Vintage grain sack tutorial

I recently saw in a magazine a roman shade made out of a vintage grain sack and I wanted one. I scouted out grain sacks on eBay and found this one I loved but it cost $100. I decided to make my own....

Materials:

Burlap (sized to your project, mine was 1.5 yards)

Spray adhesive

Razor blade knife

Painters tape (for delicate surfaces)

Sponge brush

Marker

Wood craft paint

Textile medium for wood craft paint

Iron and scrap material/paper to heat set paint

1. Save a picture of the grain sack you like to your computer. Open it up in a photo program such as     Photoshop.  Crop the picture down into several pieces & enlarge them to the right size for your project. I cut my design into 9 separate pieces, each filling one piece of paper. 

2.       Trace each outline with a black permanent marker, making the lines more visible. Cut along the lines with a razor blade knife to make the stencils. 

3.       My pattern has a red stripe going down the center of the feed sack, to replicate this use blue painters tape (for delicate surfaces) taping on either side of where your stripe is going to be.  Using regular wood craft paint (toll paint) mixed with textile medium (follow directions on label) and a sponge brush, paint the stripe.

 

4.       Position each stencil piece on the burlap. Once positioned, taking two at a time, spray the stencils with adhesive drying for a few seconds before placing on burlap. Paint each one, removing stencil immediately after painting; otherwise the paper will be too hard to remove.  Continue until all stencils have been painted. 

  

5.       Let dry. When dry follow instructions on label of textile medium to heat set the paint, making it washable.  Usually this means covering the painted area with scrap material/paper and running an iron over it.

6.       Drum roll please…the side by side of the original vintage worth $100 vs. my knock off, isn’t it wonderful? 

Check back later to see how I turn this into a roman shade! I would love to see your projects, if you make one please post a comment with a link to your blog.