Edie's Room Makeover #3: Dye-Painted Floor Cloth

Wow, is this ever a fun one!  Today we have a tutorial for a dye-painted, layered and decoupaged floorcloth. After seeing how designer, Ellen Highsmith Silver, wonderfully incorpoartes colors and textures in her quilt designs, I knew I just had to pull her in to my Room Makeover projects. Boy, am I happy I did!  I absolutely love the collaged treatment of mixed fabric circles and the overdyed stripes in this piece she made for me! Using no-sew, fabric decoupage techniques with quilt patterns, she has come up with a totally new technique for floor covering.  Like Ellen says, it really is a "floor quilt" and now I totally inspired to try it myself!

 

 

You can learn more about Ellen's work as a textile designer on her site. Since she was a child growing up in North Carolina, Ellen has had a love of fabrics. It was this love coupled with her love for dogs that lead her to create these stunning floorquilts. They are durable and provide colorful designs for any room. Her book, Floorquilts, published by C & T Publishing, is filled with wonderful designs based on quilt patterns and other whimsical motifs. 

 

And now you can learn to make one too. On to the tutorial!!

 

Finished Size: 26” x 72”

 

SUPPLIES:

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pre-treat all cotton fabrics to be used in floorcloth: Mix ¾ cup Mod Podge with ¼ cup water in a lidded container. Mix more as needed.

 

2. Spread a waterproof drop cloth over work surface and another nearby for drying fabric. Lay all fabrics face up on first drop cloth.

 

3. Using the sponge marked “MP”, completely coat the fabrics with the diluted Mod Podge mix and transfer them face up to the second drop cloth. Smooth the wet pieces as flat and straight as possible, especially stripes and plaids.

 

4. While treated fabrics are drying, cut the Roc-lon cloth to the exact finished size desired (26” x 72”).

 

5. Using a pencil, draw a 2” wide border on either side of the Roc-lon cloth along all four sides. This also defines the central design area.

 

6. When treated fabrics are dry, iron them between two pressing cloths.

 

7. Cut the green polka dot fabric to the exact size of the central design area (22” x 68”). If fabric is not large enough, fabrics can be pieced by overlapping 1”.

 

8. Using the “MP” brush, liberally apply full strength Mod Podge to the central design area of the Roc-lon floor cloth. Then quickly and carefully lay down the green and white polka dot fabric in place. Continually smoothing out wrinkles as you work.

 

Applying Border Strips

1. Cut two brown fabric strips 3” wide by 72” (finished length of floor cloth).

 

2. Cut two other brown strips 3” wide by 28” (finished width of floor cloth plus 2”).

 

3. Using the “MP” brush, liberally apply full strength Mod Podge to the exposed Roc-lon on the two long sides of the floorcloth. Then place the longer brown border strips face up, next to or slightly overlapping, the green polka dot fabric. Approximately 1” of fabric will overhang. Let dry.

 

4. Turn floor cloth over and apply Mod Podge liberally to the underside of the 1” exposed borders. Fold fabric onto the back of the floor cloth. If necessary, use weights to hold fabric securely. Let dry. Trim ends.

 

5. Turn floorcloth over to the front side. Apply Mod Podge liberally to the two remaining white border areas. Then place remaining brown border strips face up, next to or slightly overlapping, the green polka dot fabric so that 1” of fabric overhangs each end as well as 1” along the edges. Let dry.

 

6. Turn floor cloth over and apply Mod Podge liberally to the underside of the 1” end extensions of the exposed border. Fold fabric onto back of floorcloth and let dry. Then apply Mod Podge to the remaining 1” of exposed borders. Fold fabric onto back of the floorcloth, using weights if necessary to hold fabric securely. Let dry.

 

Making & Applying Circles

1. Cut 22 large and small circles, ranging in diameter from 1 ½” to 8”. Then cut 22 smaller circles ½” less in diameter than original circles for layering. If you wish to layer 3 circles together, repeat cutting circles ½” – 1” less in diameter.

 

2. Layout and position the circles onto the floorcloth in the green polka dot area, layering as desired.

 

 

 

3. Apply Mod Podge to the wrong side of each circle one at a time. Then apply to floor cloth and smooth into place. When layering, work from the bottom up. Let dry

overnight.

 

 

4. Using the “MP” brush, apply a coat of full strength Mod Podge over the entire floorcloth. Let dry.

 

Overdyeing Mod Podge Aquamarine Stripes

1. Using a pencil, lightly draw the outline for five 6” wide stripes.

 

2. Mix 1 cup Mod Podge with 1 Tablespoon of Rit Aquamarine liquid dye; stir well.

 

 

3. Using the brush labeled “MP & RIT,” carefully brush the tinted Mod Podge between the drawn lines to create stripes. Let dry. The tinted Mod Podge creates an overdyed effect by mixing with and altering the colors in the original fabrics. For example, the pinks and reds seem to take on a bluish-purple color when tinted with the aquamarine.

 

 

Finishing

1. Using the “MP” brush, apply a final coat of full strength Mod Podge over the entire floorcloth. Let dry overnight.

 

2. With the brush labeled “Poly,” apply a coat of polyurethane, let dry thoroughly, sand lightly and wipe with a tack cloth. Repeat and after the third coat of polyurethane, let dry overnight without sanding. Note: To make surface less slippery, a slip-resistant additive, such as Shark Grip, may be sprinkled sparingly over the second coat of polyurethane while it is still wet.

 

3. Apply a final protective coating of paste finishing wax, according to the package instructions.

 

4. To prevent the floor cloth from slipping, use the bristle brush to apply a thin coat of Saf-T-Bak on the back of the floorcloth after the paste wax has completely dried on top.