DIY Silk Screened Unicorn Onesie

I realize not everyone has the knowledge of how to make and burn their own screens.  I don’t either! Never fear, if you were feeling a little left out of the screen printing fun I have just the project for you. Today we are silk screening using pantyhose, decoupage and an embroidery hoop!  I hope your feeling whimsical because your baby is going to need this unicorn onesie in their life!


SUPPLIES
Fabric Paint
Decoupage Medium
Onesie or something to screen on
Embroidery hoop
Pen
Pantyhose
Paint brush
Business card


WHO DOESN’T LIKE UNICORNS?
First choose your image. Something in silhouette works best. Also I would not opt for a design that was too complicated. Make sure your design will fit inside the embroidery hoop you will be working with. I chose a perky little unicorn in all its magical glory.

PREPARE YOUR SCREEN
I retired my panty hose a long time ago when I quit my day job as a secretary. Luckily my friend Susann who was the mastermind behind this project brought over a lavender pair for me to work with. All you do is stretch the hose out in your embroidery hoop nice and taunt just like you would get a piece of cloth ready to embroider on.


TRANSFERING YOUR IMAGE
Lay your image down on a flat surface and place your embroidery hoop on top. Trace the outline of your image with a pen onto your panty hose.


BLOCKING OUT THE SCREEN
Using your decoupage and a paint brush fill in the area around your image. Be sure to apply the decoupage to the top of your screen and only put the decoupage where you do not want your paint to go. Allow the screen to dry completely.


GET YOUR SCREEN ON
I stretched my onesie over a piece of cardboard so that the fabric paint would not soak through to the back. Once I had done this I laid my screen top side down on my onesie and squirted out a generous helping of paint.


SCREENING YOUR IMAGE
Using a business card or old hotel key scrape the paint across the image in a firm manner while holding your embroidery hoop in place on your onesie. You do not want the image to shift or your baby will have an ugly outfit.


PLAY DRESS UP
Once the paint has dried on the onesie give it a 45 minute spin in a hot dryer to heat set the image and all that is left to do is get your baby dressed!

Have you tried the embroidery hoop method of screen printing? I am particularly curious if anyone has tried to screen a multi colored layered image? I wanna hear all about it!

25 Responses to “DIY Silk Screened Unicorn Onesie”

  1. giddy girlie

    I actually have this on my To Do list now that I have found some better embroidery hoops. The wooden ones don't hold tight enough, so I have found that the fabric slightly 'sticks' to the shirt and then you get a smudge. But I have these new rubber-edged hoops that hold fabric TIGHT that I am going to try. I'll report back in a few days! 🙂

    Reply
  2. Museum Mama

    Genius! My husband and I were just drooling over the Yudu at Michael's last night. This would be a great, less expensive way to try out screen printing. I can't wait to try it! Thanks for the idea!

    Reply
  3. angie

    I've done professional silk-screening for a professional silk-screener and I CANNOT WAIT to try this simple method! LOVE this blog! Thanks for your great ideas!

    Reply
  4. Eileen Bergen

    I love the unicorn on the onesie and the great photo of your baby!

    Thanks for a great new technique. I have a drawer full of pantyhose from my corporate career(which I hope I never have to wear again).

    So I may as well find other uses for them 😉

    Reply
  5. blucricut

    OMG I am loving your blog and this idea 🙂 Where were you before i laid down 300 on my Yudu LOL ok no I really love my Yudu but this is a good idea for the kids to use I have 4 and 3 are boys and I just cannot bring myself to let them use my Yudu machine yet i love it and am afraid they will wreck it.

    I have used my Yudu to print Boy Scout logo's I used it to print on to books that

    Reply
  6. the Knottie Knitta

    i have been wanting to give this a try…made a bunch of onesies for my sister in law's babyshower with the freezer paper meathod, but i would LOVE to be able to reuse my stencils. this is the first tutorial i've found that made this process seem do-able. thank you

    Reply

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