Printing on Fabric {the cheap way}

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Our family has been a Boy Scout family for 12 years and you would think that we would have all kinds of  Scouting t-shirts laying around. And we do, but not always in the size that is needed. Gabriel is going to be working on staff at a National Youth Leadership Training camp over spring break and needs more BSA t-shirts (they call these Class B uniforms).

After hunting around this weekend he informed me that he doesn’t have enough to make through the week and certainly not enough for Jamboree this summer.

So what’s a mom to do?  Run some fabric through the printer and make your own.

Here’s how we did it…

All you need is fabric, freezer (butcher) paper, scissors (or other cutting devices) and a printer.

Cut the freezer paper and the fabric to the size of a regular sheet of paper (8.5″ X 11″). I actually cut my fabric just a tiny bit small (like 1/32 of an inch)

Lay the fabric on top of the freezer paper’s shiny side and iron. The fabric will stick to the paper.

Now, type up what you want to print and put your fabric into the printer making sure that you have the fabric side facing the right way to print on the fabric not the freezer paper. Choose bond paper instead of regular paper on the paper options tab (your printer may automatically adjust for paper thickness). And print.

Cut your fabric to the size you want it and peel off the freezer paper. Pin it to the shirt.

And sew. I used a zig zag stitch and raw edges. The little threads will come off in the wash and it will look kind of rugged. If you are sewing it to a t-shirt you should use some stabilizer under the shirt. I was out and one of the shirts has quite a bit of puckering. I like the tear away kind.

Also, I probably should have put the Boy Scout emblem on the tag but I didn’t think about it until after they were printed.

So now you know how to print on fabric.

How have you been making do lately?

This post is linked to Made By You Mondays, What’s in the Gunny Sack, Make it Pretty Monday, Make a Scene Monday, Get Your Craft On, twelveOeight, Take it On Tuesday, Be inspired, Time to Shine,   What We Learned WednesdayFun in the Functional,

Thanks for sharing with your friends!

6 thoughts on “Printing on Fabric {the cheap way}”

  1. Good tip about the freezer paper. You might want to use a treatment like Bubble Jet Set on the cloth first, or buy the printable T-shirt transfer papers to prevent your labels from fading away in the wash.

    Reply
    • Thanks for the tip. I did this for my older son and the ink faded some but no much. If I were doing this for something we wanted to keep long term I would definitely use some Bubble Jet Set.

      Reply

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