Stenciled Tea Towels

A few weeks ago, I received a box from my friends at Plaid that included this super cool FolkArt stencil and some FolkArt Acrylic Paints. I thought it would be fun to use the stencil on fabric and make these stylish and colorful tea towels. I really love how they came out, and they were so easy to make. I mixed the acrylic paint with fabric medium, so even though these tea towels are painted, they can still be machine washed.

Here is what you will need to stencil your own tea towels:

Supplies

FolkArt Laser Cut Stencil

FolkArt Acrylic Paints in a variety of colors

Folk Art Fabric Painting Medium

Foam Pouncers

Washed and ironed tea towels

Work surface such as a cardboard or white foam board

Repositionable Spray Adhesive for stencils

Directions

Step 1. Lay tea towel out on work surface. Some paint may bleed through fabric, so make sure you are using a disposable work surface.

Step 2: Follow directions for fabric medium and mix with acrylic paint. For my project, I used 2 teaspoons of fabric medium mixed with 4 teaspoons of acrylic paint for each towel.

Step 3: Spray back of stencil with repositionable spray adhesive and position  on tea towel. Smooth stencil onto fabric.

Step 4: Load pouncer with mixture of fabric medium and paint. Off load excess paint onto a paper towel before applying to tea towel. Fill stencil in with up and down pouncing motion loading and off loading more paint as necessary. Avoid pushing sponge down too hard as this can cause paint to seep under edges of stencil.

Step 5: Once stencil is completely filled in, remove from fabric and wash with soap and water. Do this each time to avoid messy paint smears when moving the stencil to the next section.

Step 6. Lay stencil back in place according to pattern and stencil again.

Step 7. Let fabric dry 24-48 hours, then set with low heat iron for 30 seconds. Machine wash on gentle cycle and hang dry.

Project Tips:

1. I had no paint smears or edge bleeding with this stencil project. I attribute that to the repositionable spray adhesive and washing the stencil before moving onto the next section. Though it took a little extra time, it made for an absolutely clean project!

2. I wanted my tea towels to have a more vintage/handmade feel to them, so I only did one coat of paint. For more coverage, add a second coat of paint.

3. Since I plan to display my tea towels folded in thirds as pictured, I only stenciled down the middle of my towels.

I just love how they turned out, and they look so bright and fresh in my kitchen. These would make beautiful and thoughtful personalized gifts too. Perfect for a hostess gift or a bridal shower.

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I wrote this post as part of a sponsored campaign with Plaid and The Blueprint Social. All opinions in this post are my own.

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