Crafting Curtains

I decided to make my living room curtains by hand. I realized I have made almost all my curtains by hand and really enjoy the creative freedom you have when making your own home furnishings. Purchasing ready-made curtains from big box stores can really date your home. Hand made furnishings allow for creative, unique functional art in your home that store bought, mass produced items from China cannot provide. I used the book Printing by Hand from Lena Corwin as a guide. Lena Corwin is a textile designer with very colorful, scandinavian influences. I love her work and wanted a little Lena Corwin design in my living room curtains.




The process is not complicated. The materials are easy to find in any craft supply store and there are templates you can use in the book. You can also easily design your own templates.




Here I am cutting foam and foam board in order to make stamps. After cutting and gluing the foam on the foam board, I used a paint brush to liberally apply acrylic paint mixed with fabric medium and firmly applied the design to the fabric. I then let dry and ironed for heat setting.


I am cutting a design from the book onto freezer paper. After cutting, I simply ironed the freezer paper, shiny side down onto the fabric. This temporarily adheres the paper onto the fabric, making it ready for screen printing. I didn't use my screen on this, I simply made the paper border large enough not to spill over the paint onto the fabric. I 'squeegeed' with a popsicle stick.




WARNING!

Hand printing can be addictive and fun!