Ever since we moved to Michigan I’ve been preparing all of our meals. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Nowadays, we rarely go to restaurants or order take out. But with all the cooking and the baking comes the splatters and the unfortunate stains.
I decided I needed an apron and found the cutest one on Amazon. It has black and white horizontal stripes and two beige front pockets. The beige pockets is the perfect spot to add a bit of me. I decided to customize the area with stencils.
I grabbed my Ice Cream stencils designed by Ed Roth of Stencil 1 and went to work. This high quality stencil set is available at Target and comes with four designs: sugar cone, cake cone, firecracker ice pop, and a standard ice pop. I can’t recommend these stencils enough!
New to stenciling on fabric? Here’s 7 tips I learned over time.
Years ago, when I first started stenciling on fabric, I didn’t really think there was much to it. I’d place the stencil on the fabric, used a paint brush to fill the area, lift the stencil and the results were horrible! The paint ended up uneven and would get underneath the stencil. Eventually I realized I was doing it all wrong. Here are my seven tips for getting the best results when stenciling on fabric.
- After placing the stencil on the fabric, secure it down with painters tape or even washi tape. This will help prevent the stencil from moving.
- Do not use just any type of brush to stencil. For the most crisp designs, use a stencil brush, the bristles are short and firm, perfect for applying paint (use a roller for larger areas).
- Place a small amount of paint on a paint palette or a wax-coated paper plate. I also like reusing the plastic lids from take out containers (wash them first). Then add some paint to the brush and always dab off the excess. Too much paint can cause the paint to seep.
- When applying the paint, dab or pounce it over the stencil laying the bristles flat rather than at an angle. Applying it at an angle increases the chances of paint going underneath the stencil (not good).
- For large areas, use larger stencil brushes. For smaller intricate areas, use smaller stencil brushes.
- Carefully remove the stencil while the paint is still wet. Removing the stencil when the paint is dry might cause the paint to peel or dried paint from the stencil might attach itself to the stenciled image.
- Clean the brush and stencil in warm water immediately after using it. Otherwise the paint will start caking and drying making it difficult if not impossible to clean.
I used these seven tips while adding these ice cream stencils to my apron. Check it out.
Supplies
Step One
First, I placed the sugar cone stencil on the pocket of the apron and secured it with washi tape.
Step Two
Then I added Brea Reese acrylic paint to the lid from a take-out container. Please note, this paint is not fabric paint. Because of this, I will wash the apron by hand instead of throwing it in the wash.
Step Three
After adding some paint to the stencil brush and dabbing off the excess, I placed the bristles flat-down over the stencil and started dabbing and pouncing the paint over the top.
Step Four
While the paint was still wet, I removed the stencil from the apron. Although I was very happy with the results, I thought I needed to add a bit of contrast. I decided to add some dots to the border. I figured the dots would look great against the striped background.
