Remember our tie dyed pillowcase gift wrap?
I added to it for a special little girl’s birthday gift! I used this rather cool fabric paint called DecoArt Ink Effects that irons on whatever you paint!
I’ll show you the simple how-to [though, its pretty easy, so there’s not really much to show you!].
And the best part is that its not all crunchy and crisp like most iron-ons that you find. So its perfect for a pillowcase that delicate little heads will be sleeping on!
Design it!
Figure out what you want to make. What kind of fabric you want it on. And make a design. Either sketch it out, or plan it in your head. Whatever works best for you.
My first design didn’t pan out. I wanted to decorate those canvas storage cubes for the toy room. Turns out that those cubes are a coated canvas and it just melts when you iron them! So that’s a no-go!
But, I do have these butterfly stencils that I used to trace onto paper.
That’s all it takes, just regular old printer paper, or whatever you have! Nothing special.
I chose three of the Ink Effects colors to paint my design to coordinate with the already tie-dyed pillowcase.
I ended up painting three coats to make sure it was solidly covered. The photo below is after one coat of paint and you can see the brush strokes.
Note: the paint dries [and paints on] a color slightly different than what it will show up on your fabric. Use the color dot on the bottle as a guide.
After I was satisfied with the coverage on the paper and the design was completely dry, I cut the butterflies a part and laid them out on the fabric, in my case, our pillowcase. Keep in mind that if you’re laying them right side up [like I have here] they will be reversed when you iron them on. I wasn’t that picky since letters weren’t involved.
Note: If you’re working fabric that’s 30% cotton or more, you absolutely need to use the Ink Effect Basecoat. Spray it onto your fabric liberally and let dry. Make sure to get the edges well. [You may want to protect the surface around your fabric.] I didn’t get my edges covered as well as I liked with the Basecoat and could definitely see a difference when I ironed it on.
Iron it!
Simple. Flip over your design so the paint is on the fabric and iron for a good minute or so. Have your iron cranked up as high as it can go.
As I was ironing, I periodically checked the design to see how it was transferring by carefully lifting an edge.
It should appear as a bright, solid design.
Continue ironing your entire design!
Use it!
Time to use the pillowcase! Enjoy!
Allison at No Time For Flash Cards made a completely awesome, washable place mat using these fabric paints! I’m so jealous I didn’t think of it. But now I’m gonna have to make it! I love the ABCs on it!
I’m heading over to DecoArt Ink Effect’s Facebook page to share them what we created. I invite you to do the same!
- Facebook: DecoArtAcrylicPaints
- Pinterest: decoart
- You Tube: DecoArtPainter
I wrote this post, and received the product, as part of a paid campaign with DecoArt Ink Effects and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.
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amber says
This is super adorable! I am going to be doing these with my kids here soon. Thanks for the creative inspiration!