Wardrobe refashion: Freezer paper stenciling

Most of September is just a blur to me. I spent so many days in limbo, waiting for Porter to be born that the days all ran together and before I knew it the month was over! I've been meaning to post about these since the first week of September, when I did my class on wardrobe refashioning (previous posts here and here).One of the reasons I volunteered to teach the class in the first place was that it would give me a good excuse to finally try out freezer paper stenciling, a technique I've been reading about throughout blogland for a couple of years. I've long been acquainted with crafting with freezer paper, ever since I taught my roommates how to make tissue paper envelopes back in our freshman year of college. In case you've never used freezer paper before, it can usually be found in the same grocery store aisle as the foil and plastic wrap. It's wide white paper on a roll that has been treated on one side with a coating that makes it glossy and water-resistant. The neat thing about that coating is that when ironed, it melts and becomes adhesive, opening up all kinds of crafting possibilities.
Complete instructions for the freezer paper stenciling technique can be easily found through an online search, but the premise is this: draw or print a design on the paper side of the freezer paper and cut out a mortise (reverse) mask. Iron the freezer paper onto your fabric, glossy side down, thereby adhering the stencil to the fabric. Paint as you normally would with a stencil and when the paint is dry you can simply rip off the freezer paper to reveal your design!For my designs I used a mixture of sources. The crow was the outline of a clip art illustration from a book, the toadstool was hand drawn, and the black cat and owl were clip art from my Microsoft Word program. You can use any kind of design, but it's important to remember which parts of your design will be positive and negative space! (Ask me how I know this one.)For the owl, cat and toadstool I used regular opaque fabric paint. For the crow I used really beautiful silver Lumiere fabric paint that I bought at JoAnn's. It didn't photograph well but it's a beautiful metallic silver! I haven't washed it yet so I don't know how it will hold up but the shirt itself cost less than $5 so it won't be a huge tragedy if it cracks.

I found freezer paper stenciling is just as easy and addictive as all of the other bloggers said. What a great way to hide a stain or a flaw or just to spruce up an existing (but boring) piece of clothing!