So, my honey is turning thirty on Monday (Oh No, the Big Three Oh!), and I was totally stymied on what to get. I got him a hoodie and some other small gifts, but I wanted a big WOW! present, and I was totally coming up blank. Then, while I was browsing the internets one day looking at craft porn, it hit me.
(But first, a small backstory. I don't own a television, have no desire to own a television, and think that 99% of what is on television is pure drivel coated in garbage. However, Shohn kept talking about this show "Big Bang Theory", and kept insisting that I should watch it, and that I would find it funny. I watched an episode over his shoulder one night while we were each on our own laptops, and I was amused. So, shortly before he deployed, he transferred all four seasons that he had over to me, and I watched them while he was gone. Somewhere in this timeline, he asked me one day if I would sing "Soft Kitty" to him while he was sick, as is Sheldon's requirement in the show. [More on that here])
Since I can't carry a tune in a bucket, (Well, I *can*, but it's a rusty bucket full of holes and filled suspiciously with something that smells like pig poo) I tried to come up with a way that I could still make Soft Kitty happen. (Another NB: Shohn had mentioned that he was going to buy a comforter for his bed, since he needed a new one.) So, keeping all this in mind, I found myself online at Pinterest and One Pretty Thing, and I got The Idea. *I* could make Shohn a new comforter, and with stencils and fabric paint and my innate craftiness, I could make a Soft Kitty comfortor! EASY PEASY!
Well, nothing I do is ever easy. I've been told (repeatedly, and with fervor) that I overcomplicate things, and that I think too much. I freely admit that I am a perfectionist, and so began the quest to view all the blogs! view all the sites! view all the forums on Crafster.org for inspiration! That, however, turned out to be pure folly. There were a TON of great crafts revolving around Big Bang Theory, and some that tried to divert me from my path, but I found nothing like the project I wanted to craft, and so I set about creating my own. SO, without further ado, I present a tutorial on how to make a Soft Kitty comforter. Iron and paint at your own risk, and a word to the wise, spellcheck, spellcheck, SPELLCHECK!
Materials Needed:
Solid Color Comforter or Duvet. I had neither, but decided to go with a plain white comforter I got from Marshalls, and a solid white duvet cover that I got on Amazon - which btw, was amazingly cheap and is a fantastic quality. You can find that here.
Foam brushes, several sizes. It is a pain in the asterisk to clean these if you are using more than one color, and they are cheap enough to just buy multiples (they're about 40 cents each at JoAnn's). If you do wash them, blot, blot, blot until they are dry. Your paint will bleed and run if they are wet.
Freezer paper. Do not, and I cannot emphasize this enough, DO NOT use wax paper. It will not work, willl ruin your fabric, and then you'll just get all disgruntled and want to stab someone with the foam brushes or cut them with the stupid metal edge on the box that never works right anyway. I've found that Food Lion and Safeway both carry freezer paper, though you can find it in most grocery stores.
An iron. Make sure the steam is OFF for this whole process. Use the iron on the highest setting that the fabric will support. If you smell something burning, the fabric doesn't support that setting. If you have to leave the project at any time, don't leave the iron on and in contact with anything. Nobody likes a crafter who burns their house down.
Fabric paints. I did a million years worth of research and read posts in fabric art forums until my eyeballs fell out of my head, and I eventually decided on Jacquard Textile Paint, which got great reviews online regarding ease of clean up, durability after washing, and softness to the touch. Mmmmm...softness. I think any paint would work, I just chose a higher quality paint so that the cover could stand up to multiple washings. There are also different techniques involved for puff paint and glitter paints, and you can find more information online for those.
Paper/Printer/Font. I used the Katy Berry font, since I thought the letters looked like they had cat tails. Any font will work, just remember two things: 1) you will get sick of cutting out letters, so the simpler the better. If you're carving out the US Constitution, make sure you take frequent breaks and prepare to have calluses by the end of it. 2) Make sure you keep the insides of letters where the freezer paper completely separates (like the center of the o, the p, the dots on the i, etc.). You will kick yourself in the ass if you throw these away, because you will have to redo them all, and your fingers will send you hate mail.
X-acto knives with extra blades. Paper dulls the blades quickly, and make sure you buy one that will let you grip it for a while. The standard metal shaft knives will work, but their comfort level falls away after about the first twenty minutes. I used the Comfort Grip for almost all of the letters. (If you have a lot of straight letters in your font, use a ruler. It may look straight to you, but I guarantee when you're finished and take a big step back, your "straight" lines will all look drunk.) If you are carving out curved letters, this thing is worth its weight in gold. It has a slight learning curve, but the swivel makes all the difference. (My boyfriend says the same thing about my hips. *wink wink*).
Cutting surface. I used a plain old plastic cutting board. I recommend something with some give - I found the green cutting mat from JoAnn's to be too hard. I also don't recommend cutting on anything you value, like your grandmother's cherry table, and I don't recommend cutting fast, unless you like the nicknames "Stubby" and "Nina Nine Fingers." The blades are sharp, and skin is soft. Although blood does a good job of staining fabric, so if you can't afford the paint....
