Guest Post - Scobell Expression - Fabric Transfer

I'd like to welcome Michelle from Scobell Expression today to DIYbyDesign.

DIY Citra-Solv Dish Towel (revisited)

Hello DIY By Design Followers! I'm so excited to be here while Judy is on a fabulous vacation. My name is Michelle. I am visiting from my blog ScobellExpression.blogspot.com. I focus on free printables and crafts.

Back in May I decided to make these fun personalized dish towels for my mom and mother-in-law for Mother's Day. Well, initially I wanted to use Citra-Solv but my design had too many small details in it and it came out blurry each time I tried. So I gave up went the iron-on route. They looks great, but it wasn't really what I wanted.

Just recently, I decided to give it one more attempt! I took my white dish towel and taped it to come corrugated wood that I had from the back of a picture frame. But, I believe any sturdy surface will work fine. I pulled the edges tight and made sure there wasn't any room for the towel to move around while I pressed the picture on.

For the design, which is below if you would like to download it, I printed it on a Laser printer, instead of ink jet. I found the ink came off much easier this way. (Remember to mirror your image so that it goes on correctly when you transfer the image). 

I taped down the image just with some painters tape. Poured a generous amount of Citra-Solv onto a cloth and rubbed hard with the back of a spoon.

I pulled off the image and was so impressed with the outcome! It was clear and readable. 

IMPORTANT:

Next, you will need to let it try for 24 hours. Iron without steam to secure the image from fading. Then wash. I recommend hand washing it the first couple of times. 

Thanks for reading my post! Come by and check out more at scobellexpressions.blogspot.com

Old post and images to download below :)

 May 2012

I have been seeing a lot of posts and pins about transferring images onto dish towels. It is such a cute idea that I decided to make some for my mom and mother-in-law. I really wanted to transfer the images using Citra-Solv, so I went to my local health food store and dropped $12 bucks on cleaner!! It's a good thing that it is in the concentrate form, so it should last a long time and be worth every penny :)
Here is what I discovered. Citra-Solv works great if you are transferring images, but not so much if you are transferring words...especially small writing. It was okay looking, but the small writing came out fuzzy. After about 5 attempts I gave up. Oh and a word to the wise, don't do this on a newspaper. I got a nice image of the newspaper on the dish towel and had to immediately throw it in the wash. lol.

After that I decided to use t-shirt transfers. I know it's not ideal since you can't possibly cut away all the sticker that is not being use, but oh well. I still think they came out pretty cute! Plus, they can be more of a decorative piece than actually used, if you so desire.

As you can see from my picture ( I apologize for the poor quality. I had to use my camera phone, and I don't have an awesome iPhone) you will want to use lighter colored towels so that the sticker doesn't show through too much.


Here is what you need:
T-shirt transfer or Citra-Solv if using a picture. For a tutorial on how to use Citra-Solv check out this tutorial from Ugly Duckling Transformations

Iron - without water

tea towel/plain towels

image.

A Helpful Hint: Make sure that when you print your image that you reverse or mirror the image so that it transfers on the correct direction.

Here is the adorable sign that I made for my mommy that you are welcome to download.

Reminder:
As usually, please be kind and become a follower of my site by clicking "Join this site" on the right hand side. And then you if you would like you can also follow me via Pinterest and Facebook.

{Click here for a .PNG file}   {Click here for an .EPS file}

And here is a blank banner for those of you who would like to customize your own.

{Click here for a .PNG file}   {Click here for an .EPS file}

Thanks so much Michelle!!

-Judy