I have been in such a funk this week. Completely unmotivated to create anything. I always get like that when I’m feeling overwhelmed. Not overwhelmed in the, “I have too many things to do” sense. More like, my brain never shuts off. If you are cut from the creative cloth, then you know what I’m talking about. The ideas…thoughts…plans…they are always running through my mind. They never stop. Literally, I have at least 20 projects waiting to be blogged about. When will I ever find the time? Never! I get so overwhelmed with all of it, because I want to do it all and that has left me feeling uninspired. Until…
we stumbled on this patch of fallen leaves. Living in Southwest Florida, we get the shaft when it comes to seasons. My most favorite season, Fall, is pretty much non existent in these parts. So when we found these leaves on a morning bike ride, I was inspired again. I’m glad I had my phone with me, so I could snap a few shots of Savannah playing in the leaves. Look at that face…simple and pure joy!
It’s weird where you can draw inspiration from, but that fun morning with the leaves, inspired me to create this:
I splatter painted a scrap of fabric, then appliquéd it to a tank top for Annabelle. Seriously…how cute?? How easy! How cheap!
I have two new crushes. Osnaburg fabric and neon. Osnaburg fabric can be found in the utility section at your fabric store. You’ll find it next to the burlap and muslin. Unlike burlap, Osnaburg is really easy to work with. It also has a nice weight to it, unlike muslin. It’s like a faux linen. I’ve eyed it for years, but only recently purchased it. I’m obsessed with it…I LOVE it! It has this nice neutral backdrop which lends it self well to pops of color. Insert neon. I’ll admit, I didn’t immediately jump on this neon trend. I still don’t care for full on neon, but splashes of it can really make a statement.
I’ve never intentionally painted on fabric before this project. I’ve read before that you can use just watered down acrylic paint. So, with paintbrush in hand, that’s exactly what I did.
Supplies I used:
- Tank or shirt
- Watered down neon acrylic paint
- Old sheet or drop cloth
- Osnaburg fabric {scrap piece}
- Paintbrushes {at least 2 different sizes}
- Iron
- Scissors
Appliqué supplies
- Heat n Bond or Wonder Under
- Interfacing
- Stabilizer
Start with a pressed scrap of Osnaburg. Then, water down your acrylic paint just a smidge. You don’t want to dilute it too much, or it will affect the color and become more translucent. I wanted to keep the color, but alter the consistency so when I splattered the paint, it wouldn’t glob. The ratio I used was about 1/4 tsp water to about 1 TBSP of paint.
Dip a paintbrush in the paint and hold it about 12 inches above the fabric. With your free hand, tap the top of the brush handle to create the splatters. Make sure to move around so you are splashing the entire piece and not getting too much paint in one area. Experiment with different brushes. I used two different sizes to get different effects.
I used a cooling rack to speed up the drying process, but it’s not necessary. Once it’s dry, heat set the paint with an iron. Now it’s ready for appliqué. I chose a number, but really you could do anything with this technique.
I was a little skeptical how the painted fabric would do in the wash. However, it washed wonderfully. The paint did not bleed on any fabric and the edges raveled well.
Refer to my appliqué tutorials here and here for full instructions. Note: unlike my 2nd tutorial, I used a straight stitch to appliqué. I wanted the edges to ravel a bit more when washed. If you don’t like this look, then stick with the zig zag stitch mentioned in the tutorial.