Thursday, May 30, 2013

Hoop Wall Art

I've seen a lot of adorable fabric displayed as wall art in embroidery hoops.  A genius idea.  It is often super fun and feminine - two things I love.  But I live with 2 boys with another on the way.  Yay for little boys!  Instead of trying to find awesome boyish fabric - surprisingly difficult - I incorporated, you guessed it, dinosaurs!  My son's (soon-to-be sons') room is dinosaur themed. 


These hoops are incredibly simple and inexpensive and you can knock a couple out in about an hour depending on the complexity of your image.

Needs: An embroidery hoop, a square of fleece, a piece of white felt, hot glue gun and double-stick tape.
 
Divide your hoop.  Layer the inner hoop, fleece square and then outer hoop.
 
Assemble the hoops with the fleece between them:
 
Flip your hoop over and trim the fleece square to within an inch or two of the hoop.  The fleece just needs to extend far enough to fold down toward the inside of the hoop and attach to the plastic.
 
Apply hot glue to the inner plastic ring.  Fold down and press the fleece in place.
 
Now the front of the fleece is nice and smooth.
 
Find a clip art of your desired shape or draw one you like.  Cut it out and use double-stick tape to attach it to the felt, print side up.
 
Cut out the outline from the felt.
 
Use double-stick tape to attach it face down on your hoop.  Trim the paper edges, if needed, so they don't show outside the felt.  I leave the paper attached to make the white appear whiter.  Felt can be a little thin and see-through.
 
That's it.  Hang up your new art.  I love the way these add a pop of color to my son's wall!
 
 
Craft time: About 30 minutes each
Cost: A few dollars each