DIY // Painted Striped Curtains

There was that time I tried to paint stripes on polyester fabric and just when I thought it was going to be a total disaster, to my surprise, it turned out pretty well.  (Thanks to my Instagram friends for encouraging me on!)  Here are my newly painted striped curtains hanging in my office.  

You might remember that before I painted the drapes, they were originally just black.

I researched how to paint fabric and read that you add Textile Medium
to Acrylic craft paint, but one site said you could use acrylic latex, which is what I already had, so I used that. The directions say use 2:1 Paint to Textile Medium.  I just eyeballed it. 

The textile medium makes your fabric flexible without cracking after it's painted.  You are supposed to wash and dry your fabric before painting, then heat set with an iron.

After the first coat (which I applied with a small foam roller), it barely looked like I had painted at all- almost like grey tie dye. 

By the third coat, I thought it was a lost cause and gave up.  Also, I felt like my tape wasn't sticking very well so I was pretty convinced that the lines were going to be a mess.  

You can see that I folded over the curtain on the right side and just started painting with my son.  After we were finished, I actually looked online to see if I could just buy some striped curtains but I couldn't find any - except expensive ones on Etsy.  I knew if I wanted these bold black and white striped drapes, I would have to make them one way or another, so I gave it another shot.  One more coat of paint.  .  .  

Finally, after two days and four coats of paint, the stripes were  solid and bright white. And, I had very little bleed through the tape, just a couple of spots where I accidentally dripped from the foam roller. I tried to wash the paint out, but it didn't come out completely. I used a black sharpie to cover any white paint mistakes. 

I'm very pleased with the final result.  Makes my office a happier place! 

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