Spotlight had on their clearance table some Setasilk dyes for $2. I had read that it could be used on cottons too so I took a chance and bought some. I gave it a try so now I am sharing that with you. This is how I have made some labels for my Aussie Hero quilts.
This is what you need.
Gloves. A foam brush. Hairspray Your stencil. A strip of cotton fabric washed, the width of your stencil. (I used a cotton sheet). A tiny container to hold a blob of dye. A foam backed table mat. A piece of tape to hold the fabric down. Iron. Ironing board and a piece of grease proof paper.
Iron your fabric, place the foam side of your place mat foam side up. Tape the top of your fabric on the table to hold.
Spray the back of your stencil with hairspray, this acts as a temporary fixative and holds your stencil in place. Put your stencil down on the fabric and run your fingers over it to make sure it is all held down.
Place a small blob about the size of a 5c piece into your container.
Lightly load your foam brush and run it over the stencil.
Lift the stencil, slide your mat down the fabric strip for your next label. (This is why you have the tape holding your fabric down at the top). You can use the stencil without adding hairspray for about 3 times before you have to add some more.
The next step is now to iron it to set the dye. Place your stencil on your ironing board with a piece of grease proof paper on the top. This is to protect the iron from the hairspray on the fabric. Iron using a cotton/linen setting.
Wash in soapy water, This gets rid of any extra dye and gets rid of any hairspray too. Rinse then iron again.
This is the last step. Place your lovely labels wrapped around a tube, put around that, a couple of elastic bands to hold in place. I have on my last 3 labels made a pencil mark to know that I have almost run out and to need to prepare more labels.
