It’s October and time for breast cancer awarenss month. This year I’m crafting for the cure by making baby onsies that sport a super-cute and blingy pink ribbon.
This is also a super-easy craft to do, with few simple items. I made mine using the Memory Makers’ “Slice” to cut out my template, but you could do that by hand. So here’s what I used and how I did it:
Materials:
Baby snap-suit (Onesies is TM’d by Gerber, BTW) or t-shirt
Shiva Paintstiks (pink iridescent here)
Hot fix crystals and/or setter
Freezer paper
“Think Pink” Cartridge and Slice machine OR
Template/coloring book/freehand drawing to size (wikipedia has one)
You will also need some scissors, a hot iron, some paper towels, or glitter fabric glue.
First, I cut a few pieces of cardboard to slip into the Onesie. It’ll keep the paint from bleeding through, as well as stabilizing the knit material.
Yay, Slice! I have the Breast Cancer Awareness edition!
Next, get your freezer-paper stencil ready. Since I’m using a machine, I selected the pink ribbon image. I then put the freezer paper SHINY SIDE UP on my sticky mat, so that it wouldn’t slide around.
(Since my ribbon is the same either way, it doesn’t matter. However, if I were doing an initial, I’d have to be careful about this and make sure that my image was going to print as a “mirrored” image…but I digress.)
Now, the funny thing here is that even though I just cut OUT the ribbon, I don’t WANT the ribbon. It’s going in the collage box. What I want is the negative space- the out line an that little teardrop-thingy. Don’t lose it!
If you are cutting out your stencil by hand, don’t fret it: just free-hand it in pencil, then use an exacto knife to carefully cut out the outline, and then use scissors to cut out the tear drop thingy. You can slice right through the ribbon, because we don’t need it, remember? Just the negative space left on the paper!
Next we’re going to take that freezer paper stencil and iron it (shiny side down) right to our little Onesie. That shiny stuff is actually wax, and it will adhere nicely to the cloth. Get it good and ironed down (usually a few seconds on the cotton setting, but you know your iron better than I do.) Then position the teardrop-thingy and iron it down, too. It’ll kinda look like this:
All ironed down, ready to go!
Since I use Paintstiks (under the brand names of Shiva or Markal), then next part is fun and easy- just scrap off the film on the oil stick and start coloring in! I recommend starting on the paper part, and then dragging the paintstik down into the cloth. It will want to distort because it’s a knit, but just be careful and firm in your strokes. Also, watch those fingers! I got some paint on my fingers on one I was doing, and didn’t realize I left little blue fingerprints all over that bad boy!
Now, if you AREN’T using Paintstiks, no worries.You can color in with fabric markers or fabric crayons just as easily. I don’t recommend fabric acrylic paints for this project, though, because it dries kinda stiff and crunchy, not so good for baby undergarments.
The nice thing about Paintstiks is that thy are oil-based and dry nice and soft and shimmery…but it will take a day or two for it to completely dry. And never fear, intrepid crafters- even though they ARE oil-based, they will not leave a yucky oil halo on your garments. PROMISE!
All colored in..
- ..and with the stencil peeled off!
After this, you should let it dry for at least a day. (Of course, I didn’t.) Then you can attach hot-fix crystals or outline it with fabric marker, glitter glue, whatever makes your crafty heart happy.
SO, friends, there it is! Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy, and it took LESS than a half hour. Now I’ll let it dry and it’ll be good to go! And I’m sure the baby momma will be pleased, too. Not just because it’s “stylish-with-a-message” which is so au currant in fashion; but because this lil’ number is washable. No dry cleaning here, folks!
One las parting shot- I did a layered version for new baby Benjamin (and Momma Lisa), and I did a great big gold star for that boy.
By the way, if you are looking for other “Pink Crafts” for the cure, check out these other posts from last year:
- Cross Stitch for Breast Cancer Awareness
- Pink Ribbon Quilting for Breast Cancer Awareness
- More Breast Cancer Awareness Crafts
Happy Crafting for a Cure!
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Nice designs on T-Shirts, really good for my kids…
Benjamin and his mom love his new, crafty onesies!!!! They are wonderful!!!
I really like this article.