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24 Jul 2013

DIY FABRIC DRAWER LINERS

The decorating of the pilots' shared room has officially begun.  Can we say, "finally!!!".  I only blogged about wanting to tackle their room several months ago and have just now started (without any real plan, by the way).  Over the past few days/week I have been refinishing a dresser for them, but I'm just going to show you the drawers today.  I guess I'm going about this dresser reveal from the inside out. :)

I really wanted to show you the drawers since I made some fun liners from fabric.  All the fabric in the drawers were remnants from other projects in our house.  Can you remember where?  Yeah, probably not, but just for fun let's match the fabric to the room, 'kay?  The turquoise "snow dots" is framed on our bedroom photo ledges, the navy and white polkadot fabric was used for Mummu's brag book and the fabric Easter baskets, the turquoise fabric in the bottom drawer was used on the highchair slipcover and the mini mudroom pillow.  These fabrics sure have gotten around! :)

The fabric drawer liners were really easy to make.  All you need to do is to stiffen your fabric a little so that it will lay flat.  Fabric is also great in that you can cut it to fit any size drawer without making a seam.  Here's how I made mine:

Fabric Drawer Liners

This is what you will need to make your drawer liners:

fabric stiffner
fabric
scissors
measuring tape

I found this Mod Podge fabric stiffner at Michaels: 

Stiffen Your Fabric:

1.  Mix equal parts stiffener and water in a bowl (I used 1/2 cup of each for a fabric piece large enough for two drawers and had plenty leftover)

2.  Place your fabric in the bowl and completely soak it with the stiffener (I folded my fabric to keep it from wrinkling too much)

3.  Gently squeeze out, but do not wring, the excess stiffener from the fabric (it should be wet, but not dripping)

4. Unfold your fabric and let it dry either by hanging or laying it flat.
5. Just before the fabric is completely dry, give it an iron to get out any wrinkles.  When it's dry it should feel pretty stiff, but still flexible kind of like card stock.

To Make Your Liners:

1.  Measure your drawer and cut the fabric to the dimensions of your drawer.
2.  Fasten the liner to the drawer using glue or tape.  (I used tape so that I can remove them in case I want to change them up later)

I really like how the liners turned out.  The colours just happened to go with the curtains too.  I know that the liners will get covered by all the boys' clothes and you don't see them at all once the drawers are closed, but I think it is a fun surprise whenever you open them up.  I actually haven't filled the drawers with the boys' things quite yet so that I can stare at them a little longer and show them off to Tech Guy when he comes home from work. :)

So there's the inside of the dresser and a little sneak peak at the dresser redo as well.  I'll be back with a post showing the before and after and how I used a paint sprayer for the first time.

sharing this here:  52mantels, livelaughrowe, shabbycreekcottage, houseofhepworths, 36thave, inspirationgallery, shabbynest, tatertots&jello, iheartnaptime, savvysouthernstyle, diyshowoff, betweennapsontheporch, tidymom, funkyjunk

47 comments:

  1. That looks so good! I love your mix of fabrics too. What a great surprise when you open those drawers!

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    1. I just finished putting the boys' clothes in the drawers. I had them open most of the day just to look at them. :)

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  2. Wow looks great! I might have to do this on a set of drawers that I have!

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    1. You totally should! It was so easy and the stiffener was not to bad to work with either. I love how the drawers look with some fun fabrics in them.

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  3. Have I said before that you can come and do all these little DIY things at my place too? :) I love the idea of lining the drwars with fabric. I've lined my drawers with pretty papers before but not fabric. Should try it out. I did immediately recognise that the liners were fabric from previous posts. :) The stiffening was something that I did not think of though. I"m sure I would have just ironed the fabric and put it in place with tape. I like your way better.

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    1. The next time one of us visits we'll have to make time to do some DIY/crafts! The stiffener really worked well for the liners. The fabric didn't seem to fray as much either.

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  4. I've seen that stuff at Michaels and wondered how it worked! I love the lined drawers. (And I totally recognized all those fabrics!) Love it!

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    1. The stiffener made the fabric a little like card stock which was perfect for lining the drawers. I think I liked it better than the typical shelf paper. I'm impressed that you recognized all the fabrics! :)

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  5. How fancy! I especially love the mix of fabrics you've got going on here! It's such a pretty pop against the white dresser!

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    1. Thanks Megan. I was glad I found enough leftover fabric to line the drawers and that they kind of went together too. Saved me a trip to the fabric store. :)

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  6. Ahhh so thats how you get them to stay put! Love the pattern bet you smile every time you see them peek through the things in the drawers :)

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    1. The drawers are much more fun now and the liners have stayed put so far. :)

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  7. I really like this! I'm redoing a desk and painting it white, but I think some shnazzy fabric lining the drawers would be adorable!

