Fabric Painting

Our couch BEFORE... you can actually see some spots... others are hidden under the cushions.

I have not written in such a long time and I have not even checked my blogger friends' posts either. Why? Well, I have been busy running so many errands, spending quality time with my kids and finishing projects that I haven't had time to do such as fabric painting my couch. 

In January, the cream colored couch we bought on sale arrived. I know that it was not the ideal color to have with children around but it was so cheap and mega comfortable especially for my tall hubby whose back gets easily trashed if he sat on the wrong type of couch. To add insult to injury, it had no removable parts to wash and therefore, the only way to wash it was to bring the soap and water to it and rub the fabric with a towel, which in turn created a discolored spot.

I noticed myself going bonkers trying to get the kids to wash their feet regularly every time they stepped out of the front door even if it were for a minute. This was no way to start or end the day and I knew that despite my efforts, that cream will turn to grey in no time. 

Surely enough it did, and in a matter of a week and a half, there were spots everywhere; dirty and colored. The last straw was when my daughter forgot one of her pink felt pens on the couch without its lid on. It left a huge bright pink spot in the center and any cleaning would have smeared it all around.

My husband and I threw some ideas back and forth and he advised me to plan it all. I started with the gecko and thought of incorporating the geometric cushions you see above in the picture. I thought that I wanted to bring in animals from the different countries we lived in; Malawi, Thailand, Jordan and Canada. I have painted the gecko from Malawi and the elephant from Thailand in different ways. I did not use the flour and water technique with the gecko as I had a feeling that it would not work and so only used a permanent black marker for outlining the lizard. 

However, when it came to painting the elephant my husband asked me to use the flour and water technique because he liked the white lines that are left behind after the dried flour is scraped. Little did we know that it would be a total disaster. I had to go over it all painting the white lines and outlining the elephant with the black pen.

The couch is still incomplete as I am waiting for more paint from Magic Moments to arrive to start working on the Moose for Canada and the Camel for Jordan. 

Notice my daughter's pink spot on the gecko's foot... that disappeared after I intentionally used black paint to cover it up.

The flour and water technique. My son helped paint the insides of a few rectangles.

 

Our couch AFTER.