Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Tutorial Tuesday: Easy Vintage Postcard Wall Hanging

Tutorial Tuesday: Easy Vintage Postcard Wall Hanging


As a teenager dreaming of traveling the world, Amy of ehmeelu started to collect postcards...

I loved everything about them - the cool retro typography on the mid-century ones, the handwritten messages giving little snapshots of half-forgotten trips, the colourful stamps, the kitschy photos of every type of man-made and natural landmark you could imagine!


When I got older and actually moved to and from Asia, I didn't keep many personal items...moving by airplane has a way of whittling down your belongings! But somehow that postcard collection just kept growing. It seemed a shame to keep it in a box, so with the current trend of 70's style wall hangings in mind, I came up with an easy display idea.

pwh supplies.jpg


All you need to create your own vintage postcard wall-hanging is…


  • a handful of postcards
  • some paperclips
  • a thin dowel to suspend them
  • a sturdy darning needle (to poke holes in the postcards)


pwh layout.jpg

First, choose your postcards. Remember you want to display some of the backs too. Do you have cards with interesting handwriting, or messages from people you know? I chose eight postcards with a retro Canadian theme, including two with messages addressed to my grandparents! My dowel (a lonely wooden knitting needle) was just long enough to hold two columns of postcards.


Once you are happy with the layout, carefully punch holes in the corners of the postcards with the darning needle. I placed them 1 cm in from the sides and 0.5 cm from the top and bottom edges. Every card needs a hole in all four corners, except the two cards that will hang at the bottom, which do not need holes in the bottom edge.


pwh paperclip.jpg     pwh measure holes.jpg

It’s easy to measure the position of the holes on the first postcard only, then use it as a guide to punch the rest of the holes.


Now thread a paper clip through the holes to join the postcards in the layout you have chosen.

pwh finished.jpg


The paperclips at the top of the layout will just slide onto the dowel. If the dowel is a little too thick to easily slide them on, just bend the paperclips open a little wider, and squeeze them tight once the columns of postcards are positioned the way you want them on the dowel.


You’re done! Now hang your vintage postcard wall hanging anywhere a wall needs a little colour or sense of adventure!


...project by Amy Anderson, who after living in 8 apartments, 4 cities, and 2 different hemispheres, has done a lot of creative shoestring decorating!


Find Amy’s knitting at ehmeelu.etsy.com

@ehmeeluknits on Instagram.

2 comments:

  1. Great idea Amy! I love the knitting needle at the top!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Laura! I do tend to have a few knitting needles handy ;-)

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