I should have called this “DIY painted floursack dish towels
and some other random painted projects”. I went to town with my paint brush before DIY magazine arrived. Let me explain:
I was fortunate enough that Liquitex send me a little blogger box a couple of weeks ago with some goodies in it. (this is not a sponsored post but I did receive the blogger box for review and all opinions are 100% my own)
Lacey (the DIY stylist) had turned me on to flower sack towels. I had actually never heard of them before.
I used black Liquitex Acrylic Paint
and Liquitex Fabric Medium
to mix into custom fabric paint. Make sure to read the instructions on the fabric medium bottle first.
Also always wash, dry and iron your fabric before attempting to paint it.
I used the same sized cross for my first two towels.
I cut out the cross on a piece of paper and traced it on the towels with a pencil:
Then I taped off the cross shape with some painters tape and used the Liquitex brush and custom acrylic fabric paint to fill in the cross shape.
After that I removed the tape and let the cross dry. You always need to heat set the fabric paint. Some people use an iron but I usually prefer to just throw my dried painted fabric into the hot dryer for a couple of minutes. Much much easier in my opinion.
And here are my finished cross kitchen towels which go with my cross hallway:
I should have cleaned my griddle a little more, oops 😉
I had to throw the last photo in there because I’m sure you noticed the other kitchen towel that was under the cross towels and I had to show you what inspired me to paint the second set.
If you guessed my owl kitchen towel art (click HERE) then you guessed right. And some of you might say “Hey wait a minute, that’s not an original idea! There are pillows and curtains out there in the blogosphere already!” which is so true. Caitlin Wilson Textiles has these gorgeous pillows (click HERE).
But ultimately, my owl is what made me decide to paint the towels but I also had the Caitlin Wilson pillows in the back of my head too.
They were so easy to paint! The Liquitex brush was the perfect size to paint the random little brush strokes. Imperfections and randomness are key here:
And I didn’t stop there. I painted some brush strokes on a canvas for the dining room and two white Ikea GURLI pillows for the living room (because I had them stashed away and still fabric paint leftover).
A little brush stroke overkill perhaps, but I promise I spread it out throughout the house.
Also see more in this spring tour HERE:
This was a little sneak peek at the DIY magazine shot. Aren’t those new Target vases on the mantel pretty?
It was fun to paint these easy fabric painting projects. Something easy anyone can try do.
I think on Wednesday I will post a little bit about behind the scenes of the DIY magazine photo shoot, so make sure to stop back.
(Oh and please let me know if you can click the social media icons away on the left side if they are bugging you. You should be able to click the X to make them go away. If they bug my readers too much, I might take them off altogether. So just let me know, ok?)
Tschüß
(Youleeya)
love those! they are awesome- love the cross especially- it’s so you!
Thank you Cassie!
Love the dishtowels… now you have inspired me to make some. Mine should have been thrown out long ago! Can’t wait to see the magazine feature. Do you have a date on that?
Thanks Ashley, it can take up to a year for the feature to get published!
Sehr schöne Idee, möchte ich unbedingt auch ausprobieren! Ich hab zuletzt in der Schule Stoff bemalt, wird mal wieder Zeit. Übrigens, schön, dass du wieder da bist 😉
Vielen Dank Sabine. Ich bin froh dass ich meine “Subscribers” nicht verloren habe!
I love the towels! Great idea for Christmas too! Love all your decorations, it all “flows” so well together. I have to ask about the “mouse hole” in the door? That is the cutest thing I have ever seen! It is definitely an attention getter…..
(I am fairly new to the blog, so forgive me if I have missed something.) 😉
Thanks Kat! I also wrote about the little hole in this post here: http://cuckoo4design.com/2013/09/more-basement-info.html I have it in almost every door in the house, so the cats don’t get locked in and can move freely.
Julia, I love those personalized touches. Your home is just beyond beautiful. Wow!!
Thanks my friend and so is yours!
Thanks my friend.
Such a great idea, Julia! Can’t wait to see behind the scenes of your magazine shoot!
thanks Caitlin, it was so much fun
Such a great project!! Super easy and looks great!
Yes, it was super easy and thanks so much!
Very nice! I love the way it carries the patterns over to other parts of the house! Can’t wait to hear about the DIY shoot 🙂
Thanks Gretchen!
Goodness, so lovely! I really want to give this a try. Pinning.
Thank you and I totally think you should 😉
Julia, I love floursack towels! I discovered them a few years ago and they are what I use in the kitchen now. Love the added pops of black and white (and crosses) through out your stunning home for the photo shoot. I can’t wait to see some more behind the scenes. OH, and that owl art is still one of my favorites. And the animal plates in the kitchen. I think I need more animals in my life. 🙂
Thanks Kathy, I think everyone needs more animals in their life 😉
Those would be such great gifts, Julia! Where did you get the flour sack towels? Love the sneak peek of your shoot, I’m sure it was a blast to see how they rearranged and changed things in your house. I’d love to have a fresh perspective like that!
Thanks Jennifer, the dishtowels were from Amazon.
Gorgeous! I just love how they turned out and I am crazy for those pillows in your living room – they look so good in there! I will have to try painting some floursack towels too! I think they would make great Christmas gifts tucked around some fresh-baked goods!
Thank you and yes I was thinking the same thing that some handmade dishtowels would be great gifts. So easy to make too.
Love all your brushstroke pieces, Julia, that pattern just goes with everything!! Can’t wait to hear about your photo shoot ` how fun!
Thanks Pam
I love these Julia! They look so good in your kitchen too! I can’t wait to see your photos in the magazine!
Thank you!
LOVE LOVE LOVE it! adore the dalmatian spots cushion and towel
Thank you so much Yasmina
Julia, your towels turned out amazing. I must admit I have never heard of flour sack towels until now. Where did you get them from?
They are from Amazon and the DIY magazine stylist told me about them. She wanted me to make towels for the kitchen and powder room. They are perfect dishtowels and I’m so glad she told me about them.
Lovely Julia!!
Thanks Amber
What a great gift idea!