Fake Cakes: A DIY Post

Today was not a day suited for geocaking, but that doesn't mean the day was wasted!

Last night after dinner, my mom, Kelby, and I decided to take a trip to Jo~Ann Fabrics to pick up supplies to make CAKE SHIRTS!

Pictured: Kelby in a Cake shirt

I spent part of last night and all of today making nine cake hunting shirts (two of them are for me). By the way, if you're only interested in the actual STL250 cakes, turn back now. This post contains none. Join us again on Friday night to see more real cakes.

Not Pictured: Heat'n Bond

Now, about the supplies. You're going to need:

• an iron/ironing board
• plain t-shirts (look for sales!)
• the fabric of your choice
• Heat'n Bond
• puff paint
• the sharpest scissors you own
• a pen
• thin cardboard
• and stencils

The t-shirts should be a cotton blend, in whatever size(s) you may need. Your fabric can be whatever pattern you want, but make sure it'll look good with your t-shirts! I recommend picking out the fabric first, actually. It's easier to find shirts to match fabric than the other way around. I used a pack and a half of Heat'n Bond, but if you're not making nine shirts, one pack is more than enough. With the puff paint, black is my favorite to use because it hides your mistakes the best, but any color will work. The glitter ones are fun, but cut the end off just a little to make the opening wider because the glitter always clogs it. If your scissors aren't sharp, your hand is going to cramp, so fabric scissors would be best. I recommend a ballpoint pen. As for the cardboard, I used the top to an old donut box. I've also used an empty box of pasta. That should give you an idea of the material you want.

On to the step-by-step instructions, with pictures!

Before you do any of the fun stuff, you have to make your cardboard stencils. You can trace whatever you want onto cardboard and then cut it out. For mine, I printed out the STL250 letters and traced those onto cardboard. It was a pain. The bigger the letters, the easier it is. The cake, I drew up myself. Cut these as neatly as possible, you'll be tracing them later.

Now, the real fun begins. To start, turn on your iron to the recommended setting, and be sure you're not

How To: Adhere Heat'n Bond

using any steam. Our ironing board has disappeared, so I just laid a towel down on my counter. It works just as well. Now, have your fabric with the bright side face down on your ironing board. Then put the Heat'n Bond on top of the fabric, paper side up. Iron. I usually only need a handful of swipes around the material for it to sufficiently bond. When you're done, be sure to turn off the iron! Please don't burn down your house.

How To: Trace Stencils

Now you're going to trace your stencils onto the paper part of the Heat'n Bond. Do the tracings backwards, so when you cut them out, they'll be facing the right way. 

Pictured: Letters!

Then you'll want to cut out your fabric letters/designs, which is kind of a pain in the butt. Luckily for me, when I woke up this morning, I found my mom had cut out all my letters for me! Which is great because there were 48 individual letters that needed to be cut out, and I was less than excited to do that.

How To: Peel the Paper

Once your letters are cut out (and that part takes the longest), head back to your ironing board. Peel the paper backing off the fabric. Arrange your letters/design/whatever on your t-shirt. Make sure everything's all centered, then iron away! Be sure you really focus on the edges when you're ironing.

Pictured: Thin, Precise Lines

Pictured: Thin, Precise Lines

If you're satisfied with your ironing, now it's time to puff paint (or if you know how to sew, you can sew the edges down instead)! Again, be sure to turn off your iron! Puff painting will look the best with thin, precise lines, so that's your goal.

Let that dry overnight, and then you're good to go!

Guess we can't use this counter  for a while...

I hope this tutorial was helpful! If you like the shirts but don't want to make your own, I am selling these (custom ordered). E-mail me for details!

PS: When you wash these, wash them inside out on the delicate cycle.