It's easy to get exactly the look you want in your bedroom by making your own simple stencils and painting plain fabric. Use this technique for personalized curtains, bed skirts, and throw pillows.

 

• Solid-color curtains, bed skirt, and pillow shams
• Fabric paint (We used two medium tones of bluish purple that are beside each other on a paint strip, plus periwinkle and yellow-green.)
• Tracing paper
• Transfer paper and stylus
• White paper
• Crafts knife
• Kitchen sponge
• Pencil with soft lead (optional)
• Fine-point marking pen
• Scissors
• Clear acetate
• Waxed paper
• Paper plate or paint tray
• Paper towels
• 3-inch paint roller

 

1. Select the desired pattern or patterns from the pattern packet. (We incorporated all three designs -- two flowers and one leaf -- onto our curtains and bed linens.) Trace the shapes onto tracing paper. Transfer the design to white paper using transfer paper and a stylus. With a crafts knife, cut out the design, leaving 1/4-inch all around. Do not cut out the details of the image. Repeat for other patterns.

Download and Print the Patterns

2. Place a paper pattern atop a flat kitchen sponge. Use a pencil or fine-point marking pen to trace around the design onto the sponge. Cut out the sponge with scissors. Set aside.

3. To make a stencil, use a fine-point marking pen to trace the image from the paper to a sheet of clear acetate. Cut out the details of the design with a crafts knife, keeping in mind that the cutout portions will transfer the paint. Set aside.

 

4. Iron the bed skirt, pillow sham, or curtain to remove wrinkles. To stamp the fabric item, protect a flat work surface with waxed paper. Place the fabric item on top of the waxed paper, making sure the fabric is flat. Pour fabric paint onto a paper plate or paint tray. Dip the shaped sponge into the paint, saturating the entire surface. Blot on a paper towel to remove excess paint. Place the sponge on the fabric in desired locations, pressing firmly across the sponge's entire surface to imprint the image. Continue stamping with desired shapes until the desired look is achieved. Let dry.

 

5. To stencil the details on the fabric items, place the acetate stencil on top of the solid-color stamped images. Pour a different color of paint onto another paper plate or paint tray. Roll a 3-inch roller in the paint and blot to remove excess paint. Roll paint over the stencil to impart the image details to the fabric item. Carefully remove stencil. Let dry.