Little Yellow Barn: How To Stencil Fabric

I'm a cheap-o as most of you know and buying home decor items is NOT my strong suit. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to browse, but my eyes turn very quickly as I see the price tags hanging from the items. Not in my budget! I've had a set of curtains from my old house just sitting in my closet for a few years now and finally decided to put them to good use.

I'll be honest, this was my first time attempting stenciling and I could not believe how easy it was to do. And don't get me wrong, I panicked over it for weeks trying to decide if I should do it and worrying that I'd just screw them up in the end anyway!

Decided to go for it. Couldn't love them more! :)

I will say, the one nice thing about stenciling curtains is you get the effect of a stencil without having to paint your entire wall. They're replaceable and moveable if in the next few years you get sick of them or want to accent a different wall.

I got this stencil from Cutting Edge Stencils, an online store with a HUGE variety of wall, craft, and furniture stencils with very decent prices. It was nerve racking picking JUST ONE stencil! My whole house could end up stenciled if I'm not careful! :)

HOW TO
STENCIL FABRIC

Supplies:

Plastic
Fabric
Fabric Paint
Fabric Medium (or "Textile Medium"
Foam Paint roller
Paper Plate
Paint Tray (opt.)
Tape (painters or moving tape)
Paper Towels
Baby Wipes (just in case)

Cutting Edge Stencils has created a variety of great video tutorials, which I highly recommend before starting stenciling. You can watch them HERE.

*A few tips before starting...

*Make sure your stencil is nice and flat before you start, it makes those first few squares easier.

* If you want to save money just use regular paint. Fabric paint can be pricey for a project this large. It does make the fabric a little softer, but in my opinion not enough to make it worth it. I'll test out regular paint this week and get back to you for sure! :)

*Use painters tape or moving tape. Masking tape sticks to the plastic and is hard to remove when you need to paint the edges.

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1. Lay out plastic (or some kind of covering) over your floor to prevent paint from getting on it... it will happen! Tape it down.

2. Place your fabric on the plastic and tape it down making sure it's pulled tightly (but not too tight). Just make sure there's no wrinkles in the fabric.

Oops, don't mind the wrinkles at the bottom. I planned to hem these, so the bottom wasn't a big deal!

3. Place your stencil at the top of the fabric. I started at the top in the middle, but it probably doesn't matter where you do. Make sure it's even and tape it all the way around.

4. Mix your paint.

* If you're using fabric paint: Mix 2 parts paint to 1 part fabric medium (or textile).

5. Roll your foam roller brush in your paint, making sure it's mostly even on both sides. Brush it off on your paper plate and start rolling onto the fabric.

*As you get more comfortable with rolling you won't need to rub off as much paint onto the paper plate. By about the 4th stencil move I wasn't even brushing it off. I just felt like it was wasting my paint. But still be very careful not to get too much or it will bleed through the edges. This does NOT apply if you're using higher contrasting colors.

6. Keep rolling until your entire stencil square is covered. Make sure it's covered completely to your liking and darkness/lightness before removing it.

7. As soon as you finish with the first stencil square, move it over (tape included), lining it up with the next side. You don't need to wait for it to dry. That was my biggest concern. It won't mess up your paint, I promise.