Welcome to Day 10 of the Minnesota Designer’s Blog Hop. I’m so glad you stopped by to join the fun.
I’m Shelly Stokes, and I’m the owner of Cedar Canyon Textiles. Most people know me as the “paintstik lady.” I discovered this wonderful paint product about 10 years ago in a book from the UK. You can read more about my adventure with paintstiks by clicking over to the “About” page on our website.
I’m back from the big Bernina University event in San Francisco and ready to serve up some serious paintstik fun! (At least now that I’ve recovered from that red-eye flight… it seemed like a great idea when I booked the flight, but I’m not at all sure I’ll do that again!)
Leave a comment today to tell me how you will use your placemats or who will receive them as a gift. From all the comments today, we’ll choose a lucky winner for a Paintstik Starter Pack. You’ll get a set of iridescent painstiks, a copy of Painstiks on Fabric, and one set of our rubbing plates. Now, let’s get started!
Easy Paintstiks Placemats
You can download the free pattern from the Learning Center. While you are there, download the Top Tips for Great Rubbings that were discussed in an earlier post on the blog as you will need the instructions from Top Tips for painting your placemat fabrics.
As with all paintstik projects, you need to have a “paint day” and a “sewing day” to make Easy Paintstik Placemats. If you plan them a week apart, the paint will have plenty of time to dry. Plan for at least 3 days to avoid issues with wet paint — trust me — you really do have to let the paint dry for a couple of days or you’ll be making a mess!
I chose Gradations fabric from Benartex for this project because the graduated color changes adds a wonderful effect to the finished project. I especially like the Rainbow versions of this fabric because the color changes happen faster than they do with the other variations. If you don’t have Gradations fabric handy, just choose a nice fabric from your stash that is not an obvious print — because you’ll be making your own!
Here is a quick overview of the sequence for making the placemats. The complete instructions are in the pattern on the Learning Center.
Work Day 1: Paint your fabric
First, paint about half of each placemat “top” using your favorite set of Cedar Canyon rubbing plates. I made up fabric for 6 placemats, one from each of the Curves plates. To make “piled up” rubbings like this, I put my fabric over the rubbing plate and paint a part of the image. Then I move the fabric a bit and paint the next partial image, overlapping it a bit with the first image. You can read more about this technique in the Top Tips document you downloaded from the Learning Center.
After you finish painting, set the fabric aside for at least 3 days to allow the paint to dry. Allow 5 – 7 days if you live in a really humid area. After the paint is dry, you can heat set the paint by tossing the fabric in the clothes dryer on the hottest setting for 30-40 minutes. (Don’t even think if putting the fabric in your dryer until it dries for at least 3 days — and if you do, don’t call me!)
Work Day 2: Stitch Placemats
The assembly for the placemats is really fast and easy. First, cut the painted fabric in 3″ strips.
Then, reverse the strips so the painted end of the strips alternates between one end and the other. Number the strips 1 through 5.
The placemats are assembled with a sew-and-flip method. Layer your backing and batting, and mark a line 8″ from one long edge of the batting. Put strip 3 face up next to this line, add strip 4 face down on top of strip 3, then stitch with a quarter inch seam. Flip strip 4 open and press. Add the remaining strips using the same sew-and-flip method.
After you add all the strips, trim the placemats to get a nice finished edge, add binding, and you have an Easy Paintstik Placemat!
Bonus – Make a matching Table Runner
You can make a table runner to coordinate with your placemats by simply starting with a wider piece of fabric. Rather than starting with a 16 x 19 piece of fabric, start with 16 x 36 — or the width of the fabric if you have a big table. Again, paint half of your fabric with rubbings, leaving the other half plain. Use the same assembly steps that you used for the placemats and you’ll have a matching ensemble for your table.
Tags: embellishment, free project, Paintstik Rubbings, Shiva Paintstiks
What a fun looking technique! I tend more toward folk art/country-type stuff, so I’d have to experiment to see what I could come up with, but the placemats you demonstrated would make a great gift for my son and his girlfriend (hopefully soon to be fiancee!) as they’ve just moved into a new place and their tastes are much more contemporary than mine.
Our local shop owner, Lindy Munday, just got back from Bernina U too–I haven’t had a chance to chat with her about the experience, but I know it was awfully HOT in SF over the weekend! I hope you were able to stay cool!
Well, this certainly looks like fun! Something even the kids can do. Thanks.!
Something new to try-thanks!
