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Cost
$ $ $ $ $
Difficulty
• • • • •
Time
30 mins

A simple silhouette is easy to cut out and provides an elegant and personal touch to a bag.

Posted by kitkatherine from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States • Published See kitkatherine's 8 projects »
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  • How to paint a painted tote. Simple Stenciled Tote Bag - Step 1
    Step 1

    Pick your silhouette - this could be a profile view of your face, of a pet, or something in nature. Something that doesn't require intricate cuts is easiest for your first project, and hence why I picked a silhouette here. You can either use the one of my adorable corgi, Teemo, that I attached, or outline a photo of your own pet as shown.

  • How to paint a painted tote. Simple Stenciled Tote Bag - Step 2
    Step 2

    Print your silhouette out on an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper. Cut a sheet about 2" larger on all sides in size from your freezer paper. Then tape the 8.5 x 11 print out to the freezer paper.

  • How to paint a painted tote. Simple Stenciled Tote Bag - Step 3
    Step 3

    In order to cut out your shape, you need to fold a thick area and make a cut on the fold. This allows you to use scissors and cut from the middle. Carefully cut out around the edge until all of the silhouette is cut out.

  • How to paint a painted tote. Simple Stenciled Tote Bag - Step 4
    Step 4

    Warm your iron up to the cotton/linen setting. Once hot, place the stencil with the coating side down where you want it on your tote. For me this was the bottom corner. Iron evenly across the stencil for about a minute - it will stick to the fabric now.

  • How to paint a painted tote. Simple Stenciled Tote Bag - Step 5
    Step 5

    With your fabric paint, evenly paint a layer over the stencil. You don't have to be precise as the stencil does the work for you, just make sure to fill it all in.

  • How to paint a painted tote. Simple Stenciled Tote Bag - Step 6
    Step 6

    Allow to dry for a few hours. Then carefully peel the freezer paper off the bag - it should come up pretty easily - and allow to dry overnight before using!

  • How to paint a painted tote. Simple Stenciled Tote Bag - Step 7
    Step 7

    You can more on to more complicated projects - like stencils that require 'bridges' with things like letters (small pieces of paper left in tact to keep things like the hole in a P in place) and multi layered stencils. You can stencil just about anything - blankets, shirts, sweatshirts! The Mario polo was a multi-layer and colored set of stencils I did a few years ago.

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Comments

CazSteele
CazSteele · Cape Town, Western Cape, ZA · 8 projects
Thanks for sharing this awesome project!
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