turning kid's art into clothing...

a few weeks ago i found a tutorial for feezer paper shirts on pinterest.  it caught my eye because it called the technique "the poor man's version of screen printing"; basically, it had me at "the poor man's".  with those simple words i knew i was in :)

the steps really were so incredibly simple and i had plenty of thoughts for subjects but when calvary started bringing home pictures of his latest obsession i knew that i had found my first freezer paper project! 

1. i purchased freezer paper from wal-mart (it was about $6.00 for a huge roll).  it has to be freezer paper and not wax paper. 
2. i then took calvary's drawing and traced it on to the freezer paper.  i had to make sure i drew on the dull part because the shiny part is what adheres to the shirt when ironed. 
3. once i had traced the picture i cut out the design using an exacto knife.  this is where it gets really tricky.  attention to detail is what counts.  i think this is also what makes a child's drawing really ideal for this project.  simplicity is key.  the more complex the drawing the more painstaking this process is.  i had to think like a negative for a photograph.  anything that i wanted to paint i had to cut out.  so i had to cut out tiny little eyes and eyebrows.  once i cut out the pieces i had to make sure i kept the pieces that came completely loose so that i could have a complete picture when i started to iron. 
4. once i cut out the design i placed the picture on the shirt.  i bought a shirt from target for $2.50.  i have also started collecting shirts for the other kids for future projects whenever i see them on sale.  i heated an iron on the highest setting without steam.  once it was heated i just ironed the the picture onto the shirt.  it didn't take much to have it adhere to the shirt.  i checked all the edges to make sure they were sealed completely.  i didn't want any paint sneaking through and ruining all the effort of step 3.
5. once i finished ironing it was time to paint!  i just used acrylic paint.  ideally i would use fabric paint but i didn't have any around and i wanted to keep investments to a minimum until i knew it would work.  i have since invested in fabric paint.  although the acrylic has held up through washing and drying so far...i painted over the entire drawing a total of 3 times.  i am not patient so in between coats i used a hair dryer to dry the paint enough to put on the next coat. 
6. once the paint was dry i peeled off the freezer paper and voila!  a shirt made from calvary's drawing! 

he loves it so much that he wants to wear it all the time.  kyle also wanted me to make him a shirt with some of calvary's artwork.  i love seeing him so excited and so proud of his own work. 
i need to remember to take a picture of him wearing it next time!