Thursday 11 October 2012

Tutorial for Trick or Treat banner

Here's a quick reminder of the Trick or Treat banner that I made earlier this week.

 
Now to explain exactly how I did it.
 
Creating the actual banner was easy. I started by cutting triangles out of some burlap fabric that I had.
 

Once I had all of the triangles cut out I used them to help determine the font size that I wanted for the letters that I added to each one.
 
 
Here's how to get the letters on to your fabric (I recommend gloves as I got ink all over my hands doing this project).
 
 
  1. Use a word processing program on your computer to create the letters that you want to print ( I used Microsoft Word).
  2. Load sheets of wax paper rather then regular paper in your printer. I just tore sheets off of the roll making sure they were the same size or a bit smaller than a regular sheet of paper so they wouldn't get jammed. This was probably the trickiest part because my printer didn't recognize the wax paper and thought that it was out of paper. It took some patience and me guiding the wax paper into the printer very carefully, but once I got the hang of it, it went a lot quicker.
  3. In your printer settings, switch to mirror image so that the letters print backwards.
  4. Print your letters onto the wax paper. The ink doesn't absorb into the wax and stays very wet.
  5. Place the wax paper (ink side down) right onto the fabric exactly where you want the letter to be and rub gently with your fingers.
  6. Remove wax paper and your transfer is complete.
NOTE: Since I used regular printer ink, this fabric will not be washable. If I wash it, all of the ink will come out. I am alright with it for this project but I wouldn't want to use this method to transfer onto clothing or something that needs frequent washing.

After I had the letters transferred onto each burlap triangle, I sewed them (zig-zag stich) onto a piece of twine to attach them in a line. I taped each end of the twine to the back of the mirror in my front hall and that was it!
 
 

22 comments:

  1. This is so cool! And I didn't know there was a mirror option when printing letters. Genius. Thank you!

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  2. I wonder if transferring these by pressing the back of wax paper with a warm iron would help set the ink on the fabric. Brilliant idea...can't wait to try it!

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    Replies
    1. I wouldn't risk the iron. The wax will likely melt & get on your iron.

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    2. The waxed side is the side that's face down, it wont get on your iron. If you are overly concerned a piece of regular parchment paper on the top to iron over will be fine.

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    3. What about doing it on freezer paper?

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  3. Hi there, did you know that if you iron the ink once it has dried on the fabric you will be able to wash it?? I did this using a piece of calico pressed onto a piece of freezer paper and cut to fit the printer. Once the ink had dried I ironed it and used the printed fabric in a quilt.

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  4. You can also iron the freezer paper onto your fabric - wax side down - then put paper and fabric into the printer and print directly onto the fabric :)

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    Replies
    1. Awesome idea. I'm definitely going to have to try that!

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    2. so, then to use it in a quilt or something that you will want to wash do you need to remove the paper after printing?

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  5. If you search Citrasolv on Pinterest, there is another very cool and easy technique; as a matter of fact, that's what led me to this site. Thanks for the ideas!

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  6. What side of the wax paper do you print on? The shiny side or the not shiny side?

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    Replies
    1. I printed on the shiny side so that the ink didn't absorb into the paper at all.

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  7. I've ironed fabric to wax paper side of freezer paper and printed directly on fabric and also ironed wax paper to sheets of paper for stability and ran those thru a printer to transfer - it works great. Just trim the wax paper to match the printer paper and it runs right through.

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  8. Nothing to do with a printer. But ironing wax paper onto leaves and flowers was an old trick 70+ years ago to retain color and use for arrangements of all types. I'm old and remember my mom using this method.

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  9. If you are really worried about being able to wash it, you could paint over the transfer.

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  10. Where is the mirror image using word?? My printer preferences don't seem to show that.

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  11. I found the mirror image option in my printer settings. I'm not sure how to do it in Word.

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  12. Some printers have the option and some don't. I have 3 printers and one of them doesn't have it

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  13. I was able to mirror the letters by using text boxes. Google found it for me!!

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  14. Are you all using ink jet printers, or would this work with a laser too?

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  15. ink jet only. Do not try this with a laser printer. If you don't have mirror image in the print settings, you can just flip the image horizontally. Then print as usual.

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  16. My printer did not have a mirror or tshirt image. I went to paint and flipped mine.

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