I’ve Been Framed!

Ever wonder how you could possibly afford to decorate so many of those huge walls in your home? Believe me, you can!

It may not be as difficult as it seems at first glance…

Let’s create your own fabric wall art.

Supplies you will need:

1.    Empty frames, Wooden Stretchers (available at a craft store) or 1x2” boards cut large enough hold your fabric

2.    Interesting & affordable Fabric(s)

3.    Staple Gun

4.    Scissors

5.    Brown Acrylic Paint (Optional)

6.    Paintbrush (Optional)

7.    Jewelry, Gems, Ribbon, Cording (Optional)

8.    Hot glue gun (Optional)

9.    Long nails or picture hangers

What to Use

Purchase some wonderful designed fabric(s). It could even be an old long skirt, shirt/blouse, scarves, shower curtains, or any other fabulous pattern you wouldn’t mind hanging on your wall. Look around the house…you may already own it and it’s bought and paid for!

Framing It Up

Build your open frame as large as your fabric, allowing at least a 3-4” overage on each side. I have used old picture frames and have even covered an old canvas print.

Lay your fabric face down on a large flat surface. Place your open frame on top of fabric. Staple fabric starting at top center of frame. Stretch fabric down snuggly and staple the bottom center. Do the left side center, then the right center, being sure to pull the fabric tight enough to create a smooth surface.  Fill in the remaining spaces with staples to secure the fabric all around. If displaying a linear pattern, be sure it lines up with the edge of the frame. Make square corners and as neatly as you can. Practice makes more perfect….

Variations to your Design

There you have it! You have your wall art. Some variations to the design would be to take another piece of fabric, folding in two sides and position this fabric on top of the first. You may place this on the one third mark of the frame and secure to the back using the stapler. This will give your wall art a nice dimension. Placing a piece of batting inside this fabric would give the accent some nice presence (not required). You may do this on some but not all of your pieces. For the artsy person, you might even add grandma’s brooch pinned beautifully into one of the fabrics if the design allows it. Pierced earrings, hot glued gems, ribbon or cording make a nice addition to any piece. Use your imagination.

Homemade Tapestry

Think about maybe even hanging a piece of fabric from a fancy drapery rod. Weigh down the bottom with a hot glued in dowel. Add some tassels on the sides and some cording to hang it.

 Wallpaper Over the Edge

How about a piece of wallpaper wrapped around a small box frame? Many times you can pick up discontinued wallpaper sample books from your local decorating store. Fold the edges as though wrapping a present. There you have it….a marvelous addition to your fabric layout!

Get Your Craft On

I was on Genevieve Gail’s blog and she does a dry brushing of brown paint on the edges to add an aged, rustic feel to the final art piece. It’s beautiful! Check out the link above for how-to pictures and see the final result of Genevieve’s craft project.

Love to hear from you

We welcome your suggestions for future blog posts. Please leave a comment with your ideas and comments. See you in June!