Before I started sewing, I had no idea that freezer paper was used for anything but wrapping up meat for the freezer. Now I use it all the time! Here are a few reasons we love freezer paper for crafting:

*Use it as a template for applique on quilts and other craft projects (see tutorial below). It makes cutting out your shapes a breeze, and you can use it over and over again!

*You can transfer your flimsy sewing patterns to it to use them over and over again. Also, you can iron the pattern shiny-side-down on your fabric and cut around it instead of pinning the pattern pieces on. This makes for much more accurate pattern cutting.

*It makes a great stencil for fabric painting. Draw or print your design on the dull side, cut the shape out, and iron the shiny side down on your fabric. Paint inside the stencil, then peel it off once the paint is dry. Cut shapes directly out of freezer paper with your die cutting machine. I've done it with both my Silhouette and Slice machines.

*Use it to cover your table to avoid paint or glue messes when crafting

*Use the shiny side as a paint palette

*Use it as a temporary stabilizing when printing on fabric. For example, to create personalized labels, iron your freezer paper shiny-side down to the wrong side of the fabric, trim it to 8.5x11", and send it through your printer. Voila. Printed fabric labels.

What else do you use freezer paper for? Here is one of my favorite freezer paper projects: birthday shirts. My kids wear these all year long, and get so excited to pick their fabric from my stash for the next year's shirt. They both had birthdays last week and we love the new shirts!

Freezer Paper Applique Tutorial for Birthday Shirts

Supplies:

*Freezer paper (you can find this at most grocery stores and some craft stores)

*Fabric

*Heat 'n Bond Lite iron-on adhesive (or similar product) - the "Lite" version allows you to sew over the piece after ironing it on

*Iron and ironing board

*T-shirt

*Number (or other shape) to be used on t-shirt

*Sewing machine and contrasting thread

1. Draw, trace, or print your number or shape on the dull side of the freezer paper. Cut it out. I cut my numbers with my Silhouette machine (using a carrier sheet) which eliminated the drawing and hand cutting steps.


2. Iron on some of your Heat 'n Bond iron-on adhesive to the back (wrong side) of your fabric, following the directions on the packaging.


3. Iron your freezer paper shape shiny-side-down on the front (right side) of the fabric. It doesn't take long to get it to adhere--just a quick pass over the top with the iron.


4. Cut around your template with scissors, then peel off the freezer paper. Save it for the next kid if you want--you can reuse your templates!


5. Iron your shape onto the t-shirt following the directions on the Heat 'n Bond Lite's packaging.


6. Using a zig-zag stitch, sew around the edges of the number. Check out our simple machine applique tutorial for more details.


That's it! Now celebrate in style! Bonus on this "5" shirt--the light blue thread I picked happened to be glow-in-the-dark thread! I didn't even know they made it, let alone that I had it in my thread stash. My son and I were so excited to discover a glowing 5 when playing hide-and-seek!


Here are a few other projects we've made using applique templates:

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