(My boys and my niece Madison)
1. Draw your number onto the dull side of the freezer paper.
(It can sometimes be hard to find. It has a waxie side and a dull side to it)
2. Cut out the inside of your number.
(So I cut out the 3 and not the surrounding background to the 3)
3. Iron the freezer paper onto a white, cotton t-shirt, waxie side down.
(We used Hanes undershirts for the boys.)
4. We took a legal tablet and put a plastic grocery bag over it. Then we slid it in between the front and back layers of the shirt. This will keep the paint from going all the way through the fabric. If you have multiple t-shirts to make, then you can slide out the legal pad (or piece of cardboard) and leave the plastic bag inside the shirt while it dries. Then cover it again and use the tablet inside another shirt.
5.. Using foam paint dabbers, dab (do not brush), the fabric paint inside the stenciled number.
(These foam, flat ended brushes are what I am calling paint dabbers. Anything that lets you apply the paint in a non stroking manner works. By actually brushing the paint, you may get some of it underneath your stencil.)
6. Allow the paint to become dry to the touch.
7. Peel off the freezer paper.
8. Follow the directions according to the fabric paint (does the finished product need to go into the dryer or have a hot iron over it?). If the fabric paint just feels dry to the touch and you haven't waited the right length of time- it can still get on other fabrics. Trust me on this one.
9. Then jump for joy.
You can also do this project by printing off iron on numbers from your computer.
Or you can hand draw the outline of the numbers in a black fabric marker onto the t-shirt. Then you can let the kids color in the outlined numbers in a lighter colored marker. This way, if they color outside the lines (gasp) you can still tell what the number should be.
It isn't a new idea - just the first time we used it.
