Sunday, June 27, 2010

Sailcloth Placemats

I have had the beach on the brain for some time now, probably when the heat arrived in the Midwest and made me homesick for my coastal hometown...if I can't get to the beach, I'll bring it to me! Well, I can pretend anyway...

I decided to create some place mats using canvas. Of course in this modern day, canvas is rarely used for sails anymore, but it is seriously some of the most durable, versatile material. It's flax color, nubby texture, love it! I usually keep some in my stash to stretch for paintings, but I never buy the 'Artist Canvas', I buy canvas at the hardware store! Yep, it's big, and it's cheap....that's what I'm using today.


Now typically, I would use gesso on the canvas, but I wanted the raw canvas to show in addition to the paint. I think it looks neat! For a pattern, I used a square place mat that I already have and just cut the canvas the same size, with a seam allowance. I used heat n bond to hem it, I was just too lazy to break out the sewing machine...I'm still recovering from the last sewing project I took on. Heat n bond it is!



Now Jen from Tatertots and Jello provides this free printable quatrefoil pattern (Thanks Jen!). I have been wanting to try it on something! I printed it out, cut it out (step 1), used a sharpie to draw the pattern on the canvas (step 2), carefully painted in, using craft paint (step 3). Step 4 isn't really a step, I just named it that, it 's really just the end part of step 3, you get the point. Click here to get yours!


So far, I have done three different place mats, and I want to do a fourth one in a Chevron pattern.


Of course the quatrefoil is the most intricate, and took the most time to paint, the stripe went super fast, I used painter's tape to achieve the stripes. I love the hand painted look of them!

This is my second favorite one! Love some stripes!


I love this one the most! Love it in orange!





Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope your inspired! Thanks Jen for the printable!
Making
The Girl CreativeJoin us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up party!

Funky Junk's Saturday Nite Special

29 comments:

  1. Wow, these look great! The quatrefoil looks best , but I'm guessing it was hard work! :)

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  2. hey michelle! i love this idea! i might have to use it for one of my craft nights! thanks for sharing! julie

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  3. These DO look great!! Love the colors!

    Suzanne

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  4. I would've assumed the paint would bleed. Good to know that it doesn't. I'll have to try this sometime! These look great! :)

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  5. Your placemats look fanatastc Michelle! I love the one with diagonal stripes. xx

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  6. Those are amazing!! I don't know which one I like best! So summery!

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  7. I am soooo impressed that you created these fabric designs!!! What a wonderful joy you did. I love the stripes and esp the quatrefoil!!! TFS! ♥Laurie from Scene of the Grime

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  8. Those are fantastic. I think I will try that, too.

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  9. The color of those placemats along with the design are to die for yummy!

    Di

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  10. Love these! You've inspired me to get crafty.

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  11. Love these placemats! I think I've found a craft for this weekend. :)

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  12. Love the placemats, especially the orange one! Thanks for the nice comment on my new countertops! :)

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  13. these are fabulous i just love them! so you just used craft paint? awesome i have tons and tons of that!

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  14. Goodness, girl, these are beautiful. The orange you chose is fab. I'd love for you to link these up with Fabric Fun Thursday. :)

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  15. Oh my goodness!!! When I saw your picture linked up I thought the quatrefoil design was fabric that you had bought! I love that you painted it!!! And with my stencil!!! Big big loves. Wow! What a cool project!!!!

    XOXO
    Jen

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  16. I LOVE this! It turned out so cute! THanks for the tutorial! I'd love for you to link it up @ iheartnaptime.blogspot.com

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  17. Your place mats are gorgeous! Love the colors!

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  18. Love it! I just love this quatrafoil stencil in every medium!

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  19. You are truly an inspiration! Your placemats are absolutely beautiful. Totally gets my creative wheels turning.
    Thanks,
    Anne - amug11@gmail.com

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  20. Impressive!!! I can't wait to try this! :o)

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  21. Love these! Your lines are incredibly crisp and clean - they don't even look painted!

    I've featured your placemats in my post on painting fabric. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  22. Wow, these placemats look easy! Thanks for sharing...will have to hit up the hardware store for some canvas!

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  23. Hi, these look great... I saw someone had commented that they were worried about bleeding.... you can get clear gesso at art stores and keep the raw look...

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  24. I LOVE placemats, the color and the print! Great job!!!

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  25. Love your blog and this project featuring quatrefoil (one of my favorite patterns!) so I featured your project in my roundup of crafty quatrefoil projects here. Feel free to check it out and hope you like it!

    -Mel the Crafty Scientist

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Thank You for taking the time to comment! Because of the insane amount of spam comments, I had to stop anonymous comments-sorry for the inconvenience.
Michelle