After seeing this project on Made and Delia Creates and a number of other sites, I decided it was high time to this project and what better to start with than a pumpkin shirt for Love Bug.
It only takes Reynold’s Freezer Paper, an X-acto knife, an iron and fabric paint to easily and economically screen print any clothing item you want.
The possibilities are endless. Here are some examples on Made (here and here)and Delia Creates (here).
First, prewash and dry the clothing item you want to screen print.
Then, get your design. I found my pumpkin picture on Google Images. Using a tip from Dana on Made, I used the words “coloring book” in my search so my search results were black and white line images. Perfect for cutting out.
I printed out the one I liked (well, I printed it out twice because Love Bug had to have “her” pumpkin too). Then it was on to cutting out the image.
On top of my cutting board, I taped down the pumpkin image and then taped down the freezer paper on top, with the gloss side down. (The glossy side will be ironed on to the shirt so make sure you have it going the right way so your image is the way you want it.) Then, carefully start cutting. Make sure to hold on to any inner sections of letters or dimension adding pieces (like on the pumpkin stem and loopy vine), they will be ironed on as well.
With your image cut, place it on your clothing item where you want it, then hit it with your heated iron. Pay special attention to the edges of your cut out image. Ironing this area well will prevent paint from seeping in. Make sure to add in the loose letter parts and dimension pieces too.
Next, paint! Permanent fabric paint that is. Carefully paint your image and allow to dry according to the package directions. I added orange glitter to the wet orange paint for an extra shine. Dana from Made also gave the tip that if you are a little impatient for the paint to dry, using a blow dryer would speed the process.
When the paint has dried, remove the freezer paper. (This is the best part!!)
Then, an important step!! Before forcing dressing your child in the shirt, iron the painted image again, first covering it with a piece of scrap fabric. This helps the paint adhere. Dana mentioned not doing this step once and some of the paint fell of when it was washed, so make sure to iron it first!!!
THEN it can be worn.
The shirt I purchased for this project was way too big for Love Bug because it was the only black shirt I could find. I figured she could wear it for a couple years. So, I tied an orange ribbon around her waist to make it look less nightgown like.
Bug wasn’t a fan of the tied ribbon or getting her picture taken in general. This was the best smile I could get.
Hope to post later with Love Bug’s non-costume costume.
Happy Halloween!
-amy c
I have a question! How much glitter did you add to the paint? And how did it do when washed? Would you do the glitter again? Or did it wash out? Thanks so much.
julie
Great questions Julie! I added enough glitter to cover the wet paint. Don’t really know how much it was, just enough to cover. And it’s made it through the wash really good. I do turn it inside out before each wash and it still looks great. :)
What color green did you use to get it to show up so well and how many layers did you have to apply? I tried this with a regular green and it hardly showed up. I’m in the process of trying a neon green but so far it doesn’t look much better (I’m about 4 layers in so far – trying to wait for it to dry between layers because last time I did it, the paint seeped under the freezer paper and didn’t leave any of the black cut outs to form the loopy part. I suspect that was because I slathered the paint on trying to make it darker – trying to be more patient this time!).
Hmmmm, I don’t remember, Mandi. What color is the shirt you’re using? If it’s any other color than white, try putting down a layer of white paint first. A white base will make the colors look better. Hope that helps!
The shirt is black.
Ok. Try a layer of white paint (or a few thin layers). Colors look better, more like they should on white. Good luck!