Tag Archives: scarves

DIY Project: Silk Scarf Mounted on Canvas

The post about framed scarves — which featured framed Hermes scarves and less pricey but also beautiful scarves — is one of the most popular posts on this site.

The images found while assembling that post inspired me to frame a silk Talbot’s scarf that was originally purchased to hang on our living room wall. The scarf’s theme — exotic travel — adds to our living room things which are from India, Burma, Laos, Thailand, China and Italy. And High Point, North Carolina.  :)

After wearing the scarf for a few years, it was time for it to claim the space where it was meant to be. Here’s how I framed the scarf …

Materials:

  • silk scarf 36″ x 36″
  • 36″ x 36″ x 1″ canvas
  • Matte antique gold color spray paint
  • Silk pins from sewing notions
  • Nail already in wall from a previous hanging

Here’s the scarf as it’s looked for a few years:

Here’s how it will look on the canvas (next step, ironing!):

Here’s one of my ever-present arts n’ crafts assistants demonstrating how big the canvas is:

Next, I sprayed gold paint only where canvas will be visible, plus the edges. It’s not necessary to paint the entire canvas so the paint can be used for another project. I had to apply several layers of spray paint for even coverage:

Then another easy step. After the paint dried, I pinned the scarf to the canvas along the edges:

It was as easy as that.

One small snafu. I thought the scarf was smaller than the 36″ x 36″ canvas, but when the creases were ironed out, the scarf became the exact same size as the canvas. You could choose a bigger canvas so there’s a “frame” of gold around the scarf. But this way you can still see the gold canvas edges.

The canvas is not the best quality. It’s slightly warped and it doesn’t have a smooth even surface, but you can’t see this once the scarf is pinned to the canvas. If you used a finer linen canvas, you could sew the scarf edges onto the canvas instead of pinning them. I suppose rather than a “framed scarf,” this is more of a “mounted scarf.” I chose this option because I like the casual appearance of unframed canvas.

Some more images. This is a scrapbook I made that is an imaginery diary that Amelia Earhart would have kept if she really did land on a Pacific island and survive there for awhile:

Below is a prayer bowl from Sikkim, brass weights from an antique shop in Tuscany (San Gimignano or Volterra? I forget now) and travel journals from a place much closer — the Barnes & Noble within walking distance of our house! I keep a written journal of memories of every trip we take:

I like all the colors and patterns, but you need to be closer to this vignette to appreciate them:

I’ve stored turquoise necklaces in the bowl:

My cats are really well-behaved. With stuff on this table, they don’t jump on it at all. There’s another table just like this one in front of a big window that I keep clear of things to give them lots of room to sit in the window, a favorite spot of theirs. This corner with this scarf is now one of my favorite spots in the house.

See this project and more DIY ideas at:

CraftOManiac | DIY Showoff | I {Heart} Nap TimeJust A Girl Show and Share Day | Making the World Cuter | Market Yourself Monday | Passionately Artistic | Weekend Warrior

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Want Old Not New – Country Not Contemporary

We’re pushing our architect into the unknown, as our vision is very different than that of other homeowners he’s working with in Chennai. But it’s a fun partnership, and he’s seeing some cool new ideas. We hope our apartment becomes a fantastic showpiece that he can show others. His other clients may want contemporary, but hundreds & hundreds of people are visiting this blog weekly by searching for country.

Here’s the top five posts of the past five months. Several country elements in our plans rank at the top:

#1 Post:  Farmhouse Sink

Our architect is in search of a farmhouse sink in India. Our preference is copper but due to maintenance needs, we may go with white or beige like the famous Shaw sink.

#2 Post: Tuscan Kitchen Hoods

A Tuscan style hood is key to the kitchen’s style. The open floor plan makes the kitchen visible throughout the living area. So the Tuscan hood will be a big driver of the entire apartment’s style.

#3 Post: Framed Scarves

Who knows if a framed scarf will appear in the India pied a terre. But a scarf has been framed and hung in our Chicago home and a blog post with DIY tips is coming soon!

#4 Post: Farmhouse Dining Table

This post showed rectangular tables. My husband wants a round dining table, so there will be a future post with round inspiration photos.

#5 Post: Pink & Orange

I’ve collected bunches more orange + pink photos since this post, so 2011 will bring a repeat of this topic. I could never live with pink and orange, but love looking at it online, very energizing!

