Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Magnetic Fabric Photo Frames

I've been away from my blog for so long, I can't figure out how to turn a picture or how to turn off underlining. Please excuse my unintended emphsis.

Each Christmas, we get dozens of photos from family and friends. And I'm not good about putting them in a photo album. So this year, we decided to send pictures ready to put onto your fridge. It was a really fun little project. Turn your head to see how they turned out:


Step 1:
Cut Timtex to your desired "frame" size.
(I prefer Timtex because it is very stiff and is sticky on both sides. You may use any sort of batting or stiffener, and separate sticky stuff if you prefer.)

If making mulitples (which I encourage you to do), cut them all at once. Remember, the frames don't all have to be the same size.


Step 2: Iron on your backing fabric.
Backing fabric can be just one piece of material, or you can sew together many scraps. I suggest using those things that take up room in your stash but never call out to you.

If you are making multiple frames, save yourself some energy here and place all the timtex close together and lay a large piece of fabric over all of it and iron all at once. Then cut the rectangles apart, leaving just a tiny bit of fabric overhanging the edge.

Step 3: Iron on your front fabric.
I did lots of strip piecing of my favorite scraps of fabric to make the fronts. I was really happy to be able to use tiny pieces of my favorite bits.

Again, if you're making multiple frames, put the timtex pieces beside one another and iron all at once. Cut rectangles apart, leaving a tiny overhang of fabric.

Step 4: zigzag around all edges of your frames:




Step 5: Sew on a vinyl cover for your photo. You may choose to cut the vinyl the same size as your frame, or just slightly bigger than your photo.
Sew around 3 sides of the vinyl.


Final Step: Glue magnetic strips or circles onto the back of your frames. Insert photo.

1 comment:

jovaliquilts said...

What a good idea! I've thought of making fabric photo frames, but this is less complicated than what I've considered, and I like adding a magnet so it can go on the fridge.