This craft was completely inspired by scraps from a previous project. If you’ve seen my recent post about the butterfly painting, you know what I’m about to talk about (and if you didn’t, you should check it out!). In that project, I pressed paper down on paint and peeled it up to create a pattern on the canvas. When I was done, I had 4 really cool looking pieces of paper that I didn’t know how to use but didn’t want to throw away… so naturally I called my dad and asked his advice. He told me to make more of them and create something called a paper quilt.
Here’s what I used:
Thick paper
Acrylic paint
Scissors
Ruler
Mod podge
Paint brush
Sewing machine
Thread
To start, I chose my sizes. I knew I wanted to make 2 small quilts and went from there. If you are trying to make a specific size, divide it out evenly and then add .25” to each side for the seam allowance. For example, if I wanted my square to be a foot by a foot I would choose 2” squares. 12” divided by 2” is 6 squares needed. Now I need to add in my seam allowance so that I don’t lose size when I sew them together, so I have 2”+.25”+.25” which comes out to 2.5” squares! However, I didn’t care about exact measurements this time so I cut a bunch of 2” squares (72 to be exact) out of my paper and decided on two 6×6 quilts.
The next step was picked out my colors. I chose a lot because I couldn’t narrow them down, but next time I’m going to try 3 or 4 colors and see how that turns out. This is the fun and slightly messy part. Put drops or streaks of paint all over one of your squares. Take a second square and press them together then peel them gently apart. Your paint should cover both generously and have a cute design. If it was hard to peel them apart, use a little more next time. If it’s dripping a little it’s okay, but if it is dripping a bunch use a little less next time. Play around with the colors and designs and have fun with it!
I let my pieces set overnight on my table to dry, but painted paper tends to curl up a little so I needed to flatten them out. I piled them up and set heavy books on them for a few hours while I set up my sewing machine and played with my dogs. Any sewing machine will work with normal thread and needles. Mine was already set up with gray thread so that’s what I went with.
When my pieces were flattened, I laid out my squares and went to sewing! I put the painted sides together and used a quarter inch seam with a simple straight stitch. First, I made each row and then folded all the seams to face the same direction. Then I placed each row paint side to paint side, tried to match up as many corners as I could, and sewed another quarter inch seam with a straight stitch. I folded all the seams down and put a large book on top to flatten it out. You can see on the back what my seams look like when you’re done.
When my quilt was flat, I covered each side with mod podge to keep the paint from flaking and help hold the seams just in case. You’ll notice that mine has raw edges. Normally, I would trim the edges to make it look more professional but I am giving these to my dad who is a woodworker. I am hoping when I give them to him, we can make frames together! As always, if you take any fun pictures of any crafts, tag me on Instagram @SmileMakePeopleWonder and use the hashtag #DandelionSmiles. Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss out on the next exciting idea.
Dandelion Smiles 