How to Imprint Velvet With Rubber Stamps
Create designer looks for handmade greeting cards, clothing, and home accessories by adding stamped impressions to luxurious velvet. Use an iron and a rubber stamp mounted on a wood block to generate an elegant embellishment, border design, or background pattern on the plush fabric. Pair a rubber-stamped image that suits the theme or style of your project with velvet in a shade that coordinates with your card stock, garment, or room colors to produce an impressive, imprinted velvet design.
Things You'll Need
- Handheld steamer
- Velvet
- Scissors or pinking shears
- Iron
- Wood-mounted rubber stamp
- Spray bottle
Instructions
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Use a handheld steamer to smooth your velvet before beginning your project if the fabric has excessive wrinkles or creases. Cut the velvet to the desired size with scissors or pinking shears if you'll be using the swatch to embellish a greeting card or scrapbook layout, for example.
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Plug a clothing iron in, set it to the "high" or "cotton" setting, and allow it to preheat.
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Place a wood-mounted rubber stamp---that is, a red rubber stamp affixed to a wood block---face up on an ironing board or other stable surface. Use a bold rubber stamp such as a solid heart or a stamp with thick outlines instead of a detailed image with a thin outline for the most visually pleasing results.
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Rest the velvet face down atop the rubber stamp. Use a plastic spray bottle to lightly spritz the back of the velvet with water.
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Press the center of the iron---as opposed to its outside edge where the steam holes are situated---onto the velvet. Hold the iron on the stamp with steady pressure for 20 seconds, ensuring you don't move the iron since that can muddle the stamped image.
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Remove the iron and lift one corner of the velvet off the stamp to look at the impression. If the image doesn't seem complete, put the corner back down and press the velvet with the iron for another 10 seconds.
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Take the completed piece of stamped velvet off the stamp, and let it cool before attaching it to your craft project.
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Tips & Warnings
Create eye-catching cards by stamping words such as "You're Invited" or "Thank You" on velvet with alphabet rubber stamps.
Choose velvet that's silk, a silk and rayon blend, or a rayon and acetate blend. Synthetic velvet may stick to the iron and rubber stamp.
When you'd rather not measure and cut velvet fabric to create stamped velvet borders for cards or scrapbook pages, buy velvet ribbon at a craft or sewing shop instead. Use scissors to snip a piece of ribbon from the spool, use the stamping technique to add a design, and then attach the ribbon with double-stick tape. You can also use embellished velvet ribbon as a pretty bookmark.
Preserve the stamped design on a velvet garment by dry cleaning the clothing instead of washing it at home.
