DIY Painted Baseball Stitching

I am SO excited to share this with you! I actually worked on this little project back in December but am just now getting around to posting it. Forgive me.

I have seen this kind of baseball stitching on a wall all over Pinterest for months. I pinned a BUNCH of pictures but none of them seemed to have any good tips on how to DIY this little project. I will admit I even looked into purchasing vinyl decals but they were SO expensive I just couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger. But I knew I wanted to decorate Buddy’s “big boy” room in baseball/Cardinals decor and this would be the perfect touch. Lucky for me, I had also seen a friend from college post pictures of her child’s nursery on facebook and she had the baseball stitching on the wall! After many facebook conversations back in forth also involving her friend who did the actual painting (thanks ladies!!) my husband and I devised a plan to get the look we were going for. Here’s what you’ll need.

Supplies:

paint–a creamy white for the walls if you want, I then got sample sizes of a light/medium grey (Valspar Steel) and a deep red (Valspar Cut Ruby)

brushes–I used a 1/2″ artist brush I found at Michael’s for a couple bucks with a coupon. I was glad to have a decent quality brush.

broom handle (can still be attached to the broom…I actually used a paint roller extension rod)

pencil

something to make a stencil & a spacer with (see below)

Ok…stay with me. I’m hoping I can explain it well! Feel free to ask questions in the comments.

Step 1: Decide how far into your wall you want your stitching to extend. This is going to vary for each room since walls are different heights, lengths, etc…it helps to have 2 people for this part so you can get a decent idea. Once you figure that out, measure from the corner of the wall to where your stitching will be. Measure that same distance on your broom handle. Tape the pencil to the broom handle (or whatever you’re using) at that point. Put the end of the broom handle that does not have the pencil in the corner of the wall, swing the pencil end (applying light pressure) from the ceiling around to the adjacent wall so you have a pencil line showing where your stitching will be. Stop & repeat for the other corner you want stitching around. (Sorry I don’t have any pictures of this part!)

Step 2: Paint over your pencil lines with grey paint. I did 2 coats. Btw…you could definitely use tan or any other color for that matter.

Step 3: While your arches are drying, prepare your stencil & spacer. (If you don’t need a stencil & spacer you probably don’t need this tutorial…just sayin.) 😉 I used the black chevron divider that came with an old 3-ring binder as my stencil. It had the perfect natural angle. If you don’t have this, you can make your own but I would recommend using something that you can easily wipe paint off of as you are going to get a lot on it & won’t want to make random red blotches all over. Be sure to wipe your template after each chevron to avoid this. Anyway, I cut it down so my stitches would be 3″ from center of the chevron to outer edge. Then I cut a chunk of a cereal box so I had an easy 3″ spacer to easily space my stitches out 3″ apart. This worked well for me. You may choose to alter this to fit your needs. When your arches are dry you’re ready to start stitching!

Step 4: Stitches. I found it easiest to start from the outer edge and swoop inwards. This gave me a cleaner edge on the outside as I was able to overlap lines in the center of the chevron. Try not to use too much paint. It’s hard to resist but use a thin coat. I ended up using 2 coats, and probably could have done a third, but decided they didn’t really need it. After you paint each chevron, remove the template, wipe it clean, & line up your spacer.

See my 3″ hunk of cardboard in my left hand? Man did that come in handy. No need to eyeball. I’m too much of a perfectionist for that. Touch one end of your spacer to the chevron you just painted (be careful if you get it in the wet paint), adjust so it follows the curve of your arch, and place the template at the other end. Sometimes I had to adjust the angle of my template once I took the spacer down to get it just right. Paint the next chevron & repeat.

See how it’s starting to come together? Don’t worry…you’re almost there! Once you get a coat of paint up, let it dry completely and you will likely be able to freehand the second coat without much trouble. Might I suggest eating a snack before so you don’t have shaky hands? If you would like a third coat (or more) go for it! Paint until your heart is completely content. Then step back and enjoy what you just accomplished!

I still can’t believe how quick and easy this project was. I think expected it to take me several days but I did it in less than 2 naps. Bingo. Done. Now THAT’S the kind of impact DIY I like to do! 🙂

The best part has been watching how much Buddy loves it. Months later he still drags visitors upstairs to see his baseball big boy room. (Say that 5 times fast.) It makes me so happy to know that he loves it so much. I’m still working on a few more DIY decor ideas for this room so stay tuned as I wrap those up and share them. And then…then I get to work on a nursery! Wahoo! Nothin’ like a good home project to get the blood pumping. 😉

What DIY projects are you working on around your home?