Treasure Chest Postcard Tutorial Part 2: Design Transfer

Yesterday's blog post shared the list of supplies needed to create a fabric postcard featuring a colored treasure chest.

This tutorial will share two postcard options.

1. Crazy Quilted Option - the postcard will be pieced with a colored treasure chest and other fabrics.

2. Mixed Media Option - it will be one piece of colored fabric embellished with embroidery, beads, and possibly other small buttons and/or charms.  



How to Transfer the Design to Your Fabric:

1. Tape the Treasure Chest Sketch to a bright window. 
NOTES: The image will be reversed on your fabric. 
I only used the top sketch for this tutorial.

2. Cut your freezer paper.

• Crazy Quilt Option - cut a 3.5" x 4.5" rectangle
• Mixed Media Option - cut a 5" x 7" rectangle and draw a 4" x 6" rectangle in the center on the dull paper side (not the shiny side) of the freezer paper.

3. Tape the freezer paper over the sketch. The paper (not shiny) side should be facing you.

Crazy Quilt Option - center freezer paper over the treasure chest. 

Mixed Media Option - I centered the treasure chest in the 4" x 6" rectangle. If you want more sand or more ocean in your postcard, position the treasure chest to meet your needs.

4. Trace the design onto the paper (dull) side of the freezer paper with a dark permanent marker. I used an ultra fine point Sharpie.

Crazy Quilt Option - Your freezer paper may not cover the entire sketch. That is okay.

Mixed Media Option - I extended the line for the sand so it reached both edges of the rectangle.

5. Iron freezer paper to the wrong side of the white fabric following steps 5.1 - 5.4 below.

5.1 Iron your white cotton fabric. NOTE: The fabric must be washed and dried first (with NO fabric softeners) for the color tinting to set permanently.

5.2 Place the white fabric on your ironing board with the right-side-down. 

5.3 Place the freezer paper sketch on the fabric so the shiny side is down touching the fabric, and the paper side (the dull side) is up.
NOTE: For this step, when placing the freezer paper on the fabric, I leave enough fabric around the design to fit my embroidery hoop.

5.4 Set your iron to the cotton setting with no steam and carefully iron the dull side of the freezer paper. The freezer paper will adhere to the fabric to provide stability while marking and coloring the fabric. It will easily peel off after the coloring has been heat set. 
NOTE: The iron will move faster over the paper than it does over fabric, so use caution during this step.

6. Trace the sketch onto the right side of the white fabric.

With the white fabric side up, you should be able to clearly see the sketch you drew on the freezer paper. If you cannot see it well, taping it to a bright window should help for this step.

Using your fabric marker, trace the image onto the white fabric. (I traced the line for the sand. You may prefer not to do this. The line on your freezer paper should show through enough to guide you when coloring the sand and ocean water in the next step of this tutorial if you want a more subtle look.) 

I used a Pigma Micron 05 Black marker. The ink is permanent on fabric after being heat set. To heat set the ink:
Place the sketch - white fabric side up - on your ironing board. 
Set your iron on the cotton setting.
Iron the fabric, running the iron over the entire image. (Optional: place a scrap of fabric over the design in case any ink transfers and then remove the scrap and iron directly over the image. I have never had Pigma Micron ink transfer to the scrap of fabric, but it would protect the iron if it did.) 

Do not remove the freezer paper. 

Your fabric is now ready to color!

Please Note:
My sketches are not perfect. The traced lines are not perfectly straight. I like to remind myself that a wooden chest would warp under water, so curvy lines are okay. I do not consider myself an artist or an expert. I simply enjoy creating and learning as I go. When someone asks, "How do you...?" I share a tutorial to let them know. I guess my point is - don't get hung up on perfection. If you want to give something a try, have fun with it!

I will share how I colored my fabric in my next post. If you want to start before then, a few of the tutorials that I turn to when I want to color fabric are listed below. I am not affiliated with any of these websites.
Quilting Board Tutorial
Urban Threads Tutorial
Knot-y Girl's Stitchery Club Tutorial




Links to My Related Blog Posts:
Treasure Chest Sketch
Treasure Chest Postcard Tutorial Part 1: Gathering Supplies