Fabric Picture Frames (Convertible to Hanging or Standing)

I am so excited to have a good friend of mine visit me from Dallas at the end of this month. She's been incredibly supportive about my sewing projects and aspirations. She's also been so patient to listen to me talk about it as frequently as I do. I wanted to make some her something, because there's nothing more rewarding to me then making something for someone I care about. I designed these fabric picture frames for her to hang in her cubicle (she's an accountant so she's there a lot right now!) They can be propped on a desk or hung on a wall. She had mentioned that she wanted to print out our Seattle/Portland trip pictures to display. The frames were pretty quick to make once I figured out how big I wanted them to be. This tutorial is for a frame with a 2.5" square window, but you can customize this easily.


Materials:

• (1) 12.5x5" piece of fabric (I went with upholstery fabric)
• (1) manila folder
• embroidery floss and needle
• small piece of adhesive Velcro

Instructions:

• Take your piece of fabric and mark up the lines as pictured above on the wrong side of the fabric. The black lines are the fold/hem lines and the red lines are cut lines. The pattern has 4 panels, starting from the top of the image: 1) back stand-outer, back stand-inner, frame front, frame back.
• Start by sewing around the 2.5" square. This is to keep the corners from fraying when you cut your "X". (I unfortunately didn't think to do this when I made my frames. It dawned on me while I was in bed.)
• Cut "X" through the middle of that square. Trim down the triangle pieces to about .25" flaps. 

• Fold/iron these flaps on the 2.5" square line, wrong sides together. Sew them down. (Iron consistently throughout this project to keep good creases and to get a more professional look.)
• Hem the long sides, then hem the short sides.
• Cut a piece of manila folder into a 4.5" square.
• Fold the two back stand pieces wrong sides together and slip the folder piece in between. The folder piece should not be exposed, so trim if necessary. Sew all 4 sides together. (The manila folder adds stiffness.)

• Fold the frame back and front wrong sides together and sew only the outer three other sides. The unsewn side will be the opening to insert a picture.
• Cut another piece of manila folder just big enough to fit inside the pocket.

• Stick a small piece of Velcro at the bottom of the insides of frame. This keeps it flattened when the frame is hung.
• Poke the embroidery floss from the inside of the fold of the frame about 1/2" from the center. Pull the floss back through with equal spacing. Leave a small loop on the outside of the frame, tie the ends from the inside and trim. The loop can be pulled taut and hidden when used on a desktop.

I think these would make great gifts and I can't wait to make more!