Freezer Paper Stencil T-SHIRTS

This project has definitely been on my to-do list for a while now.

Every since I got my silhouette, I wanted to try making my own t-shirts.  Not because I couldn't buy cute t-shirts for cheap at places like Target - but I wanted to personalize them.

I found brand new Hanes t-shirts at Goodwill for 50 cents each, and so I grabbed a bunch, knowing that if I messed up, I wouldn't be mad that I had spent a whole bunch of money on a shirt:)

I also got a few different colors of fabric paint from the craft store, and already had the freezer paper on hand from other projects I had done.

So, I first saw the "Gramma's Gonna Snap" saying that I put on my shirt here at I am Momma Hear me Roar.  I thought it was so funny - because this embodies so many people I know - not the least of which being my dear mom.  She can easily take 1000 pictures of her grandkids during a two week long visit!  She always has a camera in easy reach:)  We have gotten some really wonderful pictures that way, but it is still a little funny.

So, throughout the process of making these shirts, I discovered a new feature in the Silhouette software - and that is the trace option. 
I wasn't planning on giving a full tutorial here on the blog - but if I get enough requests for a tutorial on this, I will write one.  Basically, you can pick any clip art that you can find on the web, and have the Silhouette software trace it for you.  From there, you can edit each little point, to make the lines connect and move in any way that you want, until the tracing is exactly as you want it.
It is really amazing!

So, it took me a while (maybe a half an hour or so), but I got this great camera shape, perfect for the t-shirt I wanted to make!
I had the silhouette cut it out in freezer paper, and ironed it down to the shirt.  (For those of you who do have Silhouettes, I had to use my extra sticky cutting mat, and press the freezer paper down really well - shiny side down- because the pieces it is cutting are so small, that it will crinkle and rip the paper as it cuts if it is not firmly on the cutting mat).

I also chose a fun font, and ironed that on as well.  This created a stencil - a barrier for my fabric paint. 

Carefully paint inside the lines...

And when the paint dries, and you peel away the freezer paper, you have an AMAZING picture!  My family pointed out that it looks like it was screen printed.  It is very crisp and clear, and AWESOME!

So, since the first try was SUCH a sucess, I made a few more :)

This one is for my little nephew.  His real last name is "Tucker", and so I thought it was a funny play on words to write "Trucker", and have a picture of a dump truck. 
As you can see, I used sharp tweezers to place the pieces of the stencil, and had a sharp pair of scissors on hand in case I needed to trim anything.  The ironing must be done carefully, tiny piece by tiny piece. 

This time, I used a few different colors of paint, and it turned out really cute!

Of course, my 4 year old daughter was watching me paint all this time, and she LOVES to paint.  After begging and begging me to help, I decided that it would be kindof fun to let her make her own t-shirt. 
This time, I did it differently though.  Instead of making her stay inside the lines, I made a stencil that would leave the image the same color as the shirt, so that she could paint outside the lines - which was, of course, easier for her!

I helped finish it off, to make sure that there was an even coat of paint around the stencil, but she had a GREAT time making her own shirt.

And I added a few rhinestones to make it sparkle a little. (They do make glittery fabric paint, which would have been much better for this saying if I had known in advance I was going to do it.)

And since I was on such a roll, I had to make a "Momma's Gonna Snap" shirt for myself!

As I said, it is so fun to personalize a shirt - and freezer paper is such an easy (and inexpensive!) way to make a stencil.  You can make a shirt with your child's nickname, or as a gift for a birthday. 

You can also go wild with embellishments on a t-shirt that you have painted - with buttons, or ribbon, or flowers....the possibilities are endless!!

Check out these parties I often link up to!