I have used the paintstiks with various results. My favorite is a bear, I made a freezer paper stencil, used the negative of the stencil, ironed it on black fabric, painted from the outer edge in. It made a beautiful frame around the bear around the edge of the bear.
JK
ditto on the something new to try…thanks for sharing
This looks very interesting and not TOO hard. I’ve always steered away from the Paintstiks because I have Zero artistic talent. Now it looks Like I can at least give it a try. Thank you!
Cute idea, I’ve never tried paintsticks!
Loved the effect of combining a multi-coloured and toned fabric with paint sticks over rubbings to create a original piece of fabric. Have put this on the must try list, after I get back from South Australia’s quilt encounter 2009. Regards karen
Thanks for the placemat ideas. I’ve played with my set of paintsticks, but havent had a lot of luck. I intend to thoroughly read your tutorials and see if I can’t do a better job of it.
Great placemats. I have wanted to try paintsticks, now I have an idea on what to do with them.
Thanks,
Leona
I have never seen this before … I look forward to reading about it more in depth and maybe giving it a try. thanks for the blog hop and thereby exposing me to new things. karen ca
Another great project to try. Thanks.
Becky
I would use my placemat as a centrepiece on my large table. I love the pattern! I only recently came across paintsticks, and since then have been keen to get some and do lots of experimenting… I would love to win them!
Thanks for sharing this instruction with us.
Christiane
I think I would like to try this with my granddaughters. I’m always looking for something fun to try. Thanks for the give-away.
What a great technique. I would like to have a go at painting my own fabric. I have painted a bear on fabric before using acrylic paints and fabric medium then embroidered around it.
I have seen Paintsticks but have never thought about using them. Great instructions!!
friends I see once a year at quilt retreat have used the paint sticks but I had no idea how they worked or how to use them, so thank you for the very informative tutorial!
Lissa
Australia
I think the paintsticks are so fun! Thanks for the tutorial.
Another great idea for gifts!
Thank you!
Thanks for the great idea!
Looks like fun!
I have never tried paintstiks before–now I have it on my list!
Always fun to try something new and to end up with an original, Thankyou!
Wow…I have never tried painting. It looks very interesting.
Ah, just a senior moment this morning–not suire if I commented yesterday when I looked at the website so this may be a duplicate
Thanks for sharing this new (to me) and interesting information! I appreciate your generosity.
Carolyn
The fabrics you created with paint are amazing. I have always wanted to try this and now thanks to you understand the process. Thank you.
Great new idea. Thanks
Hey! Finally got the page to come up! great tutorial, thank you, definitely something to try !!
I’ve never done and fabric painting. This looks interesting.
Interesting process. I’ll save this tutorial for when I’m feeling creative.
Just discovered your website. Now you have me curious about this process. Look forward to trying it out sometime soon. Thank you for sharing.
This is new to me. The placemats look very effective. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, what a great technique!
Thanks for the tutorial. I have not seen paintstiks and will have to try them out.
Thanks for the fun, quick pattern. Love the things that can be done with your paintsticks.
Thank you for introducing me to your PaintStiks and showing me how they can be used in a quilted project.
I have been wantng to try thee paintsticks. Thanks for the tutorial!
Very nice pattern and a nifty technique. Thanks
Oh my goodiness you have started the creative juices flowing. I want to try using the paintstiks to design something for 3 rising senior’s. I need gifts for them for graduation/colledge. I want to put thier names for some type of quilted item with the paintstiks. Thank you Thank you great tutorial.
What an interesting new concept for me. Thanks for the great tutorial.
Mary in Missouri
Just washed out some dyed fabric that could be an awesome base for some Paintstik work and placemats.
I think these cool placemats would be a fun wedding or anniversary present. I have several of these occasions coming up so I’d better get painting and stitching!
Thanks for the great tutorial. Looks like fun1
How cool. Can’t wait to try the technique. My niece will love these.
This is great – it is almost like creating your very own batik fabric and I love batiks! Wouldn’t it be fun to have a placemat for each grandchild and they could help design the fabric??? They would each have their very own spot at Grandma’s table!
Paintstiks could be loads of fun!! Thanks for the great tutorial.
This is SO neat, I have never seen anything quite like it before. Every year my grandmother and aunt and I get together to teach other new techniques or try something new to all of us, and I will bring up the idea of these paintstiks! Thanks for the tutorial.
Thank you for the painting technique and for being part of the Blog Hop. It is so much fun!
I have never tried these…..but I should! I have been taking old drawings my own children made and recreating them on fabric….I should try adding with this technique!