Spring Chevron and Bicycle Art {Made with Silhouette}

Oh, chevron, how I love you. Oh, Spring, how I adore you. Oh, Silhouette, how you make my life so much easier.  That is definitely the case for this project which is based off a beautiful chevron fabric art piece created by the very talented, and very patient - I might add - Lia Griffith.  Lia's work caught the eye of Silhouette School reader, Deanne, who emailed me for help turning this labor-intensive fabric and scissors version into a paper Silhouette project.

Deanne wrote to me saying...

"There is one thing I would love to try.  A project I found at Lia Griffith blog.  I would like to make it with paper instead of fabric, and figure my Silhouette has to be able to EASILY cut out that shape!  Much easier than doing it all by hand.  But, I’m afraid I would get so frustrated trying to figure out this simple shape that I would skip it all together!  Wondering if it might be a lesson you would do?"

Ding ding ding we have a winner.  I love the chevron art piece as much as Deanne does and so I was happy to help!  The best part about this chevron art is that one of the free designs that comes in the Silhouette library is a chevron border. It works perfectly for this. So enough chit chat let's get started. 

Open up Silhouette Studio and go to your library. Click the Chevron Border design.  

I was working with scrapbook paper that was just 6"x 6" so I revealed my cutting mat (Click Page Settings Icon > Slide bar) to allow me to size the design to exactly 6" wide.  But the chevron pieces were too small for my taste so I ungrouped, deleted a few links, and then sized the remaining 5 sections so they were exactly 6" wide.  Remember each square on the cutting mat and grid represent 1 square inch.  But again, you may not have to do all this if you are working with larger paper or if you'd like smaller pieces.  It's totally up to you. 

After I got a single version of the design how I liked it, I recplicated it below three times by clicking  on the Replicate tool (circled) > Column of Three.  Then I moved each section so I was a little closer together so they all fit in the 6x6" square.   It looks like I have six rows, but each chevron section is made up of two rows for a total of six. 

That's all there is to the design! Now I am ready to cut...

...which I had to do five times for all five styles of paper.   (BTW these papers are all from the Welcome Spring paper pack.)

But they came out perfect each and every time! Far less than stress than scissors and rulers and pencils, oh my!

Cutting this many times actually made far more pieces of chevron than I needed for this smaller version of the chevron art.  No worries, I can just make two. :)

Now once all your paper is cut it's time to start gluing.  I used a glue stick and glued the pieces, in random pattern order, directly onto a piece of cardstock. 

Don't worry about the top where you get the little bare triangle piece...you're gonna trim the edges up at the end to cut that off.   Keep gluing making sure all the corners line up straight. 

When you're done, use a paper cutter or a ruler and scissors to cut straight across the top and bottom. You'll be trimming a little bit off the top and bottom rows of chevron off so you get rid of the blank space created by the downward sections in the pattern. 

Before I framed her up, I added the bike.  The bike is a definitely an optional add-on you can go with or skip. I used my DIY sketch pens to sketch it and then cut an offset in blue paper and I thought it was a nice finish.  (Read through our Sketch Pen series for more on how to use sketch pens and how to cut out a sketched design.) 

Next it's time to frame the chevron art.  Since my piece didn't fill the entire 8x10 frame, I cut a quick mat (using my Silhouette, of course) and then used an old frame I had on hand.  I'm still debating on whether I should spray paint the frame a different color. I'm not 100% sold on the gold... 

 

And that's my take on the chevron paper art.  Definitely a lot easier than cutting each piece of chevron by hand...this girl ain't got that kinda time.  

PS. This was my first project using Silhouette Studio's upgrade version, V3.  It was a bit of a bumpy ride, at times due to a few button moves and the hidden sketch pen options.  I shared by newbie tips on working with Studio V3 here.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. By clicking on them and purchasing products through my links, I received a small commission. That's what helps fund Silhouette School so I can keep buying new Silhouette-related products to show you how to get the most out of your machine! 

Thanks for coming to class today at Silhouette School.  If you like what you see, I'd love for you to pin it!