Painting a Fish Tails Tablecloth

I love the swanky fish that are available in the Fishy Four collection on APrettyTalent.com. Ever since drawing the designs I have known that I would like to enlarge them and paint them on a table cloth that I would like to use at a beach house, or on holiday somewhere on the coast, or possibly simply at the pool for a pool party. Let me show you how I used two of the designs in the collection to paint a vibrant and happy scene for a table setting.

I had only just enough cloth left from my supply of tabling to cut a small tablecloth or overlay from.

I decided to use only these two of the four designs in the collection. (The designs used in this project are available from APrettyTalent.com. Go to Digital Downloads and select Fishy Four. Add it your cart and proceed to checkout. The link to your downloads will appear in your inbox as soon as the transaction has cleared.)

I kept the design at hand and redrew it onto the fabric with a pencil.

I did the same thing with the other design as well. Each design was repeated in the opposite corner.

I used Dala Fabric Paint to paint the table cloth with. I painted every second fin Red. I used a medium sized Angle brush to paint the fins with.

The alternating fins were painted Scarlet.

I then used a small Filbert brush to paint the different parts of the eye Black, Blue and White.

I switched to a large Angle Brush and painted the body of the fish Fuchsia.

The mouth was painted Fuchsia, then Red and then another layer of Fuchsia to get it just the right shade.

The tail was painted in Fuchsia, Red and Scarlet alternately.

I painted the fish in the opposite corner exactly the same way.

With the first pair of fish painted, I move on to the next design. I paint every third fin Black.

I do the same with the Cyan.

Finally I follow up with Yellow.

This time I paint the eye Teal.

I finish the eye by painting the White.

The lips of the fish are painted Cyan and then a generous coating of Red is painted over it. This gives the lips an almost imperceptible warmness.

The body of the fish is painted Cyan.

The tail is treated in the same manner as the fins.

I paint the second fish of the pair exactly the same. I have now finished the fish and need to move on to the background. I line the corners up diagonally and draw a bisecting line from corner to corner. I do the same with the two remaining corners. Where the two lines intersect, I draw perpendicular bisectors on the length and the width of the fabric. I have now divided the table cloth into 8 triangles.

The first section of the background is painted Donnington Blue.

I use the angle brush to pant the 'borders' around the fish and the line. Then I fill in the center parts with a large flat brush.

Once I have finished the first section, I move right across from it, painting the opposite section in the same color.

The second background section is painted Watermelon. Paint the section directly opposite the same color.

The next section of the background is painted Teal and once again the opposite section is painted the same color.

The last two sections of the background is painted Jade.

With all of the painting done, allow the paint to dry before continuing with the sewing.

When hemming a tablecloth it is important to pay close attention to the corners. Let me show you how to fold a neat corner. Start by folding the corner in.

I want to do a rolled hem. Therefore I fold the two sides in as shown.

I roll both sides in once more and pin the corner in place. Fold and pin all four corners.

I now 'roll' the rest of the seam all around all four sides in the same way.

Pin the rolled hem.

I decided that I wanted a ribbon trim on the hem. Fold the end in and pin the ribbon on the edge of the seam. Remove the pins from the back and pin the hem and the ribbon on the front.

Fold the ribbon neatly when you reach the corners.

Sew slowly all around the tablecloth. Make sure that you catch the hem and the ribbon under the needle.

Iron the hem flat and set the paint with the heat from the iron.

Make sure to make the first wash one that includes salt in the water. Salt and heat will set the color and prevent the paint from washing out.

The designs used in this project are available from APrettyTalent.com. Go to Digital Downloads and select Fishy Four. Add it your cart and proceed to checkout. The link to your downloads will appear in your inbox as soon as the transaction has cleared.
For more crafty ideas and great products, visit APrettyTalent.com.
Remember to keep nurturing your TALENT for making PRETTY things.
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