My soon to be seven-year old is a SERIOUS Little House on the Prairie fan. She is an expert and has no problem recalling horses names, the neighbors, and quotes from many of the books. She and I have been planning a "Little House" birthday party for a while now. I have been working on several crafts for her party and thought to share some.
The first is freezer paper covered wagon shirts. You can really create any design with freezer paper. Think of it as a primitive form of screen printing.
Materials Needed: Freezer paper (not wax paper,- it must be coated on one side), fabric paint, paint brush, tape, self healing cutting mat or cardboard, x-acto knife and an iron. I bought my freezer paper at Walmart for about $6.00 near the aluminum foil.
Directions: First, decide on a design. I found a stencil for a covered wagon by doing an internet search and printed it to the exact size. Second, cut out a square of your freezer paper and tape it down on all four sides on your self-healing cutting mat. I taped the design to the inside of the freezer paper to trace my stencil and then removed it before cutting.
Next, draw your design onto the freezer paper, on the non shiny side. Cut out your design using the x-acto knife and be sure to keep any islands. Turn on your iron now so it will be nice and hot when you are ready.
Once you have finished cutting, remove the newly created stencil and remove the tape (it will melt!).
Before painting, place something inside your shirt to catch any paint that will bleed through. I actually iron a piece of freezer paper on the inside of the shirt before ironing on the outside design. It took me 10 girl scout shirts to figure that it helps to reduce wrinkles in your final design. This creates a nice seal and no paint bleeds through to the back of the shirt. Plain paper or cardboard will also do the trick. Gently dab on paint in the color of your choice! Don't be afraid to experiment with multi-colors and blending colors to
o. Acrylic paint works fine on fabric, but paint specifically for fabric will hold up really well.
Once you are finished painting, find a spot to left your design dry overnight. I know it is tempting to rip the freezer paper, but don't! It will ruin some of the edges. The next day peel off the freezer paper and check out your awesome work. You can use tweezers to remove small bits of hard to remove paper. I added, "I love Little House" to the front of the shirt using cut out from my Cricut machine.
Enjoy making your shirts! The possibilities are endless and I am constantly making new shirts and canvas bags. I made Girl Scout shirts, Autism Walk for our school, and birthday shirts for family and friends.
