What about something untraditional for Valentine's Day? The heart, as a symbol is very common, but I didn't want to make anything in pink, or red. I like the "close to the nature" colors and a simple, classic style with a little twist, so I decided to create this DIY bag. The geometrical heart made the bag a little more modern.
The process of making it is really easy. Let's do it!
Supplies:
- 100% cotton canvas bag
- white, A4 paper
- textile paint (I used grey and white and the mix of the two colors)
- brush (I prefer a sponge brush in this process)
- a pencil
- a pair of scissors
- decor foam
- used paper or old newspaper
Fist step: designing the heart sample. Cut a lot of equilateral triangles from the white paper: make one sample and use it to draw around and cut the others. Altogether you need 20 pieces of small triangles. Now you can start to build the heart shape.
It's easier if you start from the widest part, which is in the middle of the heart (picture 1). According to the pics, create the heart. If you're ready, use your pencil and draw around the heart, mark the edges, so afterwards it will be easier to paint.
Now, clear away the triangles, and cut a couple from the decor foam. You are going to use them as stamps. You don't need 20, just 2 or 3, because you can repaint them for stamping.
So cut them out and start the painting process the same way as you built up the heart shape. Put some paper between the two fabric layers to avoid coloring the other side of the bag. Start stamping from the wider part of the heart, and keep going according to the pictures. In this photo shoot I show you the precise way of using the triangles in the same orientation, but you can be quite creative with them - rotate the pieces as you like. Some photos further down, you can see, I played with rotation too. It can show a lot more difference.
Stamping, stamping until the heart is ready. :)
It's ready now! How do you like it?
One more important step: if it's dry (after just a couple of minutes) turn over the material and fix the painted heart by ironing. Pay attention, because it can burn really quickly, so just use 3-4 moves with the iron and at a not too hot temperature. Between the layers, it is recommended to use another piece of material, or paper, so the paint won't color the other side too.
Now it's really ready.:)
This one is the non-symmetric heart; I guess it's more playful then the other one. You can make it as a gift, or you can simply use it for your everyday shopping. If you fixed the paint, then it's washable too.
Happy Valentine's Day! :)
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