How to Create an Adorable Handprint Turkey Towel the RIGHT way!
A perfect DIY Kids Gift for the holidays.
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| Acrylic paint & fabric medium printed on 100% cotton flour sac tea towels. |
These painted hand print Thanksgiving turkey towels are one of the most
adorable DIY kid gifts I've made to date! But believe it or not,
painting fabric is not as easy as it might seem. Sure, you can grab the
cheapest craft paint and print away....but, if you want these awesome
flour sack tea towels to last over the years without fading or flaking
(and be MACHINE WASHABLE!) then there are a few important steps you do
not want to overlook. After lots of product testing & research, I
can confidently say that the below method may be a bit tedious, but it
is by far the BEST way to create a vibrant, quality towel that will last
for years.
Before you begin, it's worth noting that if you're making these for a larger group (specifically for a classroom project 15+ kids), make sure you schedule plenty of time. While it may seem like basic handprints, preparing the mixed paints with the fabric medium, application, labeling each towel, adding hand-painted details (legs, beak, eyes, etc.) and of course clean-up will take A LOT longer than you will probably anticipate. This is not a project you can rush through! I also suggest prepping the towels beforehand so that you can assembly line the printing process with the kids. I explain how I did this below.
SUPPLY CHECK-LIST
- Flour Sack Towels (100% cotton 30"x30") - or any fabric base you wish, like napkins.
- Multi-Surface Acrylic Craft Paint (brown, red, orange, yellow, green, white & black)
- Fabric Medium
- Stir Sticks
- Paint Tray
- Sponge applicators or paint brushes
- Spray Bottle w/ Water
- Wax Paper
- Straight Pins
- Iron & wooden board
- Iron On Transfer Printable Sheets, light fabric (optional)
The first thing you will need to do is pre-wash all your flour sack towels in warm water. Do not use fabric softener! Follow with standard machine drying, and then iron the towels. Finish the prep by folding the towels lengthwise in half, then in half again. Then fold towel over and set aside as pictured above.
OPTIONAL LABELING: Because painting text is extremely difficult & messy, I opted to label the lower back edge of each towel using Iron-On Transfer sheets so that I could reference the date & class info (a MUST for all keepsakes!) Just use your basic software to type out your text or message, and repeat to fill the sheet. Print using "Iron-On Transfer" settings, or as a mirrored image, then simply cut each tag. As you can see above, I created a basic template with scrap paper so that I could uniformly place the tags on the backs & iron through my stack.
The last prepping step I completed before hand was to insert cut pieces of wax paper behind the single layer of the future printing surface. Be sure the wax paper is large enough to protect the entire area that will come in contact with paint! Otherwise, the paint will seep through and transfer to the other layers of towel. In my case, I cut 6" wide strips using the standard length of the paper roll. I think carefully inserted the sheets and placed a straight pin at the top to secure the wax paper in place for project day.
PAINT MATTERS: Let me start by saying.....I tested and experimented with several types of paint & application styles prior to settling on the below method. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME with prepared "fabric paint"!!! This paint's coverage is SO THIN, you'd have to apply 3-4 coats to achieve a clear print!! "Puff Paint" has much better coverage, but I quickly found out how limited the color selection was. It basically comes in a small handful of colors, and in small bottle sizes. Plus, it's a LOT more expensive than mixing your own fabric paint. Your best bet is to use acrylic craft paint along with a paint additive called "fabric medium". Acrylic paint comes in hundreds of colors and is extremely affordable. For my class of 21 kids, I used about 1/2 bottle (or less) for each color. You'll find several brands, most of which make the preferred finish "multi-surface". However, if multi-surface isn't available, you can also use the standard matte or satin acrylic paint. The fabric medium is a milky, thin liquid additive available by a few manufacturers. I used Martha Stewart's 'Fabric Medium' and it worked great. Fabric medium will make your acrylic paint more flexible on the fabric and will help keep the print from fading with washing. Without it, your painted area will be crunchy & stiff, and will fade quickly & flake over time.
When mixing your paint & medium, use (2) parts paint with (1) part fabric medium. It doesn't have to be EXACT, but since I was making enough for 20+ kids, I used my food scale to take the guess work out of it. Be as consistent as possible. Just blend well until smooth. Now you're ready for printing! (....get your water bottle handy!)
Unfortunately, I don't have any photo examples of the actual hand printing process, but it's very basic. I used sponge applicators (but you can use brushes). You'll find that the paint dries relatively quickly on the kids hands, so work quickly. IMPORTANT PRO TIP: Once the colors are applied, use the spray bottle of water to very lightly spritz the painted hand to refresh the paint for printing. Do not saturate the hand. You just want to lightly moisten the paint surface enough to transfer a nice, even, bold hand print.
Guide the child's hand to the print area, having them keep as still as possible. In one motion, press the child's hand down onto the fabric and hold it in place. Press around their hand and each finger with even pressure, making sure the paint comes in full contact with the fabric. Lift their hand straight up and away from the fabric to reveal the print.
It's up to you, but I chose to paint the final turkey details myself to save time. Painting fabric is very tricky, and having the kids paint the details will definitely increase the project time. It also increases the risk of paint smearing etc. To apply features, use detail brushes & paint the orange legs, a small triangular yellow beak, and a red gobble. Wait a bit before applying the eye & pupil otherwise it can blend with the wet brown paint.
Once I finished printing the entire class, I painted on the features and laid the towels out to air dry over the weekend (although 6+ hours should do the trick). This also gave me a chance to make sure each towel was labeled with the correct name and ready for the final steps. I also created cute little gift tags for the kids to sign. They're also the perfect place to attach "Care Instruction" labels (see below) so that mom & dad know how to take care of their new functional artwork. I created these using Avery matte square labels and designed them using Avery's free online design platform on Avery.com. It's a great design program and easy to use!
I figured what was the point in spending so much time and effort into making a kitchen towel that the parents wouldn't know how to wash? A quick label resolved that and I'm sure they're happy to have it handy. ON TO IRONING: Use a very high temp setting, dry iron NO STEAM, and a protecting sheet of cloth or some parchment paper over your hand print.
TO HEAT SET: Once the towels are completely air-dried. They MUST be heat-set to insure the paint permanently fixes to the fabric. Place your protective cloth or parchment over the hand print and quickly press and iron over the surface. Again, use only a DRY iron, no steam. A few passes (20-30 seconds of direct heat) should be plenty. Your hand print is now set and permanent.
OPTIONAL: While I completed the heat-setting, I also ironed-on printed name & year text using easy print-at-home iron on transfer sheets (the same I used to create the back labels). It only took a couple extra minutes per towel and the result was really cute. It was my solution to including the kids names without the extra time it would have required to have each kid attempt to hand-paint their own names. Initially, I was worried they'd lose their personalized appeal, but in reality, the hand print turkey was more than enough and the clean, printed names made the towels look fancy.
So there you have it! While this holiday project ended up being a bit more complicated and time consuming than I anticipated, the end result was fantastic. High quality, durable, washable kitchen keepsakes that will surely impress anyone on your DIY holiday gift list. Taking a few extra steps and using the proper products will insure that these cute towels will last to become childhood keepsakes.
