I paint fabric. It is not a new thing for me. I've been painting fabric for years....mostly in the form of chairs....especially my mermaid chairs HERE and HERE and my Floral Chair HERE. And here I am...making hand painted aprons!
I feel I have perfected the technique after years of trial and error resulting in a lovely finish IF and only IF you pay attention to the do's and don'ts! I am realizing at this very moment that I should probably devote and entire blog to the mentioned "do's and don'ts"....but for now I'm going to share a very simple fabric painting project that will hopefully give you the confidence you need to move on to other fabric projects!
These aprons are $4 at Hobby Lobby!!! That means if you ALREADY have Dixie Belle Chalk Paint on hand....this is a very affordable project! And if you don't already have them.....it's a great time to order a few small jars to play around with! I have many people ask if this is possible with straight craft acrylic paints and I have no idea as I've never tried it! But I do know that your project will be very successful with Dixie Belle Paints!
The aprons are a cotton/muslin blend and are basically the same feel as a painters drop cloth! I have painted drop cloths in the past and you can see my wedding photo backdrop project here!
This is the perfect canvas to paint on....as it is very similar to painting on canvas....which in my opinion is the best thing in the world to paint on!!!! It is safe....and there is NO unknown like you find in furniture! There is always a certain risk involved in a furniture painting project....but I sort of like that thrill! Even though Dixie Belle has done a fabulous job of providing products to simplify and remove risk from most furniture painting projects with things such as Slick Stick, BOSS and the most amazing paint I've ever used!
So.....pick up one these $4 aprons the next time you are in the craft store.....and get busy!
I drew my design with a pencil first. I didn't over think it....I just basically free-styled where and what I wanted to paint.
I pulled colors from my paint stash based on the over all color palette I wanted to use. I knew I wanted pinks and purples to be focal on my hydrangea apron....and bold oranges, purples, teals and pinks to be focal on my cactus apron. I've listed all the colors below in the shop section with easy and clickable links for you!
I used a lot of water and water color brushes and just began to lay paint down. I let it blend and mix organically.
Once I was happy with the results....I outlined my overall design with a bold sharpie.
I went back and added subtle highlights with white paint.
I sealed the paint with Easy Peasy Spray wax and a brush!
I let the paint cure for a full 30 days prior to washing in cold water! I allowed them to hang dry.
I hope you love these hand painted aprons as much as I do! I am always looking for unique hostess gifts and I think these are perfect!!!!
Shop - Hand Painted Aprons
The products listed here are what I used for these hand painted aprons! Dixie Belle Paint company offers amazing products that will make all of your projects successful no matter what your skill level or your canvas! Just click on any of the products shown below! You can also find my favorite products and tools in my Amazon influencer list here.
If you would like a more detailed fabric painting tutorial ....I offer a chair painting course that would be the perfect place!
See you next week!
XOXO,
Tracey
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