Stamped Tea Towels
January 9, 2012
Howdy y’all! I hope you had a fine weekend. Ours was spent organizing and planning, planning and organizing, but mostly tinkering around the house, cleaning up the remnants of Christmas and tucking it away in bins for next year. Lots of neat things happened in the peace and quiet, we made plans to take a vacation this year and to make more changes to the house, it was both productive and relaxing.
Another project I worked in the midst of all that was these stamped tea towels. I’m a huge fan of block print fabric so I decided to mimic the look by using some old stamps in my collection and applying the pattern to tea towels to brighten up the kitchen.
To make your own, you’ll need the following: tea towels, non porous flat surface, paint for fabric, fabric medium, sponge roller, rubber stamps, iron.
I used the Martha Stewart paints since they’re inexpensive, readily available (found mine at Michaels), designed for use on fabric, and they come in such nice colors. Be sure to buy the fabric medium, that’s what keeps your paint thin, soft, and washable.
1. If you want to make your own color, first mix it together, then 2. add the fabric medium after the color is mixed. I used about one part medium to one part paint.
Next, roll your paint on a nonporous flat surface (I wrapped a piece of plywood in aluminum foil). 4. Use the sponge roller to apply it to the stamp. I found the color came out more even this way instead of placing the stamp directly into the fabric paint.
Next, apply your stamp in your pattern of choice. Sponge roll a light coat of paint before every single stamp for even color distribution.
Change colors and sizes to add interest!
I also made a second version with another old speckled stamp I had in my stash.
The paints are water based, so cleanup is crazy easy, just a little water.
Allow the paint to dry for 24 hours, then heat seal your paint with an iron. I placed a plain cotton sheet between the tea towel and the iron to prevent direct contact.
Once you’re done, you have your own custom tea towels that are unique and completely washable. I recommend a delicates setting on your washer, just to preserve all your hard work.
So pretty and so easy, and they make great gifts. You can apply the same technique to simple cotton to make pillows or window panels too, have fun creating your own!
xo,
.
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Tags: fabric paint, stamped tea towels
