DIY Fabric Canvases

Wanted to add some splashes of color down my hallway.  I know, my house needs more color.  It's so bland.

Found these awesome fabric frames at IKEA months ago and finally got around to doing what I wanted to do with them.  The product is called Tyglosa and I can't find them anywhere on their site anymore, nor at my local store.  I did a search and no one seems to be selling them anymore.  Bummer.  You could easily do this with any kind of frame or even cover an actual paint canvas.

Assemble your frame and iron your fabric.  Cut to size.  You want your fabric to cover the entire front of frame, the sides, the back (where you staple it), and little extra....just in case.

IMPORTANT:  DO NOT use a hammer and nails to attach your fabric. (The kit came with little tiny nails when I bought it.)  You will not only waste copious amounts of time, but you will probably hit yourself with the hammer while trying to hold the little nails in place.  You may say a few choice words.  You may want to cry.

Not that I have any personal experience with this kind of situation.

No, please save yourself the trouble and use a staple gun.  I love mine.  Nothing fancy, but it works oh so nicely.  Hammer and nails = 1 hour (with pauses for cursing and sucking on hammered fingers).  Staple gun = 15 minutes (while singing along to my iTunes playlist).  You do the math.

Ok, so get your staple gun and go crazy.  I usually work in opposites, meaning I put one staple in on one side and my next staple is on the opposite side of the frame.  I work my way around the frame pulling the fabric as taunt as it will go, stapling the poor fabric to death.

Don't know if I am explaining this very well.  Think of my frame as a compass.  My first staple is due north, right in the center.  My next staple is due south, pulling the fabric as tight as it will go against the north staple.  Next staple is east, and then west.  Back up to north, moving over a few inches from my first staple and repeating the whole process until the fabric is tight against the frame everywhere.  Don't worry about the corners yet.

Here you are after stapling everything except corners.

Fold your fabric nicely, like a present around the corners and staple them into place.  Use as many staples as you want, just only on the back of the frame.

Cut excess fabric.

Done.

You could play the snare drum on this thing.

Ignore the ugly doorbell cover.  Still working on that one.

And here is a shot of my laundry basket, full of dirty laundry being used as a place to set down my level while I hang my fabric canvases.  People ask me how I have time to do all of these fun projects.  There, my friends, is your answer.