DIY Printed Table Runner By: Grace Bonney

I’ve always liked the idea of fabric printing and painting, but being a lover of a somewhat more muted color palette, I’ve more often than not been put off by the limited color choice of readymade fabric products.

With this method, you can create any color you choose simply by mixing it with acrylic textile medium; a product that makes acrylic paint suitable for use on fabric and is fixed by heat. Awesome, right?

I wanted to add a little something extra to a perfect dove grey linen cloth I recently found so, taking inspiration from the potato printed wall I did in my daughter’s room (you can spot my favorite colors there too) I decided to mix up my colors and use the method once again to create this simple scalloped printed table runner. —Sarah of Lapin Blu

Materials:
– Acrylic Paints (four colors work best)
– Acrylic Textile Medium
– Plain Cotton/Linen table runner (I bought mine from H&M, but if you’re handy with a sewing machine, you could also make this)
– Large potato (try to choose a relative smooth one. If you use more than four colours, cut enough shapes for each colour)
– Sharp knife
– Mixing Bowls
– Old Spoon
– Paintbrush
– Newspaper/Old sheet/foam board (anything to protect your worksurface – I pinned my runner to foam board, but you could also tape it down)
– Iron
– Old T-shirt/muslin/fabric

Process:

1. Using the sharp knife, chop your potato in half, place flat side down & cut in half again. Dab dry with old cloth.

2. Layout your fabric & secure in place as above, or your chosen method.

3. Mix your paints. Textile medium should be mixed in equal parts to paint. For example, I used two spoons of black acrylic paint to two spoons of textile medium (one spoon of each for the other colours). You can mix them all at the same time as they will stay wet more than long enough for you to complete the project, even a more complex design or if you choose to cover the entire runner.

4. Paint your colour onto the potato & place onto fabric (I found this gave a better result than dipping the potato – you may want to experiment on paper first) Ensure you apply a fairly heavy and even pressure. Lift and repeat across your fabric until you complete your design.

5. Once you have completed your printing. Leave to dry & then iron. Use a high setting with no steam. I’d suggest using some old fabric or muslin on both sides for the first run (painted side up), then I would use the old fabric underneath only & iron over again, this time, directly on the reverse of the runner.

Don’t worry too much about the pattern being perfect – I started at one side on the first run which didn’t quite fit to the other side, so I simply started at the opposite side on the next line to make it look deliberate!

via Design*Sponge http://ift.tt/1T6yoE0 From Grace Bonney