Altered Hoop With Printed Muslin

Hey there, Roadies! Jess here today with an easy project with endless possibilities.  Embroidery hoops are inexpensive and can be found in any arts and crafts store but offer a simple way to display smaller "canvases". 

For mine today I went for a soft look and lots of Maya flowers!


You'll need:
- A medium (mine is 7") embroidery hoop
- Muslin or other lightweight fabric
- Ballerina Pink Tu Tu Tulle Flower
- Earl Grey Felt Rose
- Grey Diamond Center Flower
- Assorted small flowers
- Fog Vintage Lace Tape
- Scrap of coordinating ribbon
- Smoke Burlap Trim
- Rectangle Canvas from ringed album
- Mini Chipboard Heart Confetti
- Shot Through the Heart Chipboard
- Gray Vintage Pearl Pins
- A printer
- Spray adhesive
- Light colored cardstock
- Acrylic paint


Fit your muslin or fabric to the hoop and trim to about 1/2" around the back.  Do not fasten the fabric until you have added any sewing you'd like to the fabric. 

I wanted to keep the soft fabric feel to this hoop so instead of printing the photo on paper and adhering it I decided to print directly onto a piece of muslin.  It's really quite easy!

1. Cut a piece of light colored fabric about the size of the cardstock you want to use.  I did an entire letter size sheet at a time and save what I don't use for other projects. Iron your fabric.

2. Use spray adhesive on the cardstock and cover the entire sheet. 

3. Carefully lay the fabric on top of the tacky side of the paper and press out all bubbles and wrinkles until it is a smooth sheet.  Trim the edges if any overlaps.

4. Run the fabric sheet through your printer as you would any photo.  Choose the setting for standard paper rather than photo paper.


Peel the cardstock off the fabric and there you have it.  I sewed a rough border around the edge and frayed it a bit before adhering it on the main circle.  This is also when I added the rectangle from the Maya Road canvas album for a patchwork look and sewed messy circles around the outer edge.  I tucked a small scrap of burlap trim to the edge of the photo and added a couple of stick pins as well.

At this point you can position your fabric in the hoop and stretch it so it lays flat.  I encircled the outside of the hoop with the fabulous fog vintage lace tape... perfect! I also added a circle of cardstock to the back of the hoop for stability and to make it more opaque.


At this point you can just go crazy with embellishment! I added "weight" to the bottom of the hoop with a swathe of flowers in various sizes. I chose gray and pink for my color scheme to match my daughter's room.


I also added a small cluster of chipboard hearts to the top after painting them and sanding the edges.

A bow on top completes this sweet framed project!