DIY Family Portrait Hoops

Pictures have always been among my most treasured items! My mom is a pro photographer, so I have tons of fantastic shots of my family through the years. Before my grandfather passed away he gave me his collection of slides that were pictures my grandparents had taken when my mom and aunt were growing up. They are just fantastic! For a while now, I have been wanting to create a collage of fabric embroidery hoops above my vintage vanity in my bedroom. I had originally thought of displaying vintage fabrics in the hoops, but recently had the idea of getting my favorite pictures printed on fabric to use in the hoops instead. So, I immediately thought of Spoonflower.  For those of you unfamiliar with the company, they are an on demand printer of fabrics. Spoonflower is fabulous! They have a variety of fabrics you can get your designs printed on, as well as wallpaper and decals. This project is such a blast to make, and the finished project looks amazing!

Here’s What You Need:

*Photo Editing Software(I use Photoshop Elements)

*Photos

*Embroidery Hoops

*Paint (optional)

*Needle and thread (optional)

Instructions:

The first thing you want to do is gather your hoops and measure them. Decide which photos you wish to have in what size hoops and make notes. Now, in your photo editing software open your pictures. Create a new canvas and make it the size of the fabric you will be getting. For example a yard would be 36″x54″ for the cotton linen canvass that I printed mine on. Now resize your photos to fit your hoops. If I have a four inch hoop I will crop my photo to 4.25×4.25 square and then drag my picture onto my canvas. It is important to space your pictures about 2″ or so apart to make it easier to cut and finish the backs later on. Once you have your canvas filled, you need to save your design and upload it to your spoonflower account. They have great design help on their website Here. While waiting on your fabric you can paint your hoops with your color of choice if you like. When you get your fabric, cut out your pictures leaving about an inch of white around the pictures. You can add embroidery if you like, or you can leave them as they are. I embroidered a few with names or doodles. To assemble your hoops take the outer hoop off of the inner. Open it up a little with the screw. Lay out your fabric picture over the inner hoop. Then, push the outer hoop over the fabric onto the inner hoop. Pull and straighten out your fabric if it is wrinkled. Tighten the screw and pull your fabric taught so it is nice and stretched over the inner hoop. Tighten the screw as much as you can. There are several ways to finish off the back of your hoops. What I did was trim the fabric down to about 3/4″ wide around the hoop trimming it into a circle. Then I glued the excess fabric hanging outside the loop into the inside of the inner loop frame. You can also finish them out like this or this. It’s really up to you which way you wish to finish it out. I had a bunch and I will never see the back, so I finished mine the lazy way. It works for me. Now you are ready to hang them. I laid mine out on my bed in the way I liked them arranged and hung them one by one starting in the middle and going out on each side from there. You can make a collage in any shape or fashion you like, it’s totally customizable.

I absolutely LOVE how my family hoop wall is turning out! I am still collecting pictures from family so I know it will grow. I love how customizable it is. To me this is such a special and sweet way to preserve and display those moments captured in time. I especially love the ones of my grandparents from when they were young and lovely! I love my hoops, they make me smile every time I pass by them! I hope I have inspired some of you to try this fun project out! I know you will love it too!

Happy Crafting!

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