Upholstering a Frame Mat

Remember the word art I whipped up for the twins nursery?  Well, I mentioned that the homemade mat I made using the existing cardboard backing looked a little shoddy around the inside edges and so one night while the twins were tucked away in their crib I reupholstered it to get a much nicer facade.

I used some leftover curtain lining I had laying around from our dining area valance project, some masking tape, a little craft glue, and a scissors.

First I cut out a rectangular piece slightly larger than my cardboard mat:

I didn’t worry about cutting the edges perfectly straight since they were going to be attached to the back of the cardboard and therefore unseen like so:To get a snug fit I secured the middle of each side first and worked my way to the corners.  I didn’t have to worry about getting perfect corners either because they’d be hidden under the frame.

Then I cut the excess fabric out of the middle:

And cut some diagonal lines at the corners so that I could again wrap the fabric around the back:

I then put a few droplets of craft glue where the fabric would be laying on the back (to keep it extra tight and secure since the inside edge would be seen) and taped it down the same way that I did the outer edge:

Finally, I put the whole shebang back together and hung it up revealing a much more polished reminder for our girls:

Never will I pay to have a custom mat made for an odd-sized frame while I’ve got some cardboard and fabric laying around!  Think of all the options too!  Colored and/or patterned fabric or even scrapbook paper would be fun to spice up any artwork or photograph!  Decorative edges or even matted shapes would be so cool too!  Anybody else feelin’ the excitement?!  Anybody else made their own mat?  Lay it on me!  I’d love to see!

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I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I’m looking forward to catching up on some projects after a great week with family!  My two sisters, my niece, and my mom were all here for the week and we had so much fun sewing up a storm and loading up on sweets!  Now that they’re gone our house is too quiet and I’m really missing the extra hands, especially since Cecilia has gotten RSV and a double ear infection…boo.  Poor thing has to be attached to a gas mask every six hours and it breaks my heart.  It’s her first real sickness and I’m hoping the last for a long while.  On the plus side though, we’re now proud owners of a pink panda nebulizer!  How cute is that?!  :)