Hanging Fabric Doilies

Since learning to sew a few months ago so I have been thrilled to enter the vast world of incredible fabric!! Among the many projects that I have taken on for my daughter and her nursery is a fun puff quilt, and I just loved squeezing as many tiny pieces of beautiful fabric together as possible on it. There was no need to restrain myself among the fabric gorgeousness, and I barely did! But after spending entirely too much time researching, shopping for and ordering fabric, I realized that I wanted a more permanent way to display the collection in her nursery than just the quilt.

So I came up with these Hanging Fabric Doilies. Aren't they sweet?!

Want to see the details? Read on!

I started off with 6 inch and 4 inch paper doilies. I cut off the lace edges and used the center circles as templates to cut out my fabric circles.

I mixed equal parts of fabric stiffener and water, brushed it onto the circles and let them air dry.

They dry a bit wrinkly, so I ironed them flat on a low heat setting, then folded them in half and ironed down the crease.

I took 2 doilies, folded those in half as well, and paper clipped them together so that they wouldn't shift while I was sewing them.

I slipped one of the creased and stiffened fabric circles under the paperclips on each side of the doilies.

I then sewed a straight stitch down the center of the doilies and fabric circles, using my creases as a guide, and left a 3 foot long string at one end.

Now I was really getting excited! I wanted my fabric circles to lay flat against the doilies, so I used a thin squiggle of hot glue to secure them in place.

I opened up the folded sides of the doilies and glued 2 coordinating fabric circles onto those as well.

You could leave the alternating sides blank, but since this is for a nursery I wanted alternating colors to best keep the baby's interest.

I made several fabric doilies in different sizes and pattern combinations, and hung them from the ceiling above the rocking chair.

I also made five of the 4 inch fabric doilies and strung them onto the frame from my son's old mobile.

It was the perfect way to spread the fabric around the room, add some pops of color, and still leave a light touch.

I just love the sweet detail on the doilies and the bursts of color are just too fun!

Curious about the fabrics?

-Ta Dot in Ocean can be found here.

-The Bloom and Grow Paisley, Bloom and Grow Geometric and Love Bird are by Riley Blake, which I purchased from this shop.

-The Yellow Matisse Flowers, Matisse Still Life, and Kitchen Blossoms were from this shop.

Hope you love these as much as I do!

I'm thrilled that these made Babble.com's list of best baby mobiles for 2012!! Check them out, among the other great mobiles here. Thanks Babble!