How to glue fabric to wooden shapes

I bought a red wooden heart from Typo, but when I got it home I decided the red wasn't quite what I wanted. Two options - repaint in a new colour, or cover with fabric.

I had some orange fabric that I thought would be just what I wanted to I got out my trusty mod podge tub and got to work.

You'll need:

- mod podge
- paint brush
- sharp scissors
- fabric
- chalk/fabric pen to trace

1. Firstly, paint a thin, even layer of mod podge over the back of the fabric you are going to cut the shape from and let it dry. This lets you cut the fabric almost like it's paper and stops fraying.

(Make sure you press/iron the fabric first - if it's crinkled, those crinkled will become permanent glued in.

Cover you work surface with something protective - the glue can soak through the fabric a bit.)

2. Once the the glue on your fabric has dried, lay the fabric right side down. Lay your shape on that, with side that you will stick the fabric on down on the back of your fabric. E.g, if you were tracing a lower case 'e' it will look backwards to you as you trace it.

I used chalk because that'ts what I had, but it was hard to get in close to the edge of the shape, so a pen would work a lot better.

3. Carefully cut out your shape from the fabric. You want to be as precise as possible. If anything, make it bigger rather than smaller because you can always trim more off but you can't add more on. (Which I discovered...unfortunately precision isn't exactly my thing. If you do trim off too much, you can always make it even all the way around and pretend it was meant to look like that. So mine has a strip of the red paint showing around the edge.... what I always intended...  ;)

4. Paint both the surface of the shape and the back of the fabric (especially the edges so it doesn't lift) with mod podge and stick down - smooth out any wrinkles or bubbles. Because you've already painted the fabric in mod podge, though, it should go down pretty easily because the fabric will be slightly stiff.

5. Let it dry. Leave it as is, or finish with a layer of gloss mod podge if you want a glossy look. If you want it covered on both sides, repeat the process. If it's a symmetrical shape like my heart you could even do a different fabric on each side so you can change the look just by turning it around.)

6. Display!