Embellish Your T-Shirts with StencilGirl® Stencils and Inktense Pencils!

Hello everyone my name is Debbie Anderson from Phoenix Arizona and sharing with you my technique for using Derwent Inktense pencils and blocks with StencilGirl® Stencils to decorate a t-shirt!

Materials Needed:

• StencilGirl® Stencils for this project I used 2 Stencils: Doodleit Borders and Normanand Running Horse
• Small Stencil Brush – mine was ¼ inch bristles
• Fabric Medium – I used Martha Stewart brand but any brand will do find this in your craft store in the fabric painting area
• Freezer Paper – 1 piece cut large enough to cover stenciled area of t-shirt
• Cardboard or T-shirt board
• T-shirt – Cotton in white
• Small plastic disposable cup for the stencil medium
• Iron and Ironing board or a towel to protect your counter
• Painters Tape or some low-tack tape
• Inktense pencils and blocks – the colors I used are:
• Pencils - #0900 Iris Blue, #0230 Golden Yellow, #0500 Chili Red
• Blocks- #1720 Tan, #1700 Mustard, #1800 Baked Earth, #2000 Bark

Note: I didn’t have any but if you use a spray temporary adhesive on the stencils it will help keep them in place while stenciling.

Turn the t-shirt inside out and take a piece of Freezer Paper (you can buy a roll at any grocery store).  Place the waxy side down on the inside front of the shirt where you will be stenciling and use an iron to fuse the paper to the shirt. This acts to stabilize the fabric a little so it slips around less when stenciling.

Turn the shirt right side out and place it on a cardboard t-shirt board or a piece of scrap cardboard cut from a box. You can purchase t-shirt boards at craft stores. Look in the fabric painting section. I taped the sleeves to the back to keep them out of the way.

For my design I started with the border, which is all done with Doodleit Borders

Measure out a 12-inch square on the front of the t-shirt and mark the corners with blue painter’s tape from the hardware store. This will help in placing the border.

I taped around one of the square motifs from the center border, this will be placed in the 4 corners. I lined the stencil up with the taped corners and used a little more tape to hold the stencil in place. With a Number 12 stencil brush (1/4-inch bristle diameter) I poured out a small amount of fabric medium. Stencil the motif first with just some fabric medium.

You want the area moist as it makes applying the pencil color easier. Apply this just like you would paint don’t over-do it.

Then I used Inktense pencils to apply color. Just scribble in a little color. I used Iris Blue, Golden yellow and Chili Red.

Then go over the colored areas with the stencil brush again with just a little bit of fabric medium to blend out the color. Blot on paper towels to remove excess fabric medium. Clean the brush on paper towels between colors. Hold the stencil down as you work to keep it from shifting. Fabric will not have as crisp an image as paper will.

Move the stencil to the next corner and repeat until all four corners are done.

Next tape off the border motif on the right side of the stencil. I thought this looked like rope. I positioned it on the t-shirt and stenciled in between the corner motifs. Using the same method, first stencil with fabric medium then add the color. I used an Inktense block color is Baked Earth. Don’t worry if it looks scribbly, your final go-over with the stencil brush will smooth out the color. Use a circular scrubbing motion with the stencil brush held vertically. Finally go back over to smooth the color out. Move the stencil as needed to go around the square.

Here is the t-shirt with the finished border.

Make sure the fabric is dry before proceeding with the center portion.

For the focal design I used Normanand Running Horse

Center the stencil in the middle and use some painters tape to hold the stencil in place.

I followed the same steps go over the area to stencil with just fabric medium, add color with Inktense blocks, smooth out with just a touch more fabric medium on the brush. I used Baked Earth for the mane and Bark for the body.

Once you have all the open areas of the stencil colored, remove the stencil. I filled in the open areas on the horse body with more Baked Earth. Blend all over the horse with the stencil brush with a little bit of fabric medium. Don’t work it too much.

Let the horse dry. Once try to touch (it will depend on your humidity but it takes about 15 minutes here in Arizona). You can leave the design as is or you can add some background color and a shadow as I did. I just took a few of the brown Intkense blocks and added some light lines in the background to indicate ground and a little darker below the horse to indicate shadow. I blended the lines with a bit of fabric medium on the brush (mostly dry brush).

I added a dot of white acrylic paint (applied with a ball stylus) to bring out the eye on the horse.

After everything is dry you can remove the t-shirt from the board.  

The fabric medium will have set the paint into the shirt but just to be sure the colors are set I place a light cloth over stenciled area and use my iron to heat set the color in. No steam and use a cotton setting.

After heat-setting, remove the freezer paper. Any residue left on the shirt will come off in the wash.

You can wash your t-shirt in the regular wash and dry in the dryer. The color is set and does not fade even with many washings.

This technique will work on any cotton fabric. Stenciled kitchen towels would be a lovely gift!

Debbie Anderson

Instagram: debbieanderson8473

Facebook: www.facebook.com/debbie.anderson.940098