Freezer Paper Stencil Tutorial

Preparations

Pre-wash and dry the T-shirt if it is new to remove any sizing added by the manufacturer.
Gather all the tools & materials to get ready for this quick craft.

I used permanent acrylic paint, which is good for fabric painting. The texture is a little stiff compared to normal fabric paint but it is fine for this project because the coverage is not a lot and won’t irritate the wearer if he is particular on comfort clothing like my hubby.

Otherwise, you may add textile medium to the acrylic paint to provide softer texture if it is available at your local store [Read instruction on the bottle on how to use it].

How To Make A Stencil

Option 1:

Download the stencil design in a pdf document and print it with your inkjet printer.
Feed the letter size freezer paper into your printer and print the artwork/pattern on the “paper side” (the non-glossy side) of the freezer paper.

Slowly cut the letters out with a craft knife (place a cutting mat at the bottom to protect your table). If your kids are too young to handle the knife, help them with it. I did it for my kids, for their safety and also for the beauty of the work.

Option 2:

If you have a cutting machine, you can skip the step of printing and manually cutting out the word. Instead, simply convert the PDF file to the cutting file. Load the freezer paper (non-glossy side facing upwards_to the cutting machine to cut the design.

How To Stencil

Place the freezer paper stencil on the T-shirt with the glossy side down and position them as you like. Trim off excessive freezer paper so that it won’t block the letters when overlapped. Maximize the coverage area on the T-shirt to protect them from being soiled by paint when the kids work on it.

Set your iron to medium heat setting. Press the hot iron starting from one corner, then glide it slowly and firmly across the freezer paper. The freezer paper will bond to the T-shirt. Continue gliding the iron on the entire freezer paper. Pay attention to the edge of the stencil letters and the heart pattern, and make sure they bond to the T-shirt without leaving any gaps to prevent paint bleeding.

Insert cardboard inside the T-shirt and fold the sides and sleeves under it. The cardboard acts as a barrier to prevent excessive paint from penetrating the back of the T-shirt. It also helps to smooth out the T-shirt to make stenciling easier.

Squeeze some black acrylic paint on a paint palette or a swallow container. You don’t need a lot of acrylic paint for stenciling, so squeeze a little at a time if you don’t have enough to prevent wastage.
Dab the paint with a flat tip brush on the letters.

I let my daughter do the “daddy” word after I demonstrated to her on the “We” word. Check the stencil to make sure that the paint has fully covered the letters, touch up if necessary.
After finish, all the letters with black color, repeat the same to the heart with red acrylic.
Wash the brush and hand while the paint is still wet.

Wait till the paint is about to dry, stretch the T-shirt at the corner a little to free the freezer paper from bonding and slowly peel it off entirely.

A closer look at the stencil work before peeling off of the freezer paper.

It gives a very clean and crisp outline on the stencil. Another thing I love about freezer paper stencil (apart from it convenient and easy to use), the wax on the backing really helps to prevent paint from penetrating through from the paper side. No staining or bleeding happened even my daughter painted them quite wet.

The “We Love Daddy” stencil T-shirt before the hand printing.

How To Handprint

Brush and cover the whole palm with blue acrylic. Press the palm onto the T-shirt immediately. Acrylic paint dries quite fast, so wash the hand with soap after the print.

Repeat again with a left hand on the left side with another color.
Always, print with the darkest color first, and lightest color last.

Set it aside to dry for overnight. Laid a clean cloth on the stencil work and press with a warm iron. Wash it before wear.

The kids woke up the next day, the first thing they want to see is this freezer paper stencil T-shirt… their first “big project” for their darling daddy. See, they don’t even want to brush their teeth and change their pajamas before taking this photo, so embarrassing!!! The kids are so happy with their freezer paper stencil work and cannot wait to see his daddy wearing it.