Thursday, April 19, 2012

Quickie DIY inspiration


Several months ago, I purchased a lot of Brunschwig and Fils  iconic "Le Lac" in pieces on eBay. There is no real yardage just large scraps but I got them for a song and it perhaps my favorite fabric ever.


Not familiar? Just more Chinoiserie ? Mais non!
The magic of this fabric lies in its apparent simplicity. The colors are far more complex than one's eye will reveal unless it is closely inspected. As I see it (and I am sure I will miss a shade) there are 2 grays, 4 greens, 2 reds, 3 yellows, 4 browns, 1 lavender, 1 purple, and one creamy white that is above and beyond the background. All of this is hand printed and manages not to be "too much".
Here is what I did with the smallest and most unusable piece from the lot I have.


I bought this bulletin board at Target for 6 and change. I accidentally bought that paint a few months ago for a dollar.
The board is about 16 x 20.


First, I painted the frame with the glossy red paint. There was no need to be super neat since I was covering the cork later.


I had several spools of this black grosgrain that I bought for another project and did not use.


I adore this fabric!! I got so excited that I forgot to take a pic of the beginning of the fabric placement.
Basically, I put a bead of fabric glue along an edge and placed my fabric. The I used pushpins to hold the corners in place and flipped the remainder up and inside out so I could prepare the next lines of glue.
I kept the fabric 1 or two inches too big in every direction. Once all edges were glued and pinned, I grabbed a VERY sharp utility knife to trim up the edges.

um..My camera makes everything look sloppier than it is

I glued two sides of grosgrain ribbon on the long sides, just inside the frame. Next I glued the shorter sides and mitered the corners by cutting a straight square edge and folding it to make perfect 45 degree angle. I used a pushpin to secure it.
I added a sawtooth hanger to the back because it was set up to hang in landscape orientation and  eye hook and wire would not do for a bulletin board.



Here she is on the inside of my pantry door until she gets a real home.
I made this because Kris of La Reportiste had a wonderfully inspiring post on inspiration boards, and clearly, I was inspired.


The point... to use this board as a place to keep all of my samples of paint and fabric currently in use, as an easy to use and pin (in real life) reference. In my early days I kept a book but it got too fat and I think this is far more accessible and inspiring.  I just grab a room and go.

6 comments:

Elizabeth @ The Little Black Door said...

That turned out beautifully. I love it!

Unknown said...

This is such a lovely idea! The fabric is just exquisite!

Anonymous said...

I remember when you did a post on this fabric. I think it is an inspiration without any inspiration on it! LOL Beautiful job!

Thanks so much for mentioning me. Funny, I got the idea from Rachel of Shabby French For Me and you got the idea from me. I wonder who will get the idea from you? I'd love to know, wouldn't you?

Linda {Calling it Home} said...

It really is beautiful fabric. Looks great.

Unknown said...

Great fabric and DIY, Kerry!
Have a great weekend!
Nancy
PowellbrowerHome.com

Carrie @ Hazardous Design said...

I'm drooling over that fabric! Terrific use for a scrap piece.