chevron curtain DIY

this project, which i've been plotting and planning for a while, almost was a big, fat, fail. i'd wanted some giant-chevron curtains in our living room for a while. i'd done the shower curtain curtains a few months ago, but for some reason they weren't perfect in this space, to me. i think it was the navy blue and the flowers...something about them was too feminine. i still have them, and i'm sure i'll use them again, eventually, but all i could think about recently was the chevron idea. there is no fabric like this to be found online, so i figured i'd have to do it myself.

i wanted to use fabric dye to make the black zig-zags (so that my curtains wouldn't be "crunchy"), and after a little research and debating in my head, decided to try spray-on fabric dye. this is the brand i used. i got it at hobby lobby. unfortunately, it was a bad decision, as the spray was super-drippy, and kept getting clogged, therefore dripping on my curtains! i also had a ton of overspray, which was really obvious once i pulled the tape from my curtains. so sad. this is what my first attempt looked like:

see the overspray and the drips? also, the color really wasn't black, but more of an opaque gray. overall, i was really unhappy with the result of that spray! (the bottles seemed like they were only half-full, too, which is not cool, since the bottles are $10 each!) anyone ever had good experiences with fabric spray dye?

anyway, i did some more calculating in my head, and decided to try again today with a new technique. i used just regular ol' wall paint, instead of the dye, and it worked fine. i had crisp lines, once i removed the tape, and the curtains aren't as "crunchy" as i thought they would be (from the paint).

here's how i did it:

i used this little chart from my first experience as a guideline for the numbers involved. it made it much easier to just go back to a chart everytime i needed a calculation, rather than having to memorize or re-measure.

i measured down 6 inches (just because that's where i decided i wanted my first zig-zag to start) and made a tiny dot:

then, i did the same thing with the "point" of the pattern - this time, it was 20.5 inches down from the top. then back to 6 inches on the next zig-zag, then over 20.5, and so on.

i bought thick, 2-inch tape so that incase i oversprayed or over-rolled, i'd have a little wiggle room. i taped off the lines. i always use a 5-in-1 to help with breaking the tape off, once i'm ready to tear it. it's much easier to hold it down to whatever line you want, then pull the tape off from there. you can get really sharp lines without having to use a razor.

kept doing it, according to my plan. this was the first, "mess up" curtain...but you can still get an idea of the taping process. i used the folds of the curtain for my lines to follow! on the second curtain, i taped off lines for the centers (i just found the center of the curtain to begin with, then divided the two halves into halves. confusing? sorry.). either way worked nicely.

here's the second curtain with all of the tape. you can see what i mean by having to find lines down the center (except the very center line, which i just found a crease in the fabric to follow). i used my 5-in-1 to pull the tape off of those center areas.

after that, i simply rolled my black paint on with a small foam roller. easy peasy! i wish i hadn't have even bought that fabric dye!

and, the final result again:

this photo is from last night, so it's dark outside! its super rainy here in atlanta today, so no bright, pretty, sun-lit photos for you guys, sorry. happy monday.