You don’t need to invest in canvas art to enjoy gorgeous wall art. Surprisingly, you might already be carrying around terrific art in the form of a tote bag.
Did you know that the majority of tote bags are made using canvas, jute, or something similar? It’s what gives the bags added strength in comparison to the supposedly long-life bags that are made from recycled plastics. Those are still plastic. Traditional tote bags can be referred to as the real “bags for life”. The advantage of these as wall art is that they are long-lasting.
Fabric tote bags can be cut, manipulated, and attached to stretcher frames and even put in canvas floating frames to create truly unique wall art.
What’s more is that these are widely available in merch stores, so many of your favourite brands, artists, and even influencers may have their own merch stores selling custom tee shirts, mugs, and – tote bags. You can take those designs with your all-time favourite quotes, slogans, or designs, cut the artwork from the bag and turn it into a canvas that can be hung on your wall.
What’s needed?
Just a tote bag with the art you want to use, scissors to cut out the artwork and remove the handles, a stretcher frame to attach the art onto with a stapler, a pencil to mark fold lines, and if you want to add finesse to the finished piece, a canvas floating frame.
How to pull this DIY project off
The stretcher frame is the most important part of this project. It needs to be big enough to accommodate the artwork that’s on the tote bag. As it is being attached to a stretcher frame, you’ll need sufficient fabric to wrap around the edges.
Depending on how the tote bag was stitched, you may be able to undo the stitching to reveal excess fabric that can be attached to the reverse of the frame. Some have loads of excess hiding beneath the stitching, and others are made with precise measurements, limiting the excess fabric that you’ll have to work with. The bigger the seams are, the more fabric you’ll have to work with.
In all cases, you’ll want to remove the handles of the tote bag to reduce the weight. There’s no point in making it heavier than it needs to be.
When attaching the fabric to the stretcher frame, take your time with the positioning. Ideally, you want the art to be positioned in the centre. This can be harder than it looks because not all designs printed on tote bags are perfectly centred. You may need to cut the seams open to reveal excess fabric so that you can move the art part of it into an ideal position that isn’t too off-centre.
Before cutting the design from the bag, fold along the sides of the frames and mark the fold lines with a pencil. Check for accuracy, then cut along the fold lines.
Once cut, stretch the fabric around the frame tightly and use the stapler to fix the canvas to the wood, then trim away the excess fabric.
Once that’s done, inspect the corners and edges for any gaps. Particularly if you had to cut open seams, as that can leave gaping holes. For any gaps that leave loose hanging fabric, use glue to stick it down.
Canvas art is ready to hang either unframed or framed. It’s light enough to hang from a hook, a single nail, or using strong sticky glue dots placed around the back of the frame and then secured onto the wall.