Burlap and Silk Screening

This is my first time attending the Make it for Monday party hosted by Cindy at Cottage Instincts. She has such a funny and great way of creating and looking at things, so you need to stop by for a great time of inspiration.

I love creating things. I love seeing what others do and gleaning information on how I can, perhaps, try it myself.

I do not have skills or talent, but, I keep trying. My criteria for attempting a project is that is be:

Cheap

Quick

Easy

Super Easy

I have been coveting the projects made from burlap. When I saw large burlap pillows at Pottery Barn for $$$$$$, I decided I had nothing to lose by giving it a whirl.

I bought 1 yard of 2.99 burlap from JoAnn’s and this silk-screening crown stencil kit for $10 with my half price coupon. I also bought some black fabric paint for a couple of bucks.

This stencil is pretty large and has adhesive on the back so you can lay it down and reposition as necessary. You can use it over and over.

Since I work on my kitchen island, I grabbed the giant thick envelope that covered the cute kitty calendar my hubby got me for Christmas and smoothed a hunk of burlap over it. After peeling off the stencil, positioning it on the burlap and smoothing it out, I spread a thick stripe of the black fabric paint right above the crown design. You can’t really see it but the crown has a fine mesh screen in the cut parts of the design.   I learned that you need to put on a really good amount of paint so that there is enough to spread all the way to the bottom of the crown.The stencil kit came with this hard plastic tool for spreading the paint. You drag the paint straight down with the stencil. At this point, you will be pretty sure you have ruined the whole thing. Then you peel back the stencil and there is a design that really looks like a crown.   I repeated this process 3 times in a row. I put a single panel in this thrift store frame that I painted red. And, I made 2 pillows, which I just stitched together on my sewing machine and stuffed full with fiberfill.

It’s kind of bumpy and wrinkly but I figured it was a practice run. I won’t be punishing anyone by making them sleep on them; they are for decoration and are good enough. Actually, the wrinkles managed to work themselves out over a little time.