some lying around the house, but you can use just about any fabric paint you find at an art supply or craft store. They come in all kinds of colors. Use a paintbrush to apply a single, even layer of paint on the T-shirt fabric showing through the stencil.

Step 5: Set, Wash and Wear
Let the paint dry (about 12 hours). Once it’s dry, peel off the freezer paper. To set your fabulous design properly, you’ll want to check out the directions on your fabric paint. This might involve ironing your shirt or tossing it in the dryer. The first time you wash your tee, wash separately and in cold water. If the ink doesn’t bleed (yay!), you can wash and wear your transformed tees just like the rest of your laundry.

More Craft-Tee Ideas:
Grab some old T-shirts, hand the kids a bright assortment of Fabric Markers, and let them go nuts! They can doodle, draw, trace their favorite masterpieces from the fridge door, or color over stencils, then proudly wear their works of art .