Sunday 5 June 2011

.Pinwheels for the kiddos.

Back in the day, before I was consumed with my sewing hobby, I dabbled a bit in scrapbooking.  I remember looking at double sided papers back then and thinking to myself that it was such a silly idea, because you would only see one side of the paper in a scrapbook layout anyway.  My thoughts about double-sided paper have since subsided, now I think they rock.
Presenting last night's work of art - Pinwheel Canvas... 
 
Double-sided paper was awesome because it meant that I didn't have to worry about sticking two single-sided pieces together, making for a very quick and easy Saturday night craft :)
It was fun.  I bought a massive canvas last year, wanting to make an art display similar to this for a blank wall in the kids bedroom.  I still love the idea and want to do it sometime, but pinwheels have been calling my name for quite awhile now and after being inspired by Sam's Butterfly Canvas I could picture a bright and colour pinwheel wall art being made in a similar way.
I really love how it turned out, even more so the next morning (things always look/seem better the next day, don't they?!) and it will definitley inject a bright punch of colour into their bedroom.
A few specifications for people who want to make something similar themselves...

Making pinwheels is really, really easy - just google for a tutorial if you aren't sure.  If you use double-sided paper, it is much faster.  You can stick two pieces of printed paper back to back using some glue or spray adhesive if you want to though.

I cut my squares for the pinwheels at 11cm x 11cm.  My canvas size was 90cm x 60cm.  I made 28 pinwheels.

I used a random selection of brads from my old scrapbooking supplies for the center of each pinwheel then arranged them on the canvas and stuck them down with a hot glue gun.  (Make sure they are in the correct position before sticking them down, it is really hard to pull them off once the glue is set and makes a mess of your canvas...ask me how I know...)

In hindsight, I'm wondering if it may have looked better if all of the pinwheels were sitting in random directions rather than all uniformly lined up like mine are - I did pull a couple off and play around with the direction but it lifted the white coating off the canvas and was going to be very messy so I stopped (- now you know how I know...)
Anyway, I'm loving it and it was a nice change from the crazy sewing of samples that I have been making of late to take to the Craft and Quilt Fair in Sydney.  I think making a similar canvas using all the one colour or even all of the one paper would look striking too - how many pinwheel canvases can one house have?!

P.S. The market in Ulverstone on Friday night was great - such an impressive turn out, lovely to meet lots of new faces and although I was there with Citrus Pop, it was fun to talk sewing for a lot of the night too!

14 comments:

KJ@letsgoflyakite said...

This is really lovely! A really wonderful piece.

Sarah Craig said...

That is fabulous! I think you ought to take one to that craft fair in Sydney!!

Jan said...

Wow, this turned out great. I like all the pinwheels uniform, rather than all random. Maybe 1 random would have been fun.

Mrs M said...

I love this, I love the colours and I love the straight lines I think it's perfect.

Katy Cameron said...

Oh how fun, love all the colours! I have several large canvas waiting to be turned into works of art, maybe I'll get hit by the inspiration too one day!

The Clayburn Family said...

Wow! What a beautiful piece of art. Great job!

Keera Job - live.love.sew pattern co. said...

You've given me the perfect project for old double-sided papers.... and a great gift for my nieces... thanks toni x

Unknown said...

What a lovely, colourful decorating idea!

Cass said...

They look great. Will you be at the quilt fair? I'm help Nicole Mallelieu on her stand so it would be lovely to finally meet you.

Anonymous said...

This is wonderful! I might just have to make one for the nursery. Kicking myself for sending all my scrapbooking paper to the op shop just this weekend!

Clares Place said...

LOVE it Toni! So fresh and bright - perfect for the kids room and Lil looks very happy with it! :)

Hosted Exchange Email said...

They are so lovely!

Marianne said...

OMG that is just fantastic. I can't wait to buy some double sided paper now.

Leah said...

I love it! One of the loveliest things I've seen in blogland for ages!

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