How to Make a Stamp to Print Your Own Fabric

Psssst… this post *might* contain affiliate links: see my disclosure here.

DIY Fabric Stamp

My kids and I made these fun DIY fabric stamps and made our own patterned fabric!

how to make a fabric stamp

For our latest Home Depot Kids workshop project, we wanted to make our own fabric using painter’s canvas drop cloths… but they were a little dull off the shelf. Turns out making our own custom stamps was really REALLY easy!

Shop my favorites!

Step 1. Design your Patterns

I recruited the kids to draw some stamp ideas. Geometric patterns work well as do larger shapes! Both Louisa and Arthur liked the idea of polka dots and I wanted to try a star.

designing your pattern drawing a design for DIY fabric stamp

Step 2. Cut out your Pattern

We’re using craft foam for the stamp itself. I thought about other options (a potato, styrofoam, felt…) but ultimately went with craft foam because it’s readily available at the craft store and totally affordable. Also, we already had it so I didn’t have to make a special trip! Louisa used scissors and I used a sharp utility knife to cut the craft foam.

Note: Plan to cut out your pattern two or three times. We found that our stamps worked best when we had double or triple layers of foam.

cutting foam for DIY fabric stamp cutting foam for DIY stamp

Step 3. Make the stamp

To make the stamp, I use a hot glue gun to stick the foam onto a piece of scrap wood. Add the second layer. My stamps had two layers, and for the one where we dipped it in a plate, it could have used a third layer.

hot glue foam onto scrap wood

Step 3.  Add Paint and Start Stamping 

I had two techniques for loading the stamp with paint: one was to squirt a very thin layer of paint onto a paper plate and then dab the stamp in the paint. The other was to use a brush to paint the paint onto the stamp. The paper plate technique is definitely faster, but the paint brush technique was a bit more reliable with fewer paint smudges. Note that I’m using plain ol’ latex paint. It definitely dries a little bit stiff on the heavy canvas but we were planning to use this fabric for some fun outdoor projects. For softer paint, you can either use fabric paint or add some fabric medium to regular paint.

how to make a fabric stamp

To stamp the fabric, make sure your place the stamp straight down onto the fabric. If you move it around at all on the fabric, the stamp won’t be nearly as crisp.

press stamp straight down onto fabric

We used our newly stamped fabric to make these cute little tents and some outdoor cushions… keep your eye out for more on those later! *wink wink*

diy printed fabric custom printed fabric

Don’t Miss Out

Become An Insider!

Signup for exclusive tips, and tricks from Charlotte’s House!

Let’s chat!

I love comments from you, so feel free to leave your thoughts and ideas below! And don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for even more!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

8 Comments

  1. Hi. I’m a quilter and always looking for new ideas. I just have one question regarding your stamps. How do completely clean the stamp from the paint?
    I look forward to hearing from you soon and I thank you for your time.

    Sincerely,
    Margarita

    1. Hi am David from Uganda I think you may clean up using chemicals such as thinner after using the Ruber