Using Digi Stamps on Fabric - Tips and Tricks Your Next Stamp

Hello Your Next Stamp blogger friends!!

I wanted to share with you today some tricks on how to use your digi stamps on fabric.  How fun is that? There are a few steps to take on this technique, but if you bear with me and perhaps grab a cup of tea or coffee, I promise you will have fun! There is also another medium that can be used to achieve this look, but I am going to show you how to print on fabric with your printer and Copic markers to color the image, using freezer paper and some Heat Bond iron on adhesive.  So lets get started!

The first step is to choose what image you would like to work with.  I know, that is the most difficult step because YNS has so many adorable images! ;) Once you have chosen the image, you will want to resize the image in your favorite photo editing program (I am using Photoshop Elements) to fit the project you are using this on.

 I am using Toby and Friends and as you can see here, I scaled it back 50%. 

Once I have adjusted the size for my project, I went to the print screen to ensure I had it set to the area in which I wanted the image printed to.  In this case, I wanted it in the middle. Allow me to show you the steps to prepare your fabric for the printing process.

I mentioned that we would be using Freezer Paper.  This is paper that is coated on one side and not the other.  It is used for wrapping items to be frozen and perfect for arts and crafts projects where you don't want something to soak through onto your work surface.  Look! It even says for use of arts and crafts! :)

Cut your fabric to the size you want to print on. I cut mine to an 8"x8" square just to be sure I was covered. Then, cut your freezer paper just smaller than your selected size of fabric.

Place the coated side of the paper to the underside of the fabric (the side you don't want printed on) and iron.

Iron both sides to ensure a good marriage and no wrinkles on the fabric. Because I made my space an 8x8, I took my fabric and taped it to a sheet of printer paper so that I could feed it through, making sure the fabric was in the center.  Depending on the size you are wanting to print, you could make the fabric and freezer paper 8 1/2" x 11" so that it would feed like a normal piece of paper. The choice is yours!

Load your paper into the printer and hit print! I kept my printer settings normal and it worked perfectly.

Now it's time to color! Ok... so it is terrible that I did not stop to take pictures of me coloring? I get into a mode and forget! I am sorry for that, but I will explain.  When you are coloring with Copics on fabric, it will bleed because of course the fabric is porous.  The key is to use the lightest of strokes (and I do mean light) and begin away from the lines. The color will naturally spread and if it spreads too much and over the line, you can do a couple of things.  One, is that I found you can use your blender to "push" back the color. Two, if you can catch it before it spreads, or you used your blender and want it to stop, I used my heat gun to quickly dry the alcohol and stop the ink from spreading.  You can also use your iron if you want.  Here is my finished image:

Fun, right? :)  Peel away the freezer paper from the fabric.

Cut a piece of the Heat Bond to the size you desire for the cut out. From this point, you can decide whether or not you want to run it though your die cut machine for a decorative look or just fussy cut like I did.  Either way, be sure to have enough coverage area you will need to adhere it to your project.

Place the shiny side of the Heat Bond to the underside of the fabric and iron on front and back until you get a good bond between the two. 

 I fussy cut mine and then peeled back the paper from the Heat Bond leaving me the adhesive on the back.

I ironed on the image to a small muslin bag and decorated the bag using some ribbon which I rouched through my sewing machine, some jute cording, and a button.  I filled it with some dog treats and it is ready for giving to mans best friend!

Thanks so much for taking a peek at my tutorial and hope you have fun doing your own fabric creation! Have a great week!