Blissmade: DIY Leopard Print Cloth!

Do you want to make this incredible cloth with an amazing print, it almost looks like its printed out? Guess what, I handmade it! Now you can do yours too, its easy, cheap and washable if you use the correct paint for cloth.

This tutorial is just an idea for a complicated print..You can even print hearts or tiger prints or kisses or anything you wish and just make it look like cloth you bought off the store!

I've actually only taken a simple piece of cloth, nothing big..As i said, Bliss Made gives ideas so you can be creative yourself..Comment what you came up with too at the end of the post! :)

My one could be used as a simple table mat because i really like how it came out, so pretty it almost looks real printed cloth! :) Let's start shall we? :)

I'll start off with what you need :

1) Cloth..I'd prefer it would be the perfect material..usually if you're planning to do an animal print, go for a off white cloth with a little fur on it.

2) Paint brush (Any Size), Fabric Paint (If you use any other..it won't be washable; meaning whatever you paint might just go away and leave the cloth with stains all smudged -_- )
For y Leopard Print, get black & brown paint..

3) Lace to curve the ends and make it look beautiful. Anything would be fine.. :)
4) Sewing Machine OR Needle & Thread.
5) Little bit of water.

That's it! Lets Start!
How to do :

1) We'll i found a leftover cloth and i cut it into a usable piece for a table mat. shown in the left side in small image.

Well now before cutting what i want..i took a felt pen and market the part i want with the help of a ruler! This is not optional, if you know exactly how much you want.

Now i cut it and ended up with what
i'm going to paint :) let's go ahead to the next step then!

2) NOTE : DO THE LACE STEP/ SEWING BEFORE PAINTING (otherwise the paint would smudge or you will have to wait till it dries off and it could take HOURS :/ )

::::So first of all, i'm going to sew the lace. Or if in your case you aren't using a lace..well ribbons could be useful or you can just use nothing and just neaten the ends.

Neatening the end are important if you aren't sewing anything to the end/corners otherwise the thread of the cloth will just pop out and look ugly and also it could make matters worse and end up tearing apart.

-So i used my Sewing Machine to sew the lace, you can use the needle & thread won't really matter either way. I just did a normal stitch to sew the lace. Make sure it's tight & not loose ALSO it should look very neat so it won't look bad and choose the appropriate color thread which is very important! (All basics of sewing)

-Neatening can be done using a bracket stitch to the ends and don't make those so tight, keep a little air to it so the cloth's ends won't get crumbled.

I stitched my lace to the back side of the cloth like this,
--This one was when i sew from the back side of the cloth...and the next image shows how it looks to the front.

This is how it came out as,

3) Now to Paint!

First we shall start with the basic. This is actually like shading something. You start with the base, then you go ahead for the top layers.

-BASE LAYER out of 3 Layers!
Start with taking black paint. If you don't know how to draw this print or what it looks like, here's what t should look like...just a rough sketch. Just Google otherwise for more!

So starting off the base i'll show how i did with images and a description on top. :)

:::: Paint with the black paint like this,
The print doesn't have to be an exact same! Not all cats have the same spots right?
Use a teeny tiny little bit of water along with the fabric paint to spread and properly color (Depending on the cloth, my one was a little rough and bit furry..so it needed water because my paint was pretty thick)

If you want o duplicate the spot and it just won't come right with your hand..then go ahead and turn the in half the second right after painting that spot.

Press to get a better spot!

Now paint all over the cloth. Mine ended up like this with different shapes of Leopard print and i just painted. Its really not a hard job to put some curves here and there :)

The smudged part is because i used little bit of water with the paint and darkened the spots. You better do so too to get a nicer effect :)

Base done!

4) SECOND LAYER out of 3 Layers!
This one is to apply a little shade here and there of brown color.

So take the brown color and start painting.
Remember, you don't need to be an artist for this!

TIP : To get the Leopard effect, Paint the brown at the corners of the spots. And fade it a little along to the middle. don't apply too much. First do lightly on the spots..and after you are done with all the spots..then darken them on top with a little more brown. You can use a little water.

Mine ended like this,

5) LAST LAYER out of of 3 Layers!

Now this one is all about smudging. I want you to dip your paintbrush in the water a little and mix the paint off to the water, don't do too much so the whole paint goes off the paint brush!! The reason w're doing this is to lighten the color to smudge the cloth to get the dirrty effect.

p.s- Thats my dirty water, haha :D Wasn't bothered to clean it! xD

Now you need the excess water to go away, so i suggest you take an old cloth and dry it abit, don't do too much just apply the brush on the cloth like your brushing dust off the couch.

And now of course the smudge the spots! All you have to do is.. hit the blank places of the cloth (which in mine is obviously plain white) And hit the cloth really hard because sometimes once you keep hitting and then there's no paint left in the brush at all that it probably won't leave any stains!

So for that, just dip it in the water again and do the above two images again and continue this step.