Freezer Paper Stencils
Do you ever need to paint a design onto your fabric, but don’t want to try and free hand the design? Freezer paper stncils may be the answer for you! They are an easy technique and they use items that you may already have around your home. Painting directly on to fabric can be scary, but I’ve had a lot of luck with stencils. I like them as a cheap alternative to buying something like a Cricut to cut designs from HTV. It also has a unique look! I made the designs below using freezer paper stencils.
Supplies Needed:
Freezer Paper
Pencil/Pen for Tracing
Xacto Knife/Scissors
Paint
And of course the fabric that you want to paint designs on!
Freezer paper is a kitchen supply that you might already have on hand! One side has regular paper texture, but the other side is slightly waxy! The idea is to trace the design onto the paper Sadie and then iron it on to the frantic. The wax will melt and stick to the fabric, but it is a loose adhesive and the stencil can easily be pealed off.
Step 1:
Draw or trace your design on to the freezer paper.
Step 2:
Carefully cut out the inside of the design. The cleaner your cuts on the stencil, the cleaner your end product will be. If you make a mistake you may want to start over as paint can bleed through any knicks or tears.
Step 3:
Iron the freezer paper waxy side down onto your fabric. Be sure that the paper doesn’t wrinkle when applying it. You may also want to turn off any steam settings that your iron has.
Step 4:
Once the stencil is in place, paint on the fabric! I like to go very slowly and gently so that no paint seeps through beneath the freezer paper.
Step 5:
Remove the freezer paper! You should be left with a beautifully crisp design.
Extra tips:
You may want to test this technique out on a scrap of the fabric to see how the paint behaves with the stencil and the fabric. Depending on your paint it will act differently and you will want to know how it works before putting it on your actual project!
This technique works best when you have more freezer paper. The greater the surface area of the paper, the better the adhesion. Small pieces of paper may peal away too easily.
Sometimes when you peal away the paper it may leave a white residue. To remove this take some scotch tape, or clear packing tape and dab the residue with the sticky side. This will pull off what was left behind.
If your stencil overlaps any seams or darts this may cause problems while painting on the fabric. Use extra care so that the paint doesn’t smear into the crevices
