Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Green Ziplocs

I HATE sending lunch food for my kids in plastic baggies.
In our family it seems like I could go through a box of
one hundred baggies in the coarse of a month...sometimes less.
2 Kids. 2 adults.
Each lunching and snacking outside the home5 days a week.
One baggie for a sandwich, another for a veggie, another for a cookie, ANOTHER for chips.
It was a world gone mad with baggies.

Hopping on the green bandwagon, I finally made some re-useable baggies for our lunching needs. Being that I can't make just one, and things get dirty, I've made somewhere in the 20's. All different sizes and shapes. (Here is a great starter tutorial.) While researching tutorials online I noted that most crafters out there were using age appropriate fabrics, tough for a an almost Middle schooler and almost High Schooler. No Thomas the Tank Engine and Tinkerbell fabric requests being made from our home. What to do?


Freezer paper stenciling. I love it.
Start with some of this...


Cut your fabric. I used pieces that were 6 inches wide and 12 inches tall.
Go online and Google search for what you are looking for in Google Images.
I used catch phrases like guitar silhouette, snowboarding silhouette, dog silhouette, etc.
When choosing my designs I chose things that had little or no white
within the design just to make it easier on myself.

file:///Users/Cara/Desktop/Weimaraner.jpg

Print out your Google finds in a word document after you've sized them.
I was going for small designs, so a word document worked well.
Tear off some freezer paper and using an exacto knife cut around your image.


You wil end up with an outline that you can easily iron down on your fabric.
I folded my fabric in half to simulate how it would be sewn when the baggie was done.


Next I took some fabric paint, available at any craft store or fabric store.
Look in their acrylic paint section. If you cannot find fabric paint specifically,
buy a bottle of fabric binder that will turn any acrylic paint bottle
into paint appropriate for fabrics. Please use fabric paint!
Your laundry with thank you later!
Using a sponge (I used one that I had cut up from the kitchen)
dab the paint onto the fabric.
Careful to unfold your fabric...the paint will seep through!


I peel my freezer paper off immediately and let dry before sewing.



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