Chevron Canvas

Our new quote canvas (check it out) was looking mighty lonely (and short) on the wall, so I decided to do a second canvas to compliment it and stack them to add some height.

Chevron patterns are all the rage right now and I've been dying to get some in our place. I wanted some chevron pillow covers for the couch, but after looking on Etsy, I realized I would either have to break the bank or break out my sewing machine. I'm not ready to do either, but doing a chevron canvas is super easy and cheap. Here's how it's done if you'd like to make one for yourself:

1. Gather your supplies. You'll need a plain canvas (I used an 18" x 24" canvas), paint (mine is Apple Barrel acrylic paint in Laguna), a pencil with an eraser (white erasers are better), a ruler and a sponge brush.

2. Make some marks. Before you ever start painting, you'll need to measure and lay out your zigs and zags. I made a couple of diagrams to show you where to mark on an 18" x 24" canvas to get the same angles that I did. The teal marks show where you will need to mark lightly with a pencil.

For the measurements around the outside, try to mark on the side of the canvas since you will finish by painting over the sides.

First, mark the top and bottom of your canvas every 4 1/2 inches.

Next, mark down both sides of your canvas every 3 inches.

Next, lay your ruler from top to bottom (on the parallel marks) and mark your canvas VERY LIGHTLY at every 3 inch interval. You can do the same thing from side to side with the 4 1/2 inch intervals if your ruler isn't long enough. The point is, you'll have a little dot at every point where your invisible parallel lines intersect. Woah, geometry talk...

Now that you've got all of your markers, connect the dots with your ruler and pencil like this.

3. Get your paint on! Using your dry sponge brush, start by edging along your traced lines. Once the edges are done, you can fill in the middle quickly. I did about 3 coats to get the tone I wanted. Make sure you wait for the paint to dry completely between coats. When you're finished, you can get a nice depth effect and cover your markings by painting the sides of the canvas. If you can still see any of your markings, lightly erase them with a white eraser.

4. Hang and enjoy! Use the trick I showed you here to get your canvas on the wall. Do you love it?