Tutorial: How to Freezer Paper Stencil (or Fake Silk Screen) a Necktie

Choose the highest-quality fabric paint that you can afford. My personal preference is the Jacquard line, Jacquard Neopaque for painting onto dark fabrics and Jacquard Lumiere, which is metallic. Do take care that you’re using a textile paint that will give good coverage even over darker fabric colors, because many won’t. 

Paint gently, ideally with a sponge brush, and try to always paint away from the stencil edges. Pushing paint towards a stencil edge is a good way to ensure that paint leaks under the edge and gives you a muddy line, which you probably don’t want.

If you don’t get enough coverage with one coat of paint, then just let the paint dry and then cover it with a second or even third coat.

Your paint will need to be heat-set to some extent, but there’s no need to strictly follow the manufacturer’s instructions for this (which I’d usually recommend), because nobody’s going to be washing this silk necktie. At the most, all you need is for the paint not to run in a rainstorm; again, press in three-second increments, several times, and you’re good to go.

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