Is there anything more fun and festive than Buffalo plaid? During the holiday season, this pattern can be found everywhere — from clothing to accessories to decor, you name it! And there certainly isn't a shortage of love for it in my books. In fact, one of my favourite things to wear on a chilly day is my fleece-lined, Buffalo plaid button-up.
If you're a fan of plaid, this week's DIY is going to be right up your alley. I'm going to show you just how easy it is to create a traditional Buffalo plaid pattern on any surface using nothing more than acrylics and painter's tape. Once you get the hang of it, you'll want to give every piece of Christmas decor in your home a Buffalo plaid makeover!
Materials
Acrylic paint
Painter's tape
Foam paint brush
Blank canvas - wooden ornament, scrap linen, etc.
Decorative accessories - ribbon, faux greenery, alphabet stickers, etc.
Tip: While Buffalo plaid typically pairs red with black, you can use any colour you want in combination with the black acrylic paint for this project. Even though I started off with a traditional colour palette, I ended up experimenting with green and blue, too — both of which worked out perfectly!
The first step for creating a Buffalo plaid pattern is to cover your blank piece with a couple solid coats of red paint. To speed up the paint drying process, I grabbed my hairdryer, set it to medium heat, and used it all over my canvas.
Next, I found the middle of the painted piece and placed a strip of tape on it that ran from top to bottom. I then took two more pieces of tape and stuck them on each side of the first one before removing it.
This process was repeated until the entire canvas was covered in equally-spaced pieces of tape.
On a paper plate, I mixed a small amount of black paint into a portion of the red I'd used. With my foam brush, I painted over the exposed areas between each piece of tape. After removing the strips, I was left with a set of two-toned stripes.
For the next step, I turned my canvas so the stripes were running horizontally, and then repeated the taping process from earlier.
I added even more black paint to the red and, once again, coated the exposed areas with it.
Now, instead of removing the strips after allowing the crimson paint to dry, I left them in place and ran another batch of tape over the original set of bright red stripes (the same placement I used in the second step). I then added the black paint.
Before the black paint dried, I removed all of the tape, revealing an amazing, Buffalo plaid pattern.
After the success of my first try, I repeated the entire process on pieces of scrap linen and swapped the red paint for green, as well as blue. I experimented even further by adding thin, diagonal stripes to some of the boxes with a black, felt tip marker.
When I was happy with all of my patterns, I got to work accessorizing each piece with a variety of things, including faux greenery, alphabet stickers, and ribbon.
To turn the painted linen into ornaments, I secured each piece inside an embroidery hoop and decorated them with a couple of my favourite holiday sayings.
Bonus points for anyone who understands the quote I added to the blue plaid ornament!
I love how each piece turned out, and I can't wait to experiment with other colours and canvases.
What do you think? Has this DIY made you love Buffalo plaid even more? Honestly, the possibilities are endless with this technique, so feel free to let your imagination run wild with it.
If this project inspires you to get crafty, let me know by sharing your creations with me! Leave a comment or use #katiesaracreates on social media. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on future posts!
Happy crafting!
