Chair Covers - Make Your Own Tutorial

Wow!  You all really liked the chair covers!  I received more questions about this project than almost any other!  Thanks for all the comments and emails, I read every one!  For those of you that loved this, yYou should also see what Marian with Miss Mustard Seed did with a grain sack, it's a very inspiring post and you will love it more than mine!

Okay, most of the questions you had pertained to the application of the letters on the back of the chair cover.
So, here goes...

I was unable to find any stencils that achieved the look I wanted, so, I designed my own using Microsoft Word.  I typed out the phrase and then searched through the fonts until I found one that I liked.  Next, I enlarged the font until it was a size proportionate for the chair back.  My font size ended up being somewhere around 600, oh my!

When I was pleased with the pattern, I printed it out on card-stock (regular paper is not thick enough for a good stencil).  Next, I carefully cut out the letters and then taped the pages together (my pattern was two pages wide).  Poof, I had created my own custom template.

Then I positioned it onto the burlap and taped it into place.  Once in place, I took a black ink pen and traced the words onto the burlap and then removed the stencil.  Last, I inserted a piece of cardboard inside of the chair cover so my paint wouldn't bleed through to the other side and then painted inside of the traced lines (using an artist's paint brush)  just like a coloring book.  Let it dry and you are finished!

Some of you also questioned about the type of paint.  I used plain 'ol Folk Art acrylic paint that I found at Walmart.  For two reasons:  1) our local Walmart doesn't carry fabric paint, 2) fabric paint didn't matter because you can't wash loose weave burlap with destroying the chair cover anyway.  But, if you are using a washable fabric for your own project, I would recommend using fabric paint so you can launder it, just remember to pre-wash before you begin the project.

So, there you have it...my "make-do with what you have", "create what you can't find", "figure it out as you go"  instructions.

I'm almost embarrassed.............................almost!

P.S. If you create any of your own, link back to this post so I can seek and find!