Tuesday, August 28, 2007

The Artful Home: Fabric Art

True confession: Art intimidates me.

I'm well over the sort of mass-produced prints (Man Ray, anyone?) that decorated my post-collegiate homes. And yet I haven't quite graduated to buying much "real" art -- for one, a lot of it is simply out of our budget. But even when it comes to buying smaller pieces from emerging artists, I don't quite trust my eye yet.

So for now, I'm making due with framed prints from various artists that I've discovered via Etsy and at a few local galleries and exhibition spaces. Well, that, and hanging fabric.

I started with the retro-inspired fabric above, which I bought from the awesome Tonic Living a couple of years ago. I knew I wanted to do some sort of project with it -- at first I was thinking pillows, until my lack of sewing skills and even a sewing machine put the kibosh on that idea.

Then I decided to simply buy some cheap art-store canvases, stretch the fabric around them, and affix it with a staple gun. Voila -- instant "art."

Since then, I've expanded my fabric art collection. A quick tour:

(Please forgive the total in-progress nature of the home you can glimpse around these, and the fact that most of the canvases are still sitting on the floor. One of these days, I swear, I will get around to hanging them... )

I picked up this Inhabit stretched canvas at the last Design Public warehouse sale, and hung it in our downstairs hallway.

Recognize this? It was an "eBay Find" I blogged awhile back. (I don't normally bid on the things I blog, but couldn't resist this one.)

Another Inhabit stretched canvas snagged at the Design Public warehouse sale.

I freakin' love this huge Marimekko print (I bought one of Textile Arts' handy frame kits for it, since a canvas this size would've been prohibitively expensive and heavy). I haven't hung it yet because I think we're going to repaint the dining room -- I love the red, but it's just not working with the colors I'm drawn to these days.

This is some groovy vintage fabric I found on eBay Australia. It's destined for the unfortunate pink bathroom.

More of that stretched Tonic Living fabric, which currently resides in my mad-for-blue daughter's room.

Have any fabric art projects of your own you'd like to share -- or other surprising ideas for using fabric or non-traditional items as art around your home? Send them in!

5 comments:

72 and sunny said...

i'm about to stage a new build for a photo shoot, and for cost purposes, this is exactly what we're going to do. i'll send photos once we're done.

Unknown said...

I rather like the whole canvas leaning on the wall look. It makes it seems like you have so much art (yes, I call it Art) that you simply don't have the time to hang it all. But the fabric you've chosen are very, very pretty. They're all along the same theme but each so different. Yay! Makes me want to start hunting for my own.

Trace Elements said...

Hi, I like your blog! The Amenity canvases are actually by Inhabit. Check it out: www.inhabitliving.com. (though I do love Amenity and Inhabit both)

Leah said...

Ah ha -- you are correct, Trace Elements. (I get Amenity and Inhabit confused sometimes -- their stuff is sort of similar, no?)

Fixing now -- thanks for setting me straight!

Leah

Anonymous said...

Fabric art. What a cool idea!!

 

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