Everyone who knows me, knows a capital thing about me: I can’t live without hacking – a dress into a skirt, a skirt into a dress, a tshirt into a bag, and so on and so forth.
My Home is filled with more or less artistic craft projects, things we care deeply about and have huge sentimental value to us. Pictures of our children or love letters penned on posters hanging on our white walls. This new DIY project is no different: an Ikea Hack of their white Teresia curtains into a pair of shabby ‘French curtains’ with a brush and black acrylic paint. If you feel reluctant to this, don’t! The point of ‘shabby’ is imperfection, so scroll down and dare to personalize your curtains! It’s so easy, you won’t believe it!
See also: How to DIY the easiest, no sew flower headband!
Now, before you ask yourselves (and me) why didn’t I just used a textile marker to write on the curtains – it’s a budget project! (my favorite kind of project) So I used whatever I had in my crafts box and only spent (9,99eur) $8.99 x2 on 2 pairs of Teresia white sheer curtains. Acrylic paint is something I use a lot (for my nails, for my posters) so I used a tiny tube of acrylic paint (no particular brand – the idea is to have a paint that is water resistant, so basically any acrylic paint or non water soluble paint works perfectly!)
Before you go ahead and paint the curtain, do test the paint on a tiny square of the same fabric you intend to paint, iron it and then wash it. If it doesn’t wash away, go ahead full throttle with the curtain! It’s what I did because I read some paints are more or less acrylic than others and some fabric markers are more or less water soluble. You’ll feel miserable to discover that your letters wash away even if you thought your paint wasn’t water soluble!
See also: How to Chanel Couture knit cap for less!
Back to my project – I lined a piece of Ikea’s white shower curtain I keep around to cover my table when I paint with the kids (I like white, it doesn’t steal the focus away from whatever project you have and also keeps the paint away from the wood – happy kids have happy moms and the other way around – I don’t stress about the mess). The lines were fairly spaced, for my curtain length I had about 15 rows as I prepared my poems so you need to take some time before painting to measure and make a mental image of what your project will be like, to know how to draw the lineature.
Confession – I only used the lined piece for the first two curtains and for the last two, I went freehand and it was cool too – I got the hang of it and kept a straight line even without the markings underneath. So I ironed the curtains straight first and used adhesive tape to stick the curtain on the wooden floor. (vacuum the floor first, the tiniest particles will scratch your curtain, even make tiny holes in it!)
With a medium sized brush dipped in just a drop of water, mix the black acrylic paint (to not spread the color I didn’t use a lot of water – I was not looking for a diffused effect but for a handwriting effect, so I was trying to mimic the pen and ink on a large scale).
And then.. just write! Wait for the paint to dry, iron the curtains, wash them, just in case, to see if there’s any damage and then hang them dry, you’re done!
See also: How to update a pair of sandals with fringes: easy DIY, no sew!
Tips and tricks:
• Write the text before painting it as you would write it on the fabric – call it a rehearsal for the mind, for the hand. The idea of handwriting on fabric is not to make a perfectly visible text, au contraire – your handwriting needs to be as imperfect as possible for an original, organic effect!
• Don’t sew the curtains’ hem – use the fabric’s ability to curl upon tearing, for a shabby effect. It doesn’t matter if the hem will fray in the future, it just adds to the chic of the handwritten letter.
• If you’re not sure about the freehand writing, feel free to write with a crayon on the fabric and then paint over with the brush. The crayon marks will wash off, not the paint.
• If you want a special type of script (aka font), you can format your words on paper and place the curtains over the papers, tracing with the brush over the printed words.
• If you paint directly on the floor, like I did, after the paint has dried on the curtain and you take it away to iron it, use a soft cloth dipped in soapy water to rub the paint off of the floor. If you notice any resistance, use rubbing alcohol or vinegar, the acrylic paint will disappear like magic! I’m not so sure the same thing happens when you use different types of paint, you’ll have to test that on a hidden portion of your floor – paint over and when it’s dry try to wash it off – do this step before getting to the actual painting so you’ll know if you can clean the floors after painting your curtains.
See also: How to Christmas Wreaths from scratch!
Any other questions you might have, please don’t hesitate in asking me using the comments section, I’ll answer as soon as possible with as many details possible! I hope you’ll have as much fun as I did with this DIY curtains project. Nothing like an Ikea Hack to celebrate one’s marriage anniversary, huh? ^_^
Leave a Comment