applique bird art tutorial

I am a huge fan of using fabric for art - a canvas, staple-gun and some favourite fabric equals instant art on a budget! I made this bird art work a couple of months ago now and have finally got around to sharing it with you...and a tutorial if you would like to make it yourself :)

Time taken
Around an hour- I did most of it at the kitchen bench while the girls ate their lunch- got to multi task to get anything done with 3 kids!
You will need
* a canvas in what ever size you want ( I bought a set of 3 from The Warehouse for $20 on special). You can also find them at Spotlight, Paper Plus and specialty art supply stores.
* enough fabric to cover your chosen canvas- make sure you have enough to wrap right around the canvas - better to have too much that you can trim off than too little and find it won't reach around the back to staple! I used a fabric from Spotlight from the Maisy book fabric range.
* a staple gun
* vliesofix/bondaweb (most craft supplies stores sell this)
* piece of fabric for the bird applique

1. Print out this bird template from Martha Stewart.
2. (Optional)  I wanted the bird facing the opposite way to the template one (when you use vliesofix for applique traced images end up the other way on the fabric when finished) so I stuck the template onto a window and traced the back of it so I could easily see the outline.

3. Place the vliesofix rough side down/smooth side up on top of the bird outline and trace over it with a pencil.
4. Cut roughly around the bird
5. Place the bird rough side down onto the back/wrong side of your chosen bird fabric.
6. Iron onto the fabric on maximum heat
7. Cut around bird outline

8. Peel off the vliesofix from the back of the bird. Work out where you would like your bird to go on your big piece of fabric and pin the bird right side up onto your fabric.
9. On your ironing board, hold the bird in place on your fabric and carefully remove the pins. Iron bird to fabric on maximum heat. I didn't stitch around the bird as in standard applique for things like cushions or clothes- I think it looks better just ironed on for this art work .
10. Lie fabric right side down on the floor, place canvas down so the back of the canvas is facing you, begin stapling fabric to canvas, pulling reasonably tightly as  you go (keep checking if your fabric pattern needs to be straight!). Take care with your corners and keep them nice and flat by folding the fabric carefully over the corners before stapling.
11. Choose a spot, hang and admire!

This would work well with lots of other images too- I'm thinking that an elephant one would look good in Jack's room!

Megan x