Using Freezer Paper Stencils and Appliques on T-Shirts, Part 2

Yesterday I posted “Using Freezer Paper Stencils and Appliques on Tee, Part 1“. Read Part 1 to go over the supplies and basics also used in this part of the tutorial. In part two and I’ll be showing you how to use freezer paper stencils with paint and fabric pen/marker mediums to make a fun tee. I decided on an Air Force and C-17 jet themed tee for my son.

First, I designed the tee in Silhouette Studio. Not many C-17 jet stencils exist on the web so I imported some C-17 clip art I found and used the program’s tracing feature. Here’s a great video tute on tracing images.As mentioned in Part 1 of this tute, I put the freezer paper on my mat shiny side up. This is the side that adheres to the tee, so when you’re cutting you need to do a mirror image for the letters to end up the correct way.

To do this by hand, google and print an image/lettering and trace it on to the freezer paper. Cut out with detail scissorsor an exacto knife. I often trace the printed image with a black sharpie so it’s easier to see through the freezer paper to trace it.

Iron the freezer paper shiny side down to your tee using a hot iron with no steam. Ensure all edges are adhered well. Since I bought a pocket tee, I opted to do this on the back of the tee.

I painted the lettering black and the plane grey. I used Tulip Slick Fabric Paints. When dry carefully remove the freezer paper stencil. After that, I did some detail work on the plane by hand by looking at the original “C-17 in flight” clip art image. The lettering actually bled through a little but since it happened on all of the, I actually ended up liking the end result.

I let the tee dry overnight and the next day I did an Air Force Logo on the pocket (using the same method of downloading clip art and using the tracing feature in Silhouette studio). This time I used a Tulip Fabric Marker. I put some freezer paper in the pocket so it wouldn’t bleed through.