This is the tutorial on how to paint the chevrons onto your fabric for the [DIY Chevron Dress]({% post_url 2013-04-17-chevron-dress-tutorial %}). While this tutorial was written specifically for this project, it is a technique that can obviously be used for painting chevrons on basically anything. Make some super sweet curtains, or paint it on a block of wood for some nice art. Be free, my creative friend!
When I first did this, the silly mistake I made was that I accidentally painted the bodice and the skirt different colors at first. So I had to go back and re-paint the skirt. What a dummy. This happened because I had mixed two similar colors of paint trying to get the right shade of green:
Not the same.
And of course the next day totally forgot which one I had used for the skirt. It turned out alright though because I only mixed textile medium into one of the colors, and the color I ended up re-painting didn’t have any in it at all, and this made me realize that the textile medium is actually pretty unnecessary. I think it thins the paint out too much, so you end up getting uneven coating that looks kind of blotchy.
However, when you do use straight acrylic fabric, the fabric will be noticeably stiffer— do not panic though, it is only temporary! After you paint, you want to iron the fabric to heat set it, and once you have sewn everything together throw that finished dress into the laundry. Wash it in warm water with some jeans and towels, anything heavy that will beat it around in there. Then dry it in normal to high heat (keep in mind what kind of fabric you bought and the care settings it came with. Don’t overdo it!) When it comes out the fabric and paint will have softened significantly, and will only get softer with subsequent washings. I’ve washed my dress several times now, and you can’t even tell it was painted with acrylic anymore— it looks and acts like any other printed fabric. Super sweet!
Another thing to keep in mind when painting fabric this way, that I knew from the very beginning, is that it will probably not turn out perfect and that’s okay. Small inconsistencies here and there are what make this handmade and not printed at a factory. Take your time, don’t be afraid to redo things, but do not get too wrapped up in perfect angels or every potential bleeding spot. I utilized the “eye-ballin’ it” technique for most of this project, and it came out pretty fantastic overall. Even when I had to re-paint over the skirt, in the end you cannot really tell, and I promise you no one is looking at your clothes closely enough to notice every line that isn’t perfect. Go into it with confidence and it will turn out beautiful.
With that said, onto the tutorial!
First of all, take the drafted pattern pieces and cut them out of your fabric. You will want to use something stretchy, such as a jersey blend, so that you can fit into the dress easily. Be sure when purchasing fabric you buy enough yardage that you can place the skirt portion on the fold when cutting.
The reason I prefer to cut the fabric pieces out first, as opposed to painting the fabric and then cutting out, is you have a lot more control over where the stripes are placed. I knew for my dress I wanted the chevrons on the bodice to follow the v-neck, while having horizontal stripes on the back piece. This wouldn’t have been so easy had I striped the fabric and then cut the pieces out.
I began with the skirt. Place it flat onto a painting tarp or other paint-able surface, smoothing out any bumps.
Cutting your strips of tape into 10” long pieces, place one in the middle of the skirt at an angle. Keep in mind where the chevrons will be placed in relation to the middle of the skirt.
Overlap the next strip at a right angle to the first one. Continue to build zig zags by overlapping the next strip over the previous one, working out from the center until you have taped over the edge of the skirt. If you are super particular you might want to use a carpenter square or the edge of a paper to make sure your angles are right, but if you’re like me just step back and look at it every once in awhile to make sure they’re all lining up properly.
After you have the first row of tape start working the second row. Here is where you will want to decide how wide you want your painted chevrons to be- remember that wherever you tape will be the color of your base fabric (in this case white). I wanted my painted zig zags to be just a little thicker than the white ones, so I put the second row about 1 1/2” down from the first. Again, I totally eyeballed this. I figured out a width that looked pleasing, and put the first strip of the second row down.
After that, keep placing strips of tape at right angles, building each subsequent row below or above the previous one until you have covered the whole skirt in zig-zags. Keep an eye to make sure that the spacing between rows stays consistent as you add more tape, if you start angling in or out it will end up being wonky.
Also, Make sure to go over the edge of the fabric, taping onto your paint surface. This will ensure the whole skirt gets covered, and will also help hold it in place when you start painting.
Once you have it all down, it’s time to start painting!
Whatever was left in these bottles made a minty sort of green.
As I am in the process of downsizing my craft stash, I decided to mix the fifty different light blue and green paints I had partial bottles of until I got a shade of green I was happy with. You probably don’t want to do something this haphazard, and can probably just find a shade of paint that you’re happy with. Or do multiple colors, can you imagine how awesome a rainbow chevron dress would look? Super awesome.
Anyway, the next step is none too complicated. Using a paint brush of your choice (mine was a house painting brush) paint between the masking tape. Now professionals will tell you the way to do this is to use a stipling brush or a sponge or some such nonsense, but I’m typically way too impatient for all that. So while I did (mostly) use stipling action, I used a large brush that was handy and I’ll admit, I did some stroking in there to get it done. I actually even switched to a bigger brush than the one pictured because that one was taking too long. I really didn’t have too much issue with bleeding because the masking tape I used was nice and sticky, I burnished it down before hand, and my paint was just thick enough that it didn’t run under.
Once you’re done, give the paint a good while to dry, then take off the masking tape. Oooh and Aaah at the lovely work you’ve done. Onto the bodice!
The process for the bodice of the dress is much the same as the skirt, except there is no zig zagging (just one big chevron down the middle) and I spaced the lines closer together.
On the back, I opted for simple horizontal stripes.
Again, paint using whatever method is convenient, let dry, and untape. Puuurdy…