Painted Chevron Table Runner

Who doesn't love a good chevron print?  It seems like this pattern is everywhere these days.  And I'm not complaining because I love bold graphic prints.  But I do wonder how long the trend will last and I'm hesitant to sink too much money into a big chevron rug or too much time into stenciling a whole wall in the pattern.  Which is why I'm a sucker for cheap, quick DIY projects like this one.  

Here's the link to the original project description for a painted chevron pillow.  Wanting something fresh for Christmas for our dining room table, I decided to turn it into a table runner project instead. Although, the colors I chose for the Christmas runner turned out...ummm...less than lovely.  I was going for a classy red and a light shimmery champagne combo, but it turned out red and bright yellow.  It felt a little too "school-house".  So I used the left over fabric and some other paints laying around and made another one for non-Christmas decore.  As you'll see below, the "in progress" pictures are from the Christmas trial (and error), and the finished project pictures are from the second take, which turned out much better.  Here's the quick rundown: 

Supplies: 

-2-3 yards of white cotton fabric (depending on the length of runner you want)

-fabric scissors

-No Sew fusible web tape (or a sewing machine, if you'd prefer to sew up the edges)

-painter's tape

-acrylic or fabric paint (one or two colors)

-ruler

Fusible web tape is such a great option for when you need a quick finished edge and don't feel like threading your sewing machine (which is seriously one of the hardest steps in sewing for me; it feels  like a crazy maze that someone's using to trick me).   The directions are on the package, but basically you just iron the seam you want "sewn" (in my case, 1/2 inch around all edges), put a stretch of tape under the seam, iron over it again (with a damp cloth over the fabric) and it's done.  Here's what my seams looked like after using the fusible web tape. 

Then you tape our your pattern, which in my case was a chevron with vertical lines trisecting the pattern. For a 6-foot-long runner, this takes a while.  But a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon with Arrested Development reruns on in the background, and you're good to go.  A good taping job makes all the difference in creating sharp, crisp paint lines. Then, of course, you paint the resulting white parallelograms (aw-yeah, 6th grade geometry), in alternating colors.   Let the paint dry for a couple hours, then carefully peel away the tape.  Voila!

A note about the paint:  there is such a thing as fabric paint, but for some reason the only fabric paints I could find at the craft store were super ugly colors--primary colors, neons and nothing else--as if it were still the 1980's.   And as I learned in my first attempt, the right color is essential to the final product.  So I recommend using regular craft paint MIXED with a textile medium, which makes the paint fabric-friendly (and machine-washable).