A few weeks ago a friend offered to have Henry for a morning play-date, so Lily and I ventured out to a nearby quilt shop to pass the "girls only" time. This particular shop is the only one in town that carries the "Aunt Grace" and "Antique Treasures" lines and HeavenHelpMyHeart! there were a dozen fat quarters that I could not leave the store without.
So I bought them, not yet knowing what no-sew treasure they would become.
And then I saw this picture on Design Sponge and suddenly my fat quarters had a purpose in life, a destiny!
did you just dribble a little drool over this darling nursery? me too.
A few weeks later I bought nine embroidery hoops (they're so cheap - less than $2 a piece, some less than a dollar), and set to work making a configuration for one of the walls in Lily's room. I hardly feel qualified to give a bona fide how-to, but here's what I did:
* ironed all the wrinkles out of each piece of fabric
* stretched the fabric over the hoop and slid the outer frame over the inner one
* trimmed excess fabric from the back, getting as close to the hoop as possible (this is actually something I would like your suggestions on as I think there may be a better way to do this -- now if my fabric gets puckery in the hoop, I don't feel like I can dissemble it to readjust because there isn't any excess fabric to work with on the back -- does that make sense? What would you suggest doing with excess fabric on the back side so that it won't be intrusive once the hoops are hanging?)
* laid out a configuration of hoops on my carpet, took a picture of it, and tried to stick to it when hanging the hoops on the wall
* hung the hoops on the wall
I love the challenge of making my home beautiful on a shoe-string. Like I mentioned above embroidery hoops make super cheap frames and this whole project could be done very inexpensively, especially if you use fabric scraps that you already have or ones that you gather from friends who are purging their craft rooms.
Let us know if you try something similar; we'd love to feature your creativity on Bloom!
* ironed all the wrinkles out of each piece of fabric
* stretched the fabric over the hoop and slid the outer frame over the inner one
* trimmed excess fabric from the back, getting as close to the hoop as possible (this is actually something I would like your suggestions on as I think there may be a better way to do this -- now if my fabric gets puckery in the hoop, I don't feel like I can dissemble it to readjust because there isn't any excess fabric to work with on the back -- does that make sense? What would you suggest doing with excess fabric on the back side so that it won't be intrusive once the hoops are hanging?)
* laid out a configuration of hoops on my carpet, took a picture of it, and tried to stick to it when hanging the hoops on the wall
* hung the hoops on the wall
Here's the finished product, which Lily and I are completely tickled about:
Let us know if you try something similar; we'd love to feature your creativity on Bloom!
gorgeous, Em! love this idea (and didn't you do something similar with fabric panels over your mantle?)
ReplyDeletethis is such a fun project, since there are so many adorable patterns out there--I'm thinking I may do something similar to match the quilt I made for my girls. thanks for the tip!
Super cute!
ReplyDeleteOkay, this is coming from someone that can't sew a button on...but I once watched my mom do a similar project. There is some kind of an adhesive backing that she used (ironed it on) which made the fabric stiff. I think that stuff would work so you wouldn't get any future wrinkles. No idea what it's called though.
First of all...it turned out darling!
ReplyDeleteI have seen this same project here and there too, and one tip is to glue your fabric to the hoop on the back so it won't come lose.
i've been wanting to do this in our bedroom. thinking of painting the rings black and using fun bright sophisticated fabrics. haven't gotten around to it yet though.
ReplyDeletethe iron-on stuff is called Stitch Witchery--I love it. totally saves me when people start wearing teeny holes in their pants...a little of that and a teeny patch on the inside and we're good to go for another 100 miles crawling on the floor!
ReplyDeleteoh and speaking of cheap decoration things--I love those pre-painted little wooden animals/flowers/etc. from Provo Craft--they sell them here for 50 cents each at Hobby Lobby and Michaels and I've used them in a gazillion projects. One of my favorite uses was to buy a bunch of unfinished 5x7 wooden frames, paint the centers white and the actual frame to match my nursery, and then center an animal in each of the frames. I whipped out three in fifteen minutes and it cost me about $5.
like you need yet another comment from me, but I think you should do a tutorial on the animal pics in Henry's room--I think you mentioned modeling them after something Stephanie Nielsen did? Anyway, I keep thinking I need to do some of those every time I see a photo of Henry's room. so darling!
ReplyDeleteSo feminine and modern all at the same time. Lovely combination and on a budget! Well done. Thanks for sharing...now all I need to do is make a baby girl in my tummy :)
ReplyDeleteSuper cute!
ReplyDeleteAwesome idea...so happy I stubbled upon this little gem...
ReplyDeleteI did this too! However, one of my favorite fabrics to use was actually white lace, because you can see the pretty colour of the pant through it. :)
ReplyDelete