One of my cousins is a Charlie Brown nut. I think he has every line in the Christmas and Great Pumpkin specials memorized. So this year for Christmas, we wanted to give him a shirt from one of the Charlie Brown specials, but store-bought shirts can be so generic. We decided to have a bit more fun and customize one with iron-on transfer paper.

Iron-on transfer paper is one of the coolest things they ever invented in the craft department. It’s so versatile; it can be used on clothes, bags, quilts; pretty much anything made of some type of fabric. It’s easy to use and 100% washable. A little imagination and a half-way decent printer and the possibilities are endless.

First we searched the Internet for screen captures from Merry Christmas Charlie Brown (in particular searching for the “five good reasons” scene). After locating suitable images, we altered them in paint to add the word bubbles, then we printed the two images on a sheet of iron-on transfer paper.

The most important thing to remember with iron-on transfer paper, especially when there are words involved, is that the finished item will have a mirror image of what you see on your computer, so flip the image backwards before printing it onto the paper. (I forgot to print the image backward the first time I used this stuff, but fortunately realized the mistake before I actually ironed it on or my letters would have ended up backward!)

To transfer the image to fabric, place the fabric on a hard surface (not a cushy ironing board) and using dry heat, continuously move the iron around the sheet in circular motions for about one minute total, giving particular attention to the edges. Then you can immediately peel off the paper backing, or if you want a glossy finish, wait until it has cooled before removing the backing.

The transfer area of the fabric usually stiff at first, but after a few washings, it softens up.

By Amber Reifsteck, The Woodland Elf

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