...because everyone should have one!

In the spirit of my favorite holiday and season I thought I would share a little tutorial on a project I've been working on. I should be sewing dresses but they aren't turning out, in fact I pretty much hate them, so to distract myself from the hideous chiffon things in the corner that need a zipper and hems I made chocolate bunny shirts for the kids. I plan on tucking them in their Easter baskets to wear after church on Easter. They are so easy, in fact I made Jeremy's and finished his in 2 hours this morning- and that includes drying time- very easy and plenty of time to make at least 4 dozen before Easter ;o).

Here's the list of "ingredients"- a plain t-shirt, brown and possibly black fabric paint, freezer paper, a paint brush, ribbon, exacto knife, and an iron.

First you need to find your image. I wanted mine to be a traditional chocolate bunny shape so I found a picture of a real chocolate bunny. You can use whatever image you wish. Next I printed out my bunny in a few different sizes and held it up to the shirts to pick my size. Once you have the size down (mine is 4" high) you print your image out preferably in the middle of regular printing paper. I printed mine out using a photo printing program so I could get 4 at a time for my 3 munchkins so that's why they're not in the center which you can do if you are making more than one... I digress.
Now you cut a piece of freezer paper so it's roughly 8" x 10.5" or so and tape the top and bottom edges down on top of your printed regular paper making sure you are covering your image completely with freezer paper, shiny side towards the image and paper side facing you. With the edges taped down, send that puppy through the printer again with the taped on freezer paper.

Now that you have your image printed on the freezer paper it's time to cut your image out with the exacto knife. Once your image is cut, trim your freezer paper leaving generous space around the image so you don't get flyaway paint on your shirt but make sure you cut the tape ends off- you do not want to iron the tape- trust me. Set your stencil aside for just a second.

With your iron set to the high or cotton setting (no steam) cut a big chunk of freezer paper about 6" x 6" square or an inch or two bigger than your stencil and iron it to the inside of the shirt, shiny side to the fabric and paper side facing you, in the area where your stencil will be on the front. This keeps the paint from bleeding through to the areas of the shirt you don't want paint to be. Now flip the shirt back right side out.

Now you're ready for the fun part. I wanted a few of my shirts to have the bunny smack in the center so I folded the shirt in half and ironed it to make a crease for the center line to help guide my stencil placement.

Once you find your bunny's "happy place" put the stencil on the shirt, shiny side down and iron with the iron on the cotton or high setting, no steam. It will turn the paper kind of yellow and it should if it's hot enough. Try not to wiggle the iron around to much or it will shift your stencil or tear your paper. Keep the iron on it for about 20 to 30 seconds or until it's set. The stencil should be really stuck and you can check by trying a corner, it shouldn't pull up at all.

Now you get to paint! With your stencil stuck and cool to the touch apply a thin layer of fabric paint with your paint brush. If your brown isn't brown enough you can mix a little black in there until it's the shade you want. I would recommend letting the first coat dry and adding a second coat, but I didn't do that and I should have...

Once the paint is dry you can peel off your freezer paper from the front and from the inside. Viola`, you have your rabbit!

I wanted mine to look a little more girly so I added ribbon bow ties. If you do this just make sure to heat seal or fray check the ribbon ends for the wash.

And because Jeremy needed a shirt to I had to make a boy version using Jeremy's favorite phrase. I did the same technique for everything on Jim's shirt, only I used layers and cut the title... yada yada

So why don't you give it a go... because everyone should have one and it's not as hard as I made it sound, really!

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