This DIY Lemon Stamped Tea Towels tutorial will show you how I made a stamp or block print using a fresh lemon, acrylic paint and a fabric medium. Fruits and vegetables are great for hand stamped creative projects on fabric and paper. Painting flour sack tea towels is a quick DIY craft that can be done in 30 minutes or less.

DIY Lemon Stamped Tea Towels

Every spring I like to spruce up my kitchen with a fresh look and lemons are always my first choice. Lemons are so versatile. You can clean with them, decorate with them, or craft with them to make your own DIY home decor. Using Lemons or any citrus with acrylic paint to stamp the classic citrus shape onto tea towels, cloth napkins, a pillowcase, or a tablecloth are fun ways to add instant style to any room.

How to Make Lemon Stamped Tea Towels

When stamping with fresh lemon or any citrus, you’ll want to stick with smooth cotton fabric, that’s why tea towels work so great.

Supplies Needed:

Tea Towel, or any smooth cotton fabric.
Acrylic Paint – any color.
Fabric Medium for acrylic paints
Lemons, oranges or limes
Knife
Iron

How to Stamp Fabric with Citrus

Yield: 1

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Active Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Estimated Cost: $10

DIY Block Printing with Fruit. How to make a citrus stamped tea towel with fresh lemons using fabric and acrylic paint.

Materials

Fresh Lemon or any citrus
Cotton tea towel
Acrylic paint
Fabric Medium

Tools

Craft paint brush
Cutting Board
Knife
Iron

Instructions

Gather your supplies.
Iron the cotton fabric you plan on using. I used a flour sack tea towel.
Slice a lemon, orange or lime in half or in thick slices.
Section out the meaty parts of the fruit without cutting the triangle membranes.
If the fruit is extra juicy, Give it a gentle squeeze to get rid of some of the juice. Reshape if needed.
If the rind is really wet, dab it dry with a paper towel.
Mix 1 part Fabric Medium with 2 parts acrylic paint. Stir it together to make sure it's mixed well.
Paint the lemon with a craft brush, making sure to get the triangle membranes.
Place the lemon straight down on your fabric, press gently, and lift it straight up.
Repeat to make more stamped images.
Let air dry for 24 hours then heat set design by ironing with a hot (no steam) iron. I usually place another tea towel over it before ironing to protect my iron.
Wash with cool water.

Notes

I always place a piece of cardstock or poster board down for my work surface when working with paints.

Green salt jar sitting on DIY Lemon Stamped Tea Towels

What Fruits or Vegetables Are Good for Stamping?

There are many fruits and vegetables you can use for stamping. The possibilities are endless! Think outside the box by cutting and slicing to create different shapes for stamping. I always experiment on paper first, which also makes a great craft in itself. Kids love it!

Apples
Potatoes – You can create a stamp or block print easily with a potato by carving out your shape. These napkins were hand stamped with a potato.
Green Peppers
Jalapenos
Celery – Cutting all the celery stalks off and using the discarded bottom makes a fun flower-shaped stamp.
Pears
Carrots – Slice and shape
Citrus wedges
Limes
Oranges
Pomegranates
Artichokes – cut in half

I’m sure there are many many more.

How do you Heat Set DIY Lemon Stamped Tea Towels?

Here’s what the professionals have to say from Plaid Crafts.

Heat setting is recommended for best durability. Allow the painted design to dry overnight. Place the item in a clothes dryer for 30 minutes on the highest setting allowed for the type of fabric used, OR you may heat set the painted piece using a dry iron and a pressing cloth by laying the pressing cloth over the painted fabric and iron the painted design for 10 seconds, lift the iron and move it to another section of the painted design. Your iron should be set at the highest setting allowed for the fabric used.

How to Wash Stamped Fabric

If you use a fabric medium mixed with acrylic paint followed up with a heat setting this will help with the durability of your stamped designs. Washing in cool water will also help, although, I wash all my dish towels on warm and hot and so far, everything looks good.