T-shirt Stenciling - in downloads

[hershyyyy]

I had a few requests to do a tutorial on t-shirt stenciling. Quite a number of ottos have patterns for things you can stencil, some are really fun. Finally I just had to try it!





Here's how:

Lay a piece of 4 mil tarp plastic (Home Depot) on top of the pattern for your stencil and trace the edges with a thin sharpie.



You can see how I labeled the insides of the 8. You'll see why in a bit.

Carefully cut out along the lines to create the syencil. I use embroidert scissors the have very sharp tips. You can color the parts to cut out so you don't get confused as you cut (not shown).



Spray the back side of the plastic with glue spray (Joann's), Let it sit for 2-3 minutes so it will only stick temporarily. Remember, the writing should be backwards when you spray the glue so that is the right way when on the fabric.

Spray the insides of letters/numbers separately.

Lay the stencil down on your fabric and smooth it out, gently pat down all edges. Place insides of letters/numbers in correct positions according to how you labeled them at the beginning.



Put some fabric paint in a container and use a foam brush to dab onto stencil and fabric. The sponge brush was bought at Michael's.







Right after you are done sponging (or the plastic will dry to the fabric ) gently pull off the plastic, have someone help if you are worried about smudging. Use tweezers for the inside pieces of the letters/numbers.





Final product:

Sns'd here.







Shirt I was "copying":



A note on fabric paint:



I've tried two kinds both area available from Michael's and Joann's. The one on the left dyes the fabric and doesn't get cracks in it when the knit fabric stretches, however, it is thinner can gets under the stencil a bit (see airplane pic above). The one on the right is thicker and sits on top of the fabric (that is what I used for this tute). It can get tiny cracks in it as the fabric stretches but it gives a cleaner edge. You can get around the cracking if you stencil onto a woven piece and then sew it on to the knit shirt in an applique.

Post pics when you try this!