8 floor to ceiling Wheat Pieces

To transform a basement dining hall into a worship space, I thought some hangings would help. I decided to do 4 pairs of wheat in different stages of growth, from new green shoots to ripe golden harvest. Also, these hopefully will be saved and reused in different venues, so decided to paint both side of the fabric so that they will be equally attractive from any direction.

First, lay out your fabric on the grass so you can see all of your work at once. Then, if you're lucky, enlist friends. Thanks, Jo (below), Anne (2 below), and Sara (in River post).



Working on cardboard is easier and will give you more what you expect. Working on grass may create some unusual movement of the paint which may or may not be desired.

We mixed yellow and orange for the harvest wheat and did them, then added much more yellow for the pair that comes earlier in the season. Then we started afresh with light green for the first wheat pair, and then mixed moss green and light green for the next set.



When the first side is dry (or mostly dry), flip over. Much of the paint will have seeped through. Use that as a guideline to repeat the pattern on the back side.

If you are also creating rivers or some other motif, you may want to add a touch of that motif to your hangings. (See water in the corner of the photo below.) Let dry.

Once dry, iron and add 4 inch rod pockets. (Thanks, Susan.) Because these are such big pieces, and the raw silk gives it a rough feel, I didn't hem or turn under and think they look just fine.