Friday, March 25, 2011

First Try: DIY Clothing Iron-Ons


This was my first attempt at trying to fuse plastic bags to fabric. I used a thin plastic shopping bag on my first attempt, and all it did was fuse to my wax paper. A thicker plastic bag did the trick.

I traced an image onto a white plastic bag using a Sharpie, then cut it out into a nice oval with clean edges, and placed it drawing side down onto my cotton t-shirt. I laid a piece of wax paper on top of that, then a piece of paper. With an iron on the highest cotton setting I pressed down for a few minutes, and ironed with a lot of pressure over area of the plastic bag drawing. It did not seem to be sticking, so I ironed the other side of the decal(through the shirt) just to get it good and melted. After it cooled a bit, I gently peeled the wax paper off.

It worked nicely, but my Sharpie was a little old and flat. I'd have gotten sharper lines with a new one. I have no idea if this will stay on through a wash, but for now it's firmly attached. I'll post an update. I'd like to try this again with colored plastic and/or different pen colors.

I tried drawing this snail free hand with the Sharpie but didn't like the results. I'm not a proficient artist; tracing is the way to go with my skill level. I'll go ahead and embarrass myself with a picture of my hand drawn snail - it's the one of the right. The stubby old Sharpie didn't help matters. Tomorrow I'll buy some fresh ones.

4 comments:

Lady Farmer said...

You share the most wonderful ideas! I drop in many times but rarely comment. Thanks for sharing all your links, ideas and crafty endeavors!

Myrnie said...

I think they're sweet! :)

Amanda Hunt said...

Great idea and I think your drawing is fine!

Alexandra said...

Thanks so much. :)

I'd like to trace a giraffe next. I have the perfect traceable drawing for it. As soon as I can get a hold of a heavy white or solid colored plastic bag, I'll try it.