How to do a Chevron Stencil without any bleeds

 

I've been asked to do a chevron stenciling tutorial a couple times and I'm just now getting around to actually doing it. When I first started painting things more complex than just solid or distressed, I was constantly running into bleeds. It's so silly because this is really really easy; I promise!

First I painted the front, back, and sides with 3 coats of my base color. Do this with the lighter color of the two shades you plan to use. You could do this with more than one color too, so just paint the base color the color you want to have every other stripe. Wait for the base coat to be really dry. You can test this by pressing your finger nail into a small area; if it leaves a dent, it's not dry enough yet. Mine dried for about 3 hours.

 

I then cut a full 12x12 sheet of contact paper in a chevron pattern on my Silhouette Cameo. I also just heard they have chevron Frog tape. I googled it quick, and I like my chevron to be a little taller, but the tape will work the same way if you don't have a machine to cut contact paper with.

 

Then you just place your contact paper. I don't use any transfer tape. Contact paper is pretty forgiving. If it sticks to itself, it usually peels away from itself pretty easy. To keep them evenly spaced, I temporarily place a piece where I don't want it.

Easy!

Then I take my scraper make sure the edges are pressed on really well. Now, I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of the most important part! After you have your chevron on, you are going to paint the base color again over the entire thing. This seals the stencil and if there were any places not quite pressed down enough, it won't bleed through with your next color. This can be a very thin coat. Just enough to cover and seal the edges of your stencil.

I wait till the sealing coat is mostly dry and move quickly through the next couple of steps. I paint my next color(s) on letting them dry slightly in between each coat. This time I did three coats of the brown to get a good coverage. Maybe 5 minutes of dry time between each coat. While it's still tacky, peel your stencil off...

...and you should be left with beautiful, bleed free, chevron!

To pick up an already painted bunny, head on over to The Sensory Emporium!

Another Quilt with Lots of Meaning AKA Brick Quilt Part 1

I have a confession to make. I'm not a quilter. I only pretend to be because it gives me opportunities to make beautiful and memorable gifts. Like the time I cut up my bridesmaids dress to make my best friend the most amazing quilt.

 

Or twice that I've cut up my kids' first year of clothes to make them a blanket. But as I thought about this blog and took pictures for the next tutorial, I thought, does quilting really have to be about skill? Do you really have to know all the terms and techniques to make a really cute blanket? I have came to the conclusion that no, no you do not. I make memories. I make blankets that help the receiver hang on to the last few memories of one special day, year, or person. So, now that we've established that I might be a quilter, lets move on...just know, you probably aren't getting the right terms and there is most likely a tutorial out there better suited for you, but these are my blankets and I love them.

So my sister's grandpa passed away a few months ago (don't ask how he isn't also my grandpa, it's a really long story). She approached me shortly after to see if I could make a quilt out of his old button up shirts and jeans. Knowing that I love to make these types of quilts, I said yes. Then they got here and I kind of freaked out a little bit. If I mess this up, I have no way to replace these shirts. And then I thought, I can't just do the regular old squares and stitch them together. This quilt has to be epic because I'm a little crazy like that and think I can do awesome things.

So I started with this pile of shirts. Irreplaceable button up shirts. That still smell like her grandpa's closet. And I researched quilt patterns. Lets keep in mind that I'm not really a quilter. I can't do all those fancy things. I finally decided a brick quilt would be easy and different from the traditional squares I usually do.

I started by cutting along all the seams. So I ended up with the back piece, two front pieces and two sleeves. I got rid of all the collars and pleats.

Then I squared all my pieces up. It was really nice because I had lines to follow. Cut off cuffs and buttons and any area that is thicker.

 

 Then I started cutting the bricks. I cut them 4.5x7.5. I also preserved the pockets by cutting them 7.5 by 9 so they were the same as two bricks. Make sense?

I ended up with 138 bricks. Some shirts I got more and some a little less. The average amount of bricks was 23 from each shirt.

 

Stay tuned for assembly and to see if this quilt turns out the way I'm imagining.