This shirt was one of my inspiration-to-finished product in 48 hours activity. I have been seeing a lot of shirts with the cross and four letters. Some were for weddings using the couples initials and some were for cities with short names. I decided to use the word MAKE to celebrate the start of my new blog.

I used SketchBookExpress for design. I saved the design as a pdf and printed it at 150%, which printed out on four sheets of paper. So after a little cutting and taping I had my enlarged design. I think you can print directly on freezer paper… but I don’t have my own printer. So I put my design under the freezer paper and traced my design. Make sure you put wax side down for this. I cut the design out with an X-acto knife.

For the shirt I stopped by Forever 21 during my lunch break. I debated going to American Apparel, but it was 95 degrees and Forever 21 was a bit closer. I found some great shirts though so it was a smart choice. I picked up two heather crew neck shirts and a grey v-neck. Its no secret that I love turquoise so I chose the blue-green shirt to try my first design. I washed and dried the shirts first to make sure they didn’t shrink after I put a design on the front.

Since freezer paper is coated with wax you can iron it on to your shirt. I made sure to turn the steam off and carefully ironed the stencil on to my shirt. I had some fabric paint and foam paintbrushes in my craft cabinet so I went with what I had. A brush with a flatter end, might work better, but without much trouble I painted my design.

I waited 24 hours before removing the stencil. It stuck a little around the paint, but came up pretty cleanly. I am really happy with how clean the edges look. I let you know how it survives a wash, but now I’m making my next design!