Freezer paper stencilling

Well, I had some friend give birth not too recently, and finally got on the ball about sending them the gifts I had planned. And then I got on the ball about getting phone pictures onto the computer. (I don't know what my deal is, it's not like it's hard. But every time I think about doing I'm just like "UHG. I can't believe those pictures aren't already there. Why can't they just get on the computer automatically? This is the worst." First world problems, anyone?)

The process: I used my Silhouette to cut out shapes from freezer paper, then ironed them onto the onsies. **IMPORTANT STEP: cut out a piece of cardboard or whatever you have handy that will stop paint and put it inside the onsie to prevent paint bleeding through to the backside. Then just blot in the paint like you would with a stencil and remove the freezer paper as soon as you're done (otherwise it gets all soggy and is a pain to remove- ask my friend Ang about it). Then the paint dries and you can heat set it following whatever directions were on the paint you used.

A note about paint possibilities: I used acrylic paints mixed with textile medium for the ones in the first picture, and Tulip fabric paints for the ones in the second. Both worked well, but it's possible that the Tulip ones came out brighter. I'm not sure, since I didn't get to put the finished products side by side and there were a lot of other reasons that might explain the second picture looking somewhat more vivid (i.e. lighting conditions, the paint is maybe still wet, those are all on white backgrounds).

{These were a team effort- my college roommates and I thought these up, then the few of us who live close together got together and made it happen. I'm not going to try to explain the ones that are obviously inside jokes. That only ever ends in regret.}

{These were for my geology friend. Schist is a kind of metamorphic rock. I also made a trilobite one that's not pictured because I messed up the first one pretty bad and had to remake it later.}

Anyway, these are totally a fun and no-sew alternative to the applique onsies I've shown here and here. You should try it.


Or don't. Whatever. I'm not your mom; do what you want.

Thanks for reading!