Wednesday, October 12, 2011

3 (With a Crown) T-Shirt

I love freezer paper stencils. They're not new, but they're new to me, and what fun! Easy, too. I wanted to make my daughter a surprise shirt to wear on her birthday party day, and on her birthday, and all the year long. I had a simple design in mind: the numeral 3, topped with a crown. I sketched it small, then drew it larger until I was happy, then traced it onto the freezer paper. Cut carefully with a craft knife, iron it on, and paint.

I use Speedball Textile Screen Printing Ink for freezer paper stencils. It gives a nice sharp edge, and when you heat-set it, it sort of melts into itself, blending all the brush marks. I had to mix a pink myself, because I have the set of six basic colors, and it came out a bit more salmon-ish than true pink. But just LOOK at how cute this shirt is!!

(With my daughter's latest watercolors in the background, too!) If you were three, wouldn't you want to wear that shirt whenever it was out of the laundry? I sure would. I can't wait to show it to her. This took under an hour. I drew, cut, ironed, and painted, let it dry for a few hours, peeled off the stencil, let it completely dry overnight, and ironed it to heat set the next morning. So cute, and easy, too.

Go check out some more creative folks here!


9 comments:

Jackie @ Fred-and-Cissy said...

Your shirt looks fantastic! I was going to decorate some pyjama tops with applique, but I think you've inspired me to give printing a go.

lamina@do a bit said...

LOVE it! A great little design too! I'm sure she is going to love it... lucky girl :)

Rose Red said...

It's very cute! You did a great job on it, so very neat.

Sally said...

Great t-shirt. Fantastic. Particularly love the design. YAY!

Where did you buy the freezer paper from?

Olivia said...

That is lovely! My adult self would totally wear a '36' one too.

amy said...

Thanks, everyone!

@Jackie, it's so quick and easy! My boys made their own shirts this summer from their own sketches (with my help cutting out the stencil) & theirs came out great, too.

@RoseRed, the stencil makes it neat! I actually have one spot out of the lines but it's not too noticeable.

@Sally, I found it (after much looking) at my local Stop & Shop, near the foil & wax paper. That's not my usual supermarket, so I bought three boxes. ;)

@Olivia, I should make myself a 38 shirt with a crown to wear with my tiara...!!

Carolyn said...

Just perfect! I can't believe she's 3 already!!!

belinda marshall said...

it looks excellent!! hope she loves it :)

Wombat's Picnic said...

I love freezer paper stencils - I made my mom bring me the biggest roll she could get when she came to visit me earlier this year as its hard to find downunder:) Your T-shirt looks great! Cyndy