Silk Screen on Fleece (a quick & easy project)

Who knew that silk screening could be so EASY?!  I was about to find out, with my first ever silk screen on an actual garment..... [gulp]

Test Piece

I was getting ready to blog my latest project, knowing that the post had the possibility of turning into 1000 word tome (yeah, it was one of THOSE projects) when I got sidetracked by the fact that I was wearing the fleece vest I made earlier this year (I know, I live in sunny California, & the sun IS shining today, but still it was windy, foggy, & chilly when I got dressed), and was thinking about silk screen projects......  I looked at my vest, looked at my bucket of silk screen supplies, and the next thing I knew, I was on the kitchen floor surrounded by fleece scraps & possibilities....

Clockwise from the top:  Jacquard Textile Color in black, a plastic syringe from something-or-other, Twin Leaves silk screen from Marcy Tilton, a silk screen squeegee, a bucket of clean water, and a test sample.   All sitting on a piece of plastic sheeting.

Here's the vest, ready to go (after saying a little prayer that it would go as smoothly as the test pieces did):

I placed the screen on a pocket, drew up some paint into the syringe, & squeezed out a line at the top edge of the screen:

I pulled the paint down the screen with the squeegee (no pics, only 2 hands available & they were both busy).   Note:  in previous tests I had tried using a credit card or a paint sponge to pull the paint, but I decided that it was worth investing in a proper squeegee for the best effect.  I think I was right!   The art supply store had limited option in these small sizes, so I got a plastic handled squeegee & cut it to size for my specs.   It worked great!

In less than five minutes, I had this!:

I'm delighted!   Now I wait about 24 hours, then I'll set it with a press from the iron (since this is fleece, I'll see what works best for the pressing & report back)

UPDATE:  After a day, I gave the prints a press with a hot, dry iron - 2 passes, pressing for 10 seconds each time.   Then I tossed the test pieces in the wash (warm water) & a hot drier.   This is NOT how I plan to wash the vest (cold water wash, hang to dry).   I should have washed one of the test pieces the same way I plan on washing the vest....20/20 hindsight.   At any rate, the paint faded quite a lot with this abuse:

Test piece on the left, back of jacket on the right.

Even the faded paint looks OK, so I won't fret about it, but as I said, I won't be washing my vest that vigorously!

All in all, I'm a happy screener :)



Silk Screening!   I'm stoked!!   Have you done silk screening on fabrics?   Any tips, or posts to link & share?