What's a good way to keep a straight line when painting craft projects?

Question

I want to have perfectly straight lines when I'm painting gingham or plaids on my craft projects, ive tried tape and it seems to bleed through and leaves a mess, any ideas would be appreciated!

Answer 1

Practice until you can do it by hand then set a ruler next to what you're doing for reference. If you were painting you could simply seal the tape with a coat of the ground color but learning to do it by hand is a better long term solution regardless.
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I watched a friend of mine paint an absolutely straight 60 inch line across a canvas one night without even giving it a second thought {no ruler}... It blew me away but... he sort of inspired me to work at it and I discovered that it really isn't that hard. You might want to rest a finger or two on the ruler as a guide.

Answer 2

The old masters had the same problem but they were taught a very handy trick.

They used a stick with a knob at the end (usually covered in some cloth to prevent slipping and easy cleaning).

You could rest your hand on it without smudging your painting but also use it as a free floating ruler.

Also you need a special brush to do lines (so you don't have to dip it every few inches. It is a very long soft bristle that you can drag for optimum clear lines.

Answer 3

I usually use masking tape. Just make sure that your paint it not too runny and use only a small amount of paint. The bleeding may also occur depending on your choice of fabric. 100% cotton fabrics will work better than fabric blends. Check on the fabric label when you purchase your fabric. Hope this helps. Good luck with it.

Answer 4

The two previous are correct. The paintbrush is called a rigger (used for painting the rigging on ship pictures) and the stick is called a mahlstick.