DIY Dinner Napkin Image Transfer Tutorial

Today you are going to learn how to transfer an image onto fabric! Please welcome Bliss of Bliss Ranch as she shares her DIY dinner napkin image transfer tutorial with us. She’s been so kind to fill in for me today while I am away on vacation. This is something you’ve never seen at Fox Hollow Cottage. How to do an image transfer. Bliss is one super talented lady and after the tutorial, I urge you to visit her. You’ll be blown away by her raw talent and ingenuity! 

Hello Fox Hollow Cottage readers, I’m Bliss from Bliss Ranch and I’m pretty darn excited to be here at Shannon’s place.  In case you haven’t already figured it out, I’m gonna slap down these words and make it easy for you….. Shannon is one of those bloggers with a big heart.  Sure she makes cute stuff, and puts a house together like nobody’s business, but if you’re like me, what keeps you coming back to visit her cottage is the heart Shannon puts into everything she does.  I have watched Fox Hollow Cottage soar and yet she still takes the time to make me feel like a superstar.  Thank you Shannon.

So while Mrs. Fox is hanging out with the beautiful people in Southern California, which happens to be my old stomping ground, I’m here offering up a simple napkin project.

Recently I redid some dining room chairs I bought on craigslist.  The “recently” part was, ohhhh, a year in the making.  Obviously I didn’t rush into that redo!

Unlike my chairs, this project is quick, simple, and took me less than a year.

20 years ago I bought some heavy golden brass twig handled flatware when my dining room was rustic with pine cones everywhere.

The flatware came wrapped in some muslin napkins that look pretty much just like the drop cloth I used for the chair redo so I decided the napkins needed a redo to match my chairs.

Lately I’ve been experimenting with transfer methods that I find tutorials for.  Some have not worked so well, like a photo transfer I tried last month, and some, like the dining room chairs have worked excellent.

I should probably stick to what works for me huh?

So for the napkin transfer I’m going to use the Citra Solv method – because, well….for me it works!  You can find the original instructions at the Graphics Fairy.

First you need to select a design and print it out on a photocopier – the kind that has a toner cartridge not ink jet, ink jet printers will not work for this method.  I used my husband’s fax machine which has a toner cartridge.

I already had the design from my chairs, so I just re-sized it smaller.  If your design has lettering on it, remember to do a mirror reverse image so it transfers with the letters facing the right way.

Iron your fabric to get the wrinkles out before you start.

You can’t see the design, but it’s on the other side of the paper.

Gather your supplies;

• *Citrasolv and a small cup to put a small amount in – a little goes a long way.

• Tape measure to make sure design is centered where you want it.

• A clean brush to apply the citrasolv.

• A soup spoon for burnishing the design after you brush the solvent on.

• An iron, for smooth fabric and to set your image.

Important – Remember to put something under your fabric, the surface needs to be firm.  I have a thin piece of wood under mine.

This is how that blank looking piece of paper transforms when the citrasolv hits it.  The ink, which is released on the other side onto the fabric, reacts with the citrasolv.  Press hard with the spoon, rubbing it around and around over the design.  Do it harder than you think you need too and hold the paper in place.

For my design it was ok to not look perfect – I wanted a worn sort of flour sack look.

Iron it to set the image.

Albert is the old farmer we purchased our land from.  I use his name a lot in my decorating.  Albert, who never married or had children, lived on this land from birth to death when he was in his 90’s, and his memory lives on a little bit here and there in our home.

OPTIONAL and unique to my design — Each napkin and chair in the dining room has a ROOM# with a blank next to it.  I have six kids, and coincidentally six craigslist chairs and muslin napkins, so I stamped the room number on each chair and napkin with one of my kids birthdays.

But because I wasn’t paying attention, I got this one wrong.  Yes really – bad mom moment.  I do have a New Years Day baby, but she wasn’t born in ’82.  Oh well huh?  Only her, me and all of you will ever know.

I really like how the napkins turned out, and this craft cost me a big fat Z-E-R-O because I already had everything.  And now that I know my husbands fax machine works for stuff like this, well, I guess I better check the toner level!

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*Citra Solv is a natural cleaner but it is still a solvent.  Read all package directions.

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