How to Paint Grain Sack Stripes on a Drop Cloth Covered Chair
I hope you guys all had a very happy weekend. I was able to spend some time celebrating my nephew’s birthday on Saturday and we had so much fun. On the way home I was dreaming of ways to turn our three acres into a working goat farm. I’m pretty sure it was due to these cuties. 5 weeks old. They were calling my name.
While I was at my sister’s house I wanted to see how the grain sack inspired chair I made almost two years ago was holding up. I was just starting out with my booth in St. Augustine at Out There Antiques and there was not only no room in the budget to buy authentic vintage grain sacks, I couldn’t find any to buy except for online either.
I really loved the look of the grain sacks though so I decided to paint my own. I found the perfect chair and set about creating the look I wanted using simple canvas drop cloth and craft paint. But before I started painting I had to recover the seat cushion.
I took off the old black cover and removed all of the staples from the old seat with a pair of pliers. I was shocked at how many staples I had to take out. Once the old seat was prepped and ready for the new cover I was able to start painting grain sack stripes.
I washed and dried a piece of drop cloth canvas making sure I had enough fabric to cover the chair cushion. For this chair in particular, it took approximately one yard of fabric.
Next I took the seat cushion form and placed it under the piece of washed canvas. I used masking tape (I ran out of painters tape) to help me keep the lines straight while painting and the form to help me decide where I wanted to put the stripes.
To achieve the grain sack blue color I wanted, I mixed primary blue craft paint with black craft paint (using mostly blue with a drop or two of black).
After measuring the desired stripe width, I placed the masking tape on the canvas and painted each stripe using the craft paint mixture noted above.
Allow one stripe to dry completely before moving on to the next stripe. If you get dried bits of caked on paint in your stripes, you can use a piece of sandpaper to sand the caked bits off for a vintage/worn look.
Once the paint has dried, center the stripes on the seat cushion and staple the fabric in place using a staple gun making sure to tuck in the seat corner fabric.
Place the recovered seat cushion back on the chair and secure into place using screws.
This chair is used as an accent chair in my sister’s home and is used on a weekly basis. I’m happy to report even after two years, the painted fabric is holding up well.
It definitely gives me the confidence to create more grain sack inspired stripes. I need to start with this neglected ottoman!
Many blessings,
CoCo
Hi CoCo – What a great idea! Grain sacks are scarce in our area and when we do find them, frankly we can’t afford them. Love your idea of creating the look for a lot less. Wonderful tutorial…and it’s good to know that 2 years later it still looks fab! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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I appreciate it ladies! I was excited that they were still holding up too. I hear you on the price, this is the look for less and it’s easy to achieve until we find some that are reasonably priced 🙂 Hugs and love, Coco
Can’t wait to see the refinished ottoman. It’s going to be awesome! (I can se it in my head already!) I have a chair I’ve been debating about doing and now I know I need to do it like this! Thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
It’s such an inexpensive and easy way to “get the look” Liz. I rarely see authentic vintage grain sacks any where on the treasure trail. My ottoman has at least 200 tacks in it so it’s going to take a while 🙂
This is a great idea and looks authentic to me! Going find a project yo try it on. Have a blessed day!
That’s sweet of you to say, Angie, thank you! I can’t wait to see what you come up with! Hugs, Coco
Wow… amazing chair seat! So clever of you to paint the stripes on. You can control how light or heavy to make the lines. Love that!
That baby goat is adorable! I would want to take them home too. 🙂
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It was so hard to leave the goat at the party Robin! I wanted to take her home with me for sure. Painting these grain sack inspired stripes was really easy. Thanks so much for all of your kind words. Hugs, Coco
Coco. I love your grain sack inspired Chair makeover. It looks fabulous. I have been on the hunt for and have plans to do some painting too. I was so happy to find that tablecloth I want to make grain sack inspired pillows and I found some other fabric to cover an ottoman too. Anyway yours looks fab xo Lisa
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Thanks you bunches. I love the tablecloth you brought home yesterday Lisa, it’s awesome! It looks like you’ve been collecting goodies for a bit and I can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to 🙂
Oooh! Love grain sack stripes… what an easy inexpensive way to recreate them! Love!!!
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Thank you so much, Vicki, I really appreciate it! Coco