How to Make a "Stitched" Image on your Wall!

1. Find an image you love. I searched a bunch and ended up sketching my own because they all had aspects I loved, but none were perfect. When you find the image, sketch or trace it onto grid paper. I just printed mine from printablepaper.net.

I decided on the purple boat.

2. Measure out your wall, and mark the major points of your image using an imaginary grid on your wall. My wall is 8 feet tall, and my boat was about 4.5 feet (using each square as 1ft). I started at the bottom and marked the bottom corners of the boat 2 feet from the floor and 2.5 feet apart from each other. Then my hubby free-handed the bottom curve line. From there we made the top corner points, about 1 foot up from the bottom corners and about 4 inches out. We free handed the lines in between. Then we made the bottom point of the mast. It was centered between the two points we just made (the top corners of the boat) and about 3 inches up. Then we made a straight line 3.5 feet up. Just keep going like that, marking your major points, using your imaginary grid lines, and free handing the rest with a pencil! It doesn't have to be perfect!

3. After your sketch is complete, use a sponge brush to dab the stitch lines into place. You want to just dab the very end of your brush into the paint.

Then dab the brush onto your pencil lines. I think this was a 2-inch brush. I used the brush width to space the stitch lines evenly apart. So after each stitch, I held the brush in the empty space to identify how far apart my stitches needed to be.

You may consider using more than one color paint. We used grey for the mast and boat bottom, and white for the flags. You can barely see the difference, but it helps to define the parts, I think!

4. When you're finished and the drawing is dry, use a wet paper towel, or a baby wipe, to wipe away any pencil marks! And you're done! :)