So a while ago I did some printed book bags and t-shirts (I also gave a book bag away), but until now I’ve not told you how you can print your own book bags (or t-shirts, or in fact any other fabric). Today I’m going to show you how, and although it may seem daunting it really isn’t hard.
First, what you’ll need:
- the fabric you’re going to print on;
- fabric paint or all-surface paint;
- a sheet of clear plastic;
- a pencil or pen that will write on your plastic sheet (please try this, as I have matte sheets pencil will work but if yours are glossy you’ll probably need a permanent marker or similar);
- a stanley knife preferably, else small scissors;
- tape;
- foam (confession: I use cheap shoulder pads held together by a hair band);
- baking parchment;
- an iron.
So how do you go about it? You start off with the design – what is it you want to print? Bear in mind that with this method, you can only really do outlines, as you can see with the letters from my design – a letter like A will not have a triangle in the middle. When you have decided on your design you need to transfer it to the sheet of plastic by putting the plastic on the design and tracing the outlines. I’m just lazy and copy it straight from my laptop screen (although you really have to be careful with that method as anything sharp scratching across the screen may damage it!).
Then, cut out the design with your stanley knife or else, with scissors. Once that’s done you can stick the design sheet onto your fabric with tape to prevent it from changing position when you’re printing.
Use the foam to dab on the fabric paint, but make sure you’ve put baking parchment or something else you don’t mind getting dirty underneath the fabric (in this case, inside the bag).
Let dry. I actually did two layers here because the gold wasn’t that opaque, but I let the first layer dry for a few hours. In the end it will have to dry for about 12 hours.
Once dried you can iron it (this sets the paint), putting baking parchment on top of and underneath the fabric. Iron for about 4 minutes.
And then you’re done! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask them. Have you ever printed anything? Do you like the idea?
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