Credits and comments after the jump!
Row 1 left: Fat Quarter of Erin Michael’s Paint Dots Fabric from 2ndAveStudio
When picking a theme like “paint-by-numbers” you’re bound to catch vintage, supplies and handmade. One of my favorite supplies is Erin Michaels’ “Lush” fabrics — so cute!
Row 1 right: The Great Outdoors collage from mydarlingdinosaur
Valerie Roybal’s “A Secret Language” collages with old ephemera are fantastic. Her cutup paint-by-numbers reflects a love of their amoebic shapes and restrained colorscheme, which I share.
Row 2 left: Avon camper with paint by number background print from doecdoe
I love this print series with vintage toys in front of paint by number landscapes; two colorful childlike nostalgia pieces together for the first time.
Row 2 center: Vintage Black Velvet Paint by Numbers Set from cherrytreevintage.
So there’s a bunch of vintage paint by numbers on Etsy, if you have a den to redecorate. This is one of my favorites: Not only does the box have fantastic type, but black velvet painting + paint by numbers = ultra-concentrated camp. And totally unironically, I <3 the eggshell/peach/dull greens/cyan/black.
Row 2 right: Dish towel from shmattah
This dish towel cleverly anticipates being stained and just gives guidelines on where to aim what; the color key at the bottom has entries like “fresh coffee grounds,” “bleach splatter” and “a nice, fruity rosé.”
Row 3 left: Hummingbird card by workerdesign
An elegantly restrained modern reference to the form.
Row 3 right: Paint by Number Deer Zipper Pouch by kaylah7
The fabric used for this very cute pouch is more of Erin Michael’s Lush line. If I sewed or quilted, I would be all over this stuff. The visual appeal of an unfinished paint-by-numbers is inexplicably strong for me.
Row 4 left: John Lennon Repro Paint by Number Set by CreativePal
I am super impressed by this. It is rather astonishingly a painstakingly researched and reverse-engineered reproduction of a vintage set. Read the lengthy item listing for the juicy details.
Row 4 right: Atlanta Paint it Yourself kit by missfruitfly
I stuck this at the end because I didn’t want to muck with the fantastic vintage paint-by-numbers colorscheme. What I like about missfruitfly is she has reinvented, and reinvigorated the form: her sets come with markers, in bold contemporary screenprint-y colorschemes, and feature 70s cars at aggressive angles floating over urban collage. Pretty rad.

[…] featured one of doe-c-doe’s prints in a Schmetsy a while back, but I am so glad I rediscovered her work on flickr today. I’m loving these […]