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How to: Make DIY Temporary Fabric Wall Decals

by on May 30, 2012

As my family embarks on yet another year in our rented condo, I finally threw down the gauntlet and rebelled against bare, naked walls.  A girl can only handle so much white.  While I’ve been sneaking framed art here and there (my husband whines about having to fill holes when we eventually move), it was time to pull out the big guns: Fabric.   I love fabric.  It loves me.  It told me it wanted a place on the walls, so I listened.

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To recreate this DIY fabric decal wall art, all you need are a few things:

  • Fabric, of course!
  • A double-sided fusible webbing, like Wonder-Under or Heat n Bond.
  • Iron
  • Scissors
  • Pen or Pencil

created at: 05/29/2012

1. First, draw or trace your design on the paper side of your fusible webbing.  If your image has words or a specific direction, REVERSE your image when you draw it.  For a symmetrical image, it is easy if you fold your webbing in half and draw only half of your image.

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2.  Roughly cut around the image you drew on the paper.

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3.  With your fabric facing down, iron your paper to the wrong side of your fabric.  Get it good and stuck!  Take care if your fabric has a directional print so your image isn’t upside-down when you are done.

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4. With the paper still ironed on, cut your shape out along your drawn lines. For my symmetrical image (an odd, oval-shaped frame looking thing), I folded the fabric in half before I cut it.

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5.  Carefully peel the paper off your fabric.  If you ironed it right, the paper should peel off without a problem.  Then, stick it on the wall where you want it, and iron the fabric decal right on the wall!  My walls have flat paint, so I wasn’t worried about the heat; you might want to use a press cloth though.

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6.  You are done.  Stand back and admire!

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My blue oval frame will eventually be home to a collection of mini embroidery hoop art.

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My orange decal was perfect to use as a quick-change frame for photos of my little baby girl.  She’s cute, huh?

Where would you use fabric wall decals?

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5 Comments

  1. i want to do this in my bedroom wall but my problem is, its a plywood. is it okay if i use iron to that? am i not make a fire on it? im worried.

  2. I’m going to try doing this in my boys’ room bc I want tools (hammers, screwdrivers, ect.) sporadically on the walls and can’t figure any other way to do it! Or making my own stencils to paint them. Thank you for this!

  3. What a grand idea! I Love It! I don’t sew, I hope fabric loves me. I am and will try this…