Making a Freezer Paper Stencil

For the ease of finding it, I am reposting my tutorial on making a freezer paper stencil. Hope you enjoy! Submit your original stencils to dearpresserfoot.com and they too will be featured on our blog.

Step 1 tape down your freezer paper, shiny side down (if I am making an image I think I will use again I will tape down 3 layers of freezer paper, it's just as easy to cut through, if your exacto knife is sharp)

Step 2 draw your picture or trace an image on the freezer paper

Step 3 cut out your image, it goes faster than you would think, so be careful (as you can see I use a self healing mat, I have a big one for fabric and a small one for paper crafting)

Step 4 iron your stencil, shiny side down to your fabric. you want to use the heat setting appropriate for the fabric you are using. I hold it down for about 10 seconds and then overlap onto the next section. when it is done there will be a tight seal, no bubbles, around the edges. Make sure you do NOT use any steam. My iron automatically adds steam to a cotton setting so I have to empty all the water out of my iron first.

Step 5 insert a layer of newspaper, etc.., in between fabric layers so the paint wont transfer to the other layers of your garment

Step 6 paint. I go back over it at least twice as the cotton soaks some of the paint in

Step 7 let dry according to the fabric paint manufactures instrustions

Step 8 peal off your stencil and enjoy!

I machine wash my painted garments inside-out and hang dry them to avoid cracking and fading.