Freezer Stencil T-shirt. With a Hunger Games theme!

Today was what they call a "Spirit Day" at my daughter's school.  The students were encouraged to wear t-shirts, jerseys or caps (a treat since hats are not normally allowed to be worn in school) with their favourite team on them.  My daughter has absolutely no interest in sports, so naturally, she has nothing to fit the theme for this Spirit Day.  However, she has a ton  of school spirit. 

So we stretched the theme.  A little.

She just loves the Hunger Games Trilogy.    So that is the idea that we stretched.  I have not read these books, so I am just trusting her on this.  Apparently one of the main male characters is a boy named Peeta.  And apparently, the reader is either rooting for him or another boy (who's name I don't know).  As you may have guessed, my kiddo likes Peeta.  So the "Team Peeta" shirt was born!

Freezer paper is really neat stuff.  You can cut a stencil out of it, iron it to your T-Shirt, paint your shirt and peel the paper off.  And it doesn't leave any residue!  Nothing!  At all!  I think this is the seventh shirt I have made with freezer paper.

You can buy the paper at the grocery store.  I did have to look around a bit before I found some.  The discount stores don't seem to carry it.  I found it with the tinfoil, plastic wrap and wax paper.

Here is all you do:
Draw your design directly on the paper.  On the non-shiny side.  Or, you can do what I did with this one, which is design your stencil on the computer and print it on regular paper.  I taped my printout to the freezer paper, taped that  to an old piece of cardboard, then cut through both layers of paper with a craft knife.  If your design has 'holes' in it (like the P) be sure to cut very carefully and save the middle piece to iron onto your shirt.  They are not in this photo, but I'm sure you can tell where they go.

Don't cut too enthusiastically or you will break your awesome little paper slicer and have to use a utility knife.

Then place your stencil, shiny side down, in the desired position on your shirt and iron it down.  Use the hottest setting you can safely use on your shirt with no steam.  Once you are satisfied that it is ironed down well, you can get ready to paint!  Be sure to slip a piece of wax-paper-covered cardboard inside your shirt in case paint seeps through.  You don't want to paint the back too.  After I'm done painting, I take the shirt off the cardboard and hang it on a hanger and let it sit overnight.

It looks horrible at this stage.  You just can't tell if the paint bled under the paper until you peel it off.  This is the worst part for me.

Our design is more yellow at the top and blends to a dark orange at the bottom.  We were going for a flame-like appearance.

Now you get to peel the stencil off!
Here is where you follow the manufacturers directions for the paint you used.  The stuff I use requires heat setting, so in the morning, after removing all the pieces of my stencil, I put a cloth over my design and iron it as per the directions on the bottle.  Then I let it sit for the rest of the day.  It feels stiff at this point.

Here is what I use.  Ordinary acrylic paint and Textile Medium.  Awesome stuff!  You mix the meduim with any acrylic paint.  This is really inexpensive paint and it works great with the textile medium.  So many more colour choices than buying a bunch of different (and expensive) fabric paints.

After all that sitting and drying, I turn it inside out and wash it like any other shirt. It always comes out nice and soft.

My daughter wore her shirt to school today with pride. Pin It