Easy DIY Fabric Art
by Love & Specs
5 Materials
$30
1 Hour
Easy
This is the easiest DIY home decor project ever that anyone of any age and skill level could tackle, and it's such a simple, cheap way to add really unique, personal, stylish art to your home that can be tailored to any room you're decorating. For this project we used cheap Ikea frames and really cool black and white Ralph Lauren fabric scrap that we had leftover from a pillow project, but the beauty of this project is that you could use any frames or fabric you want, whether they're vintage, new, or second hand!
Measure your fabric scrap to correspond with the width and height of your frame. You can either measure to fill the frame completely, or to be slightly smaller (if you do that we suggest 1 inch smaller all around) and show some fringe like we did.
Cut your fabric carefully with scissors or even better, fabric shears if you have them. We just made small hashmarks w/ a pencil at the edge of our fabric to guide us. Be slow and steady with your cuts, and try to use as few cuts as possible. Fabric shears or sharp scissors are best for that reason, especially if you're working with a thicker fabric. And remember, measure twice, cut once.
If you're going to fray the fabric edges and do a little "fringe", here's an easy-to-follow tutorial I love. It's super helpful to see the tactic on video. Grab the corner of the fabric and using your safety pin or sewing needle, gently pluck one thread of fabric out and separate that thread slightly from the other threads, gently pull at the end of it and separate it from the other threads all the way along the edge of the fabric. If it isn't an easy or clean pull, don't worry about it. If the fabric bunches up on you and doesn't pull off easily, simply let it bunch then pull the threat out from the bunch like a piece of floss. Repeat as many times as you like with as many threads as you want according to how thick you want your fringe.
Now that your two fabric rectangles are ready to rock, you can frame them up! As you can see from the pics first I laid the fabric against the glass and positioned it exactly where I wanted it. Next I actually decided to brush the fringe with a clean toothbrush - totally called an audible on that one, but it worked like a charm. I wanted the fringe to sit sort of perfectly against the glass, but if you're more into that vintage look you could totally leave the fringe a little messy and imperfect! Next I actually placed my old animal print against the fabric with the back side of it that was plain white facing out to give it a nice white backing. The actual matting that the frame comes with is hollow in the middle, so if I had only used that behind the fabric you would see that hole because the fabric is slightly see-through. After adding the print behind the fabric I add the matting for bulk so nothing would move. Then I added the final cardboard back and folded the clips back down around it to hold it all in place.
Now that your two fabric rectangles are ready to rock, you can frame them up! As you can see from the pics first I laid the fabric against the glass and positioned it exactly where I wanted it. Next I actually decided to brush the fringe with a clean toothbrush - totally called an audible on that one, but it worked like a charm. I wanted the fringe to sit sort of perfectly against the glass, but if you're more into that vintage look you could totally leave the fringe a little messy and imperfect! Next I actually placed my old animal print against the fabric with the back side of it that was plain white facing out to give it a nice white backing. The actual matting that the frame comes with is hollow in the middle, so if I had only used that behind the fabric you would see that hole because the fabric is slightly see-through. After adding the print behind the fabric I add the matting for bulk so nothing would move. Then I added the final cardboard back and folded the clips back down around it to hold it all in place.
The finished product!
Another look at the finished product.
Closeup of the fabric we used and the frames.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Inspired? Yes, and I am going to share it here before I do it. You could do a fabric for each season! If it's easy to change-out, can't you just see a lovely winter scene now. Then a Spring, maybe cherry blossoms? For Summer, something a bit Americana? And of course, for Fall pretty fall leaves?
I have wanted to be able to change up the seasons in my living room for a long time now. Hmmm now where are those scissors?