Stipple Falling Leaves onto an Indoor Door Banner
Instead of cutting a detailed stencil, use simple paper silhouettes to leave unpainted leaf shapes on a small canvas banner. A lightly stippled edge makes each leaf readable without covering the whole cloth in paint. Hang the finished piece on an indoor door or wall where it will stay dry.
Size the banner
Start with a 10-by-14-inch piece of prewashed cotton canvas, a 12-inch smooth wooden dowel, a 20-inch length of cotton cord, paper, scissors, removable tape, a small craft sponge, and two colors of fabric paint, about a teaspoon of each. You will also need matching thread, a sewing needle or machine, and scrap cardboard. Turn the two long edges and the bottom edge under twice by a quarter inch and stitch. Turn the top raw edge under a quarter inch, then fold down another inch and stitch along the lower fold to make a dowel channel.
Make the leaves by masking
- Cut three simple leaf shapes from ordinary paper, between 2 and 4 inches long. Place the canvas over scrap cardboard and secure the paper leaves with small rolls of removable tape underneath.
- Dab the sponge into paint, then blot most of it off on scrap paper. Tap straight down along the paper edges, with part of each dab landing on the canvas. Add a few scattered dabs beyond the outline, leaving open cloth between leaves.
- Lift the paper carefully before the paint dries hard. Let the fabric paint dry and set according to its label. Insert the dowel, then knot the cord around its exposed ends.
Clean up fuzzy edges
If paint creeps beneath a mask, switch to a nearly dry sponge and hold the paper down near the area you are working. A small bleed can become part of a broader stippled edge if you add a few light dabs around it. If the banner tilts, slide the cord knots until equal lengths of dowel show on both sides.
