Lesson 4: Stenciling on Fabric - Supplies
Smaller Basic Supplies
Stencil Adhesive and Masking Tape
It's important to keep your fabric as steady and taut as possible. Unlike hard surface stenciling, with fabric your entire surface can move or even wrinkle unless you have the right sticky stuff around to prevent that.
Actually, I make a sort of adhesive sandwich for stenciling. While you can use low tack masking tape to hold things in place, I find that using spray adhesive on my cardboard work surface, and then again on the back of my stencil assures me that everything will be in the place that I want it to be while I work. Spray the stencil lightly and wait a few moments before positioning it and it won't hurt a thing. The only possible exception here is velvet - in that case go for the low tack masking tape instead.
Low tack means that it's not very sticky - good for one use only, so you'll need a supply if you plan to do a lot of stenciling. But the lack of tack means it won't be pulling fibers off of the fabric.
Keep low tack masking tape on hand even if you are a spray adhesive fan. You will need it when using a multiple overlay stencil as a way to mark your registration points. And for small projects it may be just enough to keep your fabric and stencil in place. And it can also be handy should you get a small tear in your stencil, as a mending medium. Also, with single overlay stencils you may need to use it as a mask so that you don't get the wrong color into the wrong area when two colors are needed in a very tight spot.
Tools for pattern transfer
If you are doing a multiple overlay stencil, or a border, you will need to use registration marks - but you don't want to permanently mark them onto the fabric. There are a couple of options for accomplishing this without messing up your design.
The first is to put a small piece of masking tape under each registration mark when you position the first overlay. Simply make your mark on the tape instead of on the fabric. This works fairly well, but low tack tape has been known to come up with the stencil, so I prefer a surer method, at least for light colored fabrics.
Any sewing supply store or crafts store will have special fabric markers just for this purpose. One type will make a mark that is semi-permanent - it makes a blue mark that will remain on the fabric until you treat it with water. If you work slowly, this is your best option.
There is another fabric marking pen that will mark your fabric and then disappear 1-2 days. This is great for small projects but be extremely careful if you work slowly or are uncertain whether you'll have time to complete the project in a short period of time. This marker is not recommended for fabrics that need dry cleaning.
If you are working on dark fabric, your best option is tailor's chalk pencil in white. It will show up where other markers would not - and on the side of the pencil opposite the chalk is a stiff brush designed to brush the chalk out of the fabric when you are finished.
