Fabric covered canvas project

I love this project because it's cheap, easy, and quick. All you need is a canvas, fabric, and a staple gun.  I first made these because I needed something fast and inexpensive to stage our condo when we put it up for sale. Most of our art was blown up canvases or photos of our wedding and engagement photos. Beautiful to us, but a big no-no when it comes to staging for the purpose of selling.

Luckily for me, I already had a few canvases that someone gave me so I didn't have to spend money on them. For you, try a thrift store or a craft store and buy some with coupons. You'll still be saving a lot of money.

Once you have your canvas, measure the dimensions. Make sure you buy enough fabric to cover the entire canvas and be able to staple it in the back.

As you can see, it doesn't have to be perfect. However, if you are going to place the canvas on a table like below, when you fold the corners, fold them on the sides. That way there won't be a slight bump on the bottom when you place it on a table or shelf.

Start at the top, stapling the corners and the middle. Then pull tightly (but not too tight or you might create lines) at the bottom and staple the bottom corners and the middle. Then do the sides (corners and middle). Once you have those staples in, staple the rest, about 2 inches in between staples. Hold the fabric tightly so it's not loose in the front.

As you can see, you can use the same fabric for more than one canvas. The first canvas is half the size of the second, and I positioned it vertically instead of horizontally. They tie in nicely-- similar enough to match, but different enough to be interesting. I paid about $15 for the fabric. Not bad for two pieces or art! The fabric actually looks like a painting.

Tip: For big canvases, use big prints. For smaller canvases, you can use smaller prints.

If you want to spice things up a bit, take some painters tape and create a chevron pattern on your canvas. Then paint the exposed fabric white and you will have white chevron stripes that create a modern twist on your design.