Upcycled sundress for my adorable niece and iron on tag tutorial

My mother in law gave me the bedspread that she had as a young girl (with permission to chop it up for crafty cuteness.)  It was adorable!  And it had the cutest little ruffled bottom.  I don't have any little girls but I am seeing my niece in a few weeks so I decided to make her a sundress with the ruffles at the bottom.  I used the pattern at SnazzleCraft (it required a bit of playing with to get it to print right.)  As I don't have a little girl (and my favorite color is blue,) I don't have any pink ribbon or thread, but the green matched all of the flower stems so it worked out.  I used snaps instead of buttons, and placed them in the back, so that my niece won't be able to undress herself.

I love making cute things, and I like to put tags in them.  Why?  I don't know.  But I do.  :0)  So here's how I did it, just in case you want to make some too.



You will need the following supplies:

• small amount of screen printing ink/paint or soft fabric paint (not the tulip puffy kind)


• alphabet stamps (I got these out of the dollar bin at Michael's last year) or custom stamp


• freezer paper


• scrap of paper to use as spread


• ribbon or fabric scraps


• iron and cloth


• heat n bond scraps

• Squirt a small amount of ink onto your freezer paper.


• Spread the ink out into a thin layer using your scrap paper (I doubled my scrap for a sturdier spreader.)


• Use the ink like an ink pad, working quickly since the screen printing ink dries quickly.  Respread the ink as needed.


• Let the ink dry and set as per package directions.  I let it dry overnight and ironed the next morning to set the ink.

• Cut a small strip of heat n bond and iron onto the back of your ribbon.  I like to trim the stragglers off after applying the heat and bond, so that it seals the ends.


• Peel off the paper backing and iron onto your items.

You could also sew the tags in, or have them stick out the sides like a flag.  You can use acrylic paint to make tags that won't be laundered often, I prefer to use a fabric paint myself.  This is a good use for scraps of ribbon, and small bits of heat and bond.  (It is also why I never throw anything away and have piles of junk filling up my bedroom...maybe you shouldn't save those little scraps after all.)