19 Oct 2015

A Twelve Year Wedding Anniversary DIY

First off I can't believe that I've been married for 12 years!  For our anniversary this year Hubby and I decided to DIY something together in lieu of gifts.  You know you're devoted DIYers when... Apparently, on your twelfth wedding anniversary you are to give each other silk and/or linen to represent comfort/luxury.  I had this Marimekko Luovi fabric that I purchased from EQ3 for half price in my stash and had been wanting to make something out of it.  It worked perfectly for our 12 year anniversary since it is linen.  I also wanted to try to make a wooden hanger for it.  We had a couple of hiccups along the way, but I think it turned out beautifully in the end.  
You may remember this wall hanging from my fall home tour and/or Instagram.  I love how the deep blue works so nicely with the blush pink for fall/winter.  A couple of extra details that I added to my fabric wall hanging are the brass screws that hold the two pieces of wood that sandwich the fabric in-between and a gold leather cord.  The gold ties in well with my DIY hanging planter too.  

Below you'll find the how to:

DIY FABRIC WALL HANGING:
finished measurement 28" x 41"

1. Gather your materials:  
a) wood strips (we used  1"x 2" maple boards that we had on hand that we cut in half lengthwise {step 3} to make four 1/2" x 28" boards, but you can find thinner boards in the hardware store and avoid this cutting step
b) 4 brass pan head screws slightly longer than the thickness of two boards and 4 matching nuts
c) 1 meter of fabric (my fabric is Luovi by Marimekko).  You will be able to make two wall hangings from a meter, but you need the buy a full meter for the length even if you are only making one (depending on the pattern of your fabric).
d) Leather cord (1/2 meter)
e) hot glue
f) power tools:  table saw(optional depending on the wood you choose), saw & power drill with drill bit corresponding to your screw size
g) sewing machine or iron-on hemming tape

2.  First start by sewing/hemming your fabric.  Cut your fabric to the desired size (be careful to cut a perfect square or rectangle so that it hangs straight).  Then finish the ends (I used a serger)and sew a 1/2" double hem on the sides.  **You can get away without sewing by using fusible (iron-on) hemming tape to hem the sides and the ends.

3.  Prepare your wood rails.  If you are using a thicker piece of wood like we did, go ahead and rip the boards in half to create four boards (skip this step if your wood boards are already thin enough).  Then cut your boards to a length just slightly longer than your fabric (I added about an inch to the fabric width measurement: 27"(fabric width) + 1" = 28").  Finally, drill a whole on either end of each of the 4 boards to accommodate a screw at each end (the holes on our wall hanging are about 1.5" from the ends).

4.  Attach your fabric to the front top and bottom boards.  The screws will hold the fabric, but to keep it taut I found that gluing it along the entire length helped (I used hot glue).

5. 6. & 7.  Assembling the wall hanging:  Once the fabric is glued to the top and bottom boards, place the wall hanging facedown on a work surface.  Cut the hanging cord to your desired length and tie knots on the ends.  Position the cord behind the fabric along the top board to your desired position. 
Layer the back boards over the backside of the fabric sandwiching both the fabric(and the cord for the top).  Insert a screw through all the layers and tighten them together using the nut. (step 7).  The knots on the end of the hanging cord will protrude past the back board (step 6).  I found that a couple dabs of hot glue prevented the cord from sliding side to side (step 6).

Now you're ready to hang your art!

I really hope you enjoyed this project.  It ended up be a fun way to remember our 12th wedding anniversary.

10 comments:

  1. Wow, gor-goeus! Your place is dreamy, light and airy and lovely decorated! Swoon! Just celebrated my 18th... what should we have done regarding gifts??? We didn't do gifts but did an overnight to Vancouver to see the Foo Fighters. It was a blast.

    XO
    Ursula

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    1. Thanks so much Ursula!
      It sounds like you had a perfect getaway. Congratulations on 18 years!

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  2. That is beautiful! And happy anniversary!!

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  3. Beautiful! Looks easy enough too. Happy Anniversary!!!

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    1. Thank you Leigh Anne! It was a pretty simple project.

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  4. Love that! And happy anniversary :)

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  5. I didn't know that you had to do that on your 12th anniversary :) totally love the fabric and how it turned out

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    1. I didn't either! Google let me know. ;) I'm happy that I happened to have some linen to make a project out of.

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