Sister See Sister Do: DIY Mock Screen Print! A Tutorial!

Hey! Julie here!

I have been a busy woman lately & I'm about to show you ONE reason why!

See all of those shirts? Well I created them on my own!

All but one of these started as a blank, plain shirts or tanks & I jazzed them up by using some very simple items:

FREEZER PAPER.

EXACTO KNIFE

FABRIC PAINT

SPONGE BRUSH

HAIR DRYER

(OH, AND THE SHIRT OF FABRIC YOU WANT YOUR DESIGN ON)

Now, I know many of you may have already done this or heard of this...and my intentions were to send to you to someone else's blog who has already provided a tutorial, but I recently presented this demonstration to a MUMS group at an area church (hence the variety of shirts I've made lately), so I really want to provide instructions here, from me. If my instructions aren't good, I promise there is another blogger out there somewhere who probably will be helpful.

HERE WE GO!

DIY MOCK SCREEN PRINT TECHNIQUE

Step 1. Print (or sketch) your design on the matte side of your freezer paper. (I cut my freezer paper out in the size of an 8.5x11" piece paper & fed it through my printer with no problems at all.)

Step 2. Carefully cut out your design with an exacto knife.

Step 3. IRON the freezer paper, shinny side down, into position onto your shirt/fabric.

Step 4. Place a piece of cardboard inside the shirt, or under the fabric you're working with.

Step 5. Get your fabric paint & sponge (or sponge brush) ready.

Step 6. Carefully BLOT the paint onto your fabric. Be careful not to shift the stencil or paint may creep into places you don't want it to.

Step 7. Once you've got the 1st layer on, use a hair dryer to speed up the drying.

Step 8. Repeat step 6 & 7 until you've got the look you want.

*Light colored paint on dark fabric usually takes several layers.

The tank above took about 6-7 layers of fabric paint.

*Dark colored paint on light colored fabric will take much fewer layers.

In my experience they've taken 2-3 layers of paint.

Step 9. Once you've finished painting, peel off the freezer paper!

Step 10. SHOW IT OFF!!!

AND THEN, MAKE MORE!!

The Navy tank was made for my lovely 12 year old niece & I really wanted one also after I saw how COOL it turned out. (Not sure how cool she'll think it is though that I'm going to be her twinkie! hahaha)

The turquoise tank below was a favorite of mine this past summer. Somehow I got a small stain on the front of it (from spaghetti sauce or something like that). Instead of throwing it out, I decided to paint a design on it!!! I LOVE that I'll get to wear it again as something else! WHAT A GREAT WAY TO UP-CYCLE CLOTHING!

And here's another example that you gotta see!
This one was MY FIRST mock screen print!

My friend Meg really wanted a shirt that said "Suck it up, Buttercup!"

So instead of paying $30 for one, I made one for her!

I created it in Microsoft Word, I think...or else on PicMonkey b/c they have such awesome fonts...And then I printed it out just as I did the other designs.

The coolest part is that it was given to her in a basket full of sunshine that our church put together for her.
Remember the BAG full of sunshine, I got? Can you imagine getting a BASKET full of sunshine?!

Meg is loved...very loved!

I hope this tutorial was easy to understand & I hope that you are inspired to make one...or many!

Imagine the possibilities for gifts, birthdays, team t-shirts, anything personalized! You can even embellish them like I did with the pumpkin/bow, or use glitter fabric paint! I'm tellin' ya, there are so many ideas!

This technique just might change the way you give gifts...

The 'faux necklace' design came from THIS tutorial on Twinkle Toes's blog...check it out & meet Tina too!

Love, Julie-belle

Check us out on Facebook!