Block Print Color

My previous posts about block printing favor light natural colors. But of course block prints also come in luscious and even riotous color. Check out this first one — looks like the richness of pomegranate color!

Images from Soma, textile creators and exporters in India:

These can be yours, at Soma shops in India. (By the way, I am not paid at all to post about where to get these things — I really appreciate it when other bloggers reveal where to find the things we adore, so I’m just sharing in the same way.)

From Kilol, here is a combination of prints similar to the look I favor from Les Indiennes but stronger in black and white – a mix of very large and small prints:

This image above reminds me – this weekend I got a little package in the mail from my parents. It was an envelope of photos they found of my first apartment as a single gal finally earning enough for my own place, in the mid-90s. That apartment was full of black, white, gray, maple and other blond woods, just like the photo above. I had columns and Grecian busts mixed with modern silver/aluminum things. Framed posters of words and fonts. A cardboard chair! An eclectic mix. I loved what I lived with then, I love what I live with now. Certainly there’s much more color now. Oh how things have changed over the years. I think we all evolve that way, don’t we?

Back to the block print obsession of today. Following images are from Anokhi’s USA website (although I’d rather go to Mauritius to buy in person there! ha ha). Here’s only one of an enormous selection of hand-printed cotton voile scarves:

I love cotton voile. Sewing is one of my hobbies and for summer I sew dresses with two layers of cotton voile — one outer layer usually with a printed design, and a solid lining layer. It’s so sheer, you need minimum two layers. The two layers of cotton voile feel luxurious due to the quality of the fabric, and they’re very cool in hot climates. Lightweight cotton voile scarves are a great way to add a punch of color to spring and summer outfits. Anokhi is in Chennai as well as many other cities in India. Surely I’ll stop in the Chennai store on our next trip. Thankfully it’s not far from our apartment in T Nagar. If you’re in Jaipur, you can visit the Anokhi Museum on hand block printing. As I appreciate textiles and learning more about them, that’s on my must-stop list whenever we get to visit Jaipur.

Speaking of learning about textiles, Selvedge magazine celebrates all textiles. Here’s an image from the magazine of brilliant block print inks:

Imagine mounting wood print blocks with remnants of color inks on a wall — they really are little works of art:

If you find wood print blocks with ink, don’t wash it off — hang mixed colors together. Or apply ink to unpainted blocks you find. The mix of various colors could bring an eye-catching look to a wall, more than plain wood.

Recycled Silk Sari Yarn & Knits

In addition to home decorating, I enjoy sewing and knitting garments and home accessories. Our India pied a terre will surely feature many textiles when it’s complete. Fabrics bring color, texture and soft comfort.

Lately, I’ve been drawn to the idea of yarns made from recycled sari silk. These yarns are being used to knit and weave garments and home accessories. I could imagine weaving sari yarn into pillow covers, then sewing decorative  appliques on the woven textiles. That sounds much more interesting than the very predictable simple cut of sari fabric and its gold border to make a pillow.

To see results these yarns can create, check out this scarf woven by knit Mama knit and featured on her blog:

Scarves don’t have to be wide like this for warmth. You can make them very skinny just for a colorful design accessory.

The knit Mama knit blog gave me an idea I hadn’t considered yet — to weave with the recycled silk sari yarn, and to use a complementary non-sari yarn in the project. As was done with the scarf featured above, you can weave fabric and use a solid yarn for the warp and sari yarn for the weft. You can double up yarns and knit with two yarns to make a chunkier knit — I’ve done this when I wanted to use a very fine yarn for a scarf and needed to “beef up” the thin yarn. You can create stripes by alternating solid color yarn with the multi-hued sari yarns, like this:

Here’s a shawl knit from sari yarn, made by the author of KnitMe blog:

She discusses an issue with excessive fuzziness and how to resolve it. While researching silk sari yarns, I’ve seen a range of yarns, some very fuzzy and some that look much smoother.

Here’s an example of denim embellished with silk sari yarn. I don’t completely understand how this was done, but you can visit the Sue Bleiweiss blog to learn more about how she created this piece:

Her final result is a fabulous journal, so not all of these projects are only for wearable fashion:

Make an adorable coin purse:

A larger clutch purse was created by Windloop and featured on her blog:

Sources of recycled silk sari yarn? A Google search will bring up many sources of yarns from independent sellers’ websites, eBay, etsy and more. Some sites tell you more about the origins and production, to ensure ethical production.