    Found you at House of Hepworth's link up!

    www.eightdaysaweekmom.com

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    1. Lining desk drawers would look great! If you use those clear organizer bins you would even be able to see the fabric through them. :)

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  8. These look so pretty! I have a stash of that bottom quatrefoil print too... love it! Great idea to use fabric this way:)

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    1. I remember that print from your house. :) I think I just have a small piece left. We'll see if I can think of something else to make from it.

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  9. Looks great!! I've never used "Stiffy" before - I love that you can personalize the fabric to that room's style :)

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth! The Stiffy was super easy to use. It was a bit of a happy accident that the liners matched the room so well. :)

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  10. the stiffener is a great idea! never used that before:) what a fun transformation

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    1. Thanks Carissa! I remember using stiffener a long, long time ago to stiffen some ribbon for bows. It worked really well for larger pieces of fabric too.

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  11. they look great--I love the fabrics! I would have a hard time putting the clothes back in, too :)

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    1. I finally ended up putting the clothes back in last evening - in the dark. The boys were sleeping and I had to be "stealth" like so not to wake them. :)

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  12. What a great idea, and such a fun mix of prints, that would make me smile every time I opened a drawer!

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    1. I definitely have been on top of putting the boys' clothing away lately - maybe just to get a peek at the fabrics. :)

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  13. Thanks for this post! I'm getting ready to re-do an old sideboard and I wanted to do this very thing. I never knew this product existed so I'll be getting some for sure. I love how yours turned out, so I'm really excited.

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    1. Lining the drawers was definitely worth the effort. I'd love to see your sideboard when you're done. :)

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  14. I love this! Great idea that I'll definitely have to use, at least for our guest room! (Found you on Shabby Nest)

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    1. Thanks! I think your guests would love some lined drawers. :)

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  15. Wow.... these are awesome... I'm going to have to try this!

    Suzie @ Dorothy Sue and Millie B's too

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    1. Thanks so much. You should totally make some! :) They were actually a lot of fun to make.

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  16. I never realized they made fabric stiffener, but I love the idea of being able to use any fabric for this purpose. Your drawers look wonderful.

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  17. Hi!!! Visiting from Under the Table and Dreaming - yours was the first post I came to visit - this is just such a beautiful idea - turned out gorgeous!!!
    Most definitely your newest follower!
    Big hugs from Montreal
    XOXO

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    1. Thanks Suzan! I'm glad to have you follow along. :)

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  18. Love the fabric stiffener and love, love the fabrics you used! Great design! I would love to have you as a guest judge on my craft competition blog in the month of August. Come on by and take a look around. If you would like to be a judge emaail me at dee@thecsiproject.com
    www.thecsiproject.com
    The challenges for August are:
    August 4th- Amazing Pillow Challenge
    August 11th- Thrift Store Turn Arounds
    August 18th- Back to School Challenge
    I would love to have you! I have been following your blog for a while and I always enjoy stopping by.

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  19. Very pretty! We usually use contact paper to cover the bottoms of drawers but using fabric is a very cool idea.

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  20. I LOVE this! I recently scored a dresser on Craigslist for our "soon to be" nursery. I really really like it but it was quite dirty. I vacuumed and scrubbed but I was thinking that I wanted to do drawer liners inside to make it seem "more clean" to me - if that makes any sense... anyway, I love this idea and I will definitely keep it stashed in my head to do!

    Runt
    runtspickins@yahoo.com
    www.runtspickins.wordpress.com

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  21. Love the lining! I did the dresser for my grandson's nursery but used cardboard, fabric used on automobile interior roofs and fabric onto that with spray glue. DD2 wanted the sides done as well. Love love your idea for next time. Dropping by from Met Monday.
    Allison
    Atticmag

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  22. Great idea! I've often thought of this but dismissed the idea because the fabric wouldn't be stiff enough to stay put. This product seemed to work really well. Can you wash the fabric that's been stiffened AFTERWARDS? (Just in case it became soiled.)

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  23. I wonder if you could add some essential oil to the modge podge and make the liners smell all nice??

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    1. Oh, what a great idea! I wonder if it would change the consistency of the stiffy, though? Would be worth the experiment I think. :)

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  24. What kind of tape did you use to stick to both fabric and wood drawers?

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  25. Hi Carrie, I just used regular two-sided tape. It worked okay for me, but I had to use quite a bit and you may need to replace it now and then if it loses it's stick. I've been okay with them not sticking so much as the fabric does lay flat in the drawer. There may be a better solution out there. I just haven't looked into it. Hopefully that helps!

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  26. Thanks for the great tutorial Nalle! It was really helpful to see how you did it, especially the bit about diluting the fabric stiffener. I posted my own experience following your instructions on my new blog at http://lemon-and-mint.blogspot.ca/2014/09/tutorial-fabric-drawer-liners-for.html.

    All credit given to you of course!

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  27. This looks amazing and unique. Thank you for the tutorial,can't wait to try it.

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  28. Looks beautiful!

    What type of tape did you use to adhere it? Do you think the fabric stiffener by ModPodge would be safe to use even in drawers with cutlery and dishes?

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