Cardboard. Cardboard is totally optional, but if you have a fabric with layers or folds (like my duvet cover), it *highly* recommended to put cardboard or an old towel or something in between to prevent paint bleed through.
The Process
First, wash your fabric. If you are using a fabric that is going to shrink, better to shrink before you paint. Then, iron the fabric until all of the wrinkles are out. It's OK to use steam at this point in the process, although be sure your fabric is not still damp when you put the freezer paper on.
Next, draw your layouts on paper. I downloaded and printed a jpeg of a kitty from Google Images, then printed the text, then I laid everything out on my dining room table to see which arrangement I liked best. I went through a few font sizes, finally settling on 400 point bold. The cat picture ended up being almost eight inches across. I finally settled on the arrangement that I wanted, and prepared to get to work.
Next, trace your image on to the freezer paper, making sure the shiny side is down - this is the side you will iron on to the fabric. I have been told it is possible to print the design directly onto the freezer paper, but I only have a laser printer, and I was afraid the heat of the printer would affect the ability of the freezer paper to adhere when ironed on quality, so I simply put the paper with the printed font underneath the freezer paper and traced/cut out the letters with the X-Acto knife. (Remember to save the insides of the letters!)
Once you have all of the letters cut out, lay the stencils aside. (I had saved the insides in a series of small bowls - all the insides from the first line in one bowl, from the second line in another bowl, etc.) Turn your iron on the highest setting that your fabric will bear, and give it a few minutes to warm up. While the iron is warming up, lay your fabric out on a large, flat surface (my dining room table was perfect for this), put cardboard in between the layers if your fabric is folded or double layered like my duvet cover to prevent paint bleed through, and start arranging the stencils (SHINY SIDE DOWN) in the layout you determined earlier. I found it easiest to mark the lines VERY lightly with a pencil and only do one line at a time.
Once you have the stencils arranged as you want them, take the iron and start ironing the stencils. Make sure you pass over each stencils several times, paying particular attention to the edges, as paint will bleed underneath if the edges are not sealed properly.
Next, while you're waiting for the fabric to cool down, prepare your paint. I had some small metal bowls that I use for prep work, and those turned out to be perfect. NB: If you are mixing a custom color, make a batch big enough to do the entire project. It's a total pain in the keister to have to mix another batch, and then worry that it's going to look all banged up because the color is one teeny shade off. If you need to take a break from your project, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a layer of aluminum foil, and put it in the fridge.
Now begins the fun part. Once you have all of your stencils ironed on (and be careful moving the fabric, because the stencils are not superglued on, and movement can dislodge or pucker them, which will cause the paint to bleed...), start painting away!
Make sure that you:
- get all the edges - but be careful of lifting the edge with the brush. Dabbing works best on the edges;
- double check against bare spots (easiest to do if you use a fabric that contrasts with your paint); and
- if you need or want to do more than one coat of paint, make sure you let the paint dry for a few hours in between coats.
If you are going to use multiple colors on your project, I recommend laying all of your colors out and have a plate or piece of aluminum foil handy to lay your brushes down, keeping them separate so that the colors don't mix. I don't recommend doing one color at a time, unless you're going to let the colors dry in between, as I have been known to drag my hand or my sleeve or my bracelets through still wet paint on my way to another part of the project.
It will look pretty messy, and don't worry about getting paint on the rest of the stencil, it shouldn't bleed through unless you pour it on with a bucket.
Once you've completely painted your image (leaving 3-4 hours of dry time in between each coat), and all the paint has dried, start pulling off the freezer paper. If the paper is stubborn, carefully use the tip of the X-acto knife to lift the stencil and pull it off. If there are tiny remnants, you can leave them be, as they should come out in the wash.
Once you've pulled all of the stencils off, you can clean up the image (if needed) with a fine tip paint brush, although if the edges of the stencil were ironed well, you should be good to go at this point to continue on to the next step.
After all of the stencils are removed, turn your iron on the highest setting that the fabric will bear. Lay your project back out flat, and put a thin layer of cloth (an old tshirt, or thin dishtowel for example) over the design. Start ironing the design, going slowly and methodically over the entire design. I ironed over the entire thing three times to heat set it, although that might just be me being paranoid. This is the best option for heat setting the fabric (which will allow it to be washed without fading). You can also take your project to a commercial laundromat and put it in the dryer, as commercial dryers run hotter than the home versions.
Once you've heat set the ink, just iron it until it looks pretty, and Voila! you're all set!
For my Soft Kitty coverlet I decided to shade some black into the body of the kitty and make his whiskers black:
..and I was feeling a little whimsical when I finished, so I cut out some extra hearts from the leftover stencils and made the shams match.
After allll that, here's the finished product. Hopefully these instructions are clear enough that you can go forth and create your own, but if not, just drop me your questions in the comments.
For further reading - there are many talented bloggers out there that have great tutorials on freezer paper stencils. Here are a few that I used for inspiration and information:
Make Project Freezer Paper Stencils
The Allison Project Tiny Turkey
Happy crafting!
