10th Holly Day: I'll Love You Forever Wall Art

OMG, y'all!  I impressed myself with the I'll Love You Forever Knitted Wall Art.

It turned out better than I ever hoped.

Grab the pattern in the link above. Once you have knit and blocked the pattern, come back here for the finishing tutorial!

Photos are below the instructions in this tutorial.

Step 1: Take your 12 in (30.5 cm) square framed canvas apart. Flip the canvas over and remove the canvas from the frame.  Usually, you can very gently pull the canvas away from the staples.  If it won't pull up without ripping, then use an Xacto knife to cut around the staple.  You can leave the staples in the frame.

Step 2: Stain or paint your frame.  We had stain sitting around so I went with that.  If you are painting, I recommend priming the wood with white paint then doing 2-3 layers of your color choice.  Whether painting or staining, it is worth while to finish with a clear, water based polyurethane coat. I did not. ha!

Steps 3&4: (top two photos) Plug in your hot glue gun now so it will be hot! Place your finished frame on top of the right side of the canvas.  Trace on the inside and outside of the frame with a pencil

Step 5: (bottom left photo) Cut the canvas on the outside line.  However, cut off your pencil line by approximately 1/8 inch-you don't want your canvas sticking out behind your frame!

Step 6: (bottom right photo) Lay your blocked panel on the canvas and arrange how you would want it to look.  Using the inside traced line will help with this.  You want at least a 1/2" of the panel between the two traced lines so we can glue it to the canvas.  For mine, you can see I have the top garter edge just on the outside of my inside line to glue down.  All other edges are sticking well off.  That is okay. This gives you wiggle room to move your panel around to be perfect.

Step 7: (Top left photo) Apply hot glue into one corner of the canvas.  Put the glue outside of the pencil line.  Choose where you want the panel corner to be and carefully put the panel corner on the glue.  I used my fingers to press down, but the glue is hot even through the yarn, so be careful!

Step 8: (top right photo) Apply the hot glue in small segments down one side of the canvas (outside the pencil line) and press your panel down as you go.  You may need to gently pull the panel so the yarn overs in the design really pop.  Once you have the edge in place, go back and apply more hot glue around the very edges.  You really want your panel secure before we cut the excess off. Continue this edge by edge.  I went across the top first, down the right side, down the left side, and did the bottom last. 
Be careful to make sure your hearts are straight across and straight up and down.

Step 9: (bottom left photo) Here is the start of the scary part.  Flip your canvas over and you will see all of the hang over excess of your panel.

Step 10: (bottom right photo) Take your sharp fabric scissors and cut off all excess panel that hangs off the canvas-don't cut the canvas!  During this time, it's wise to double check that no yarn is unraveling.  Glue down any yarn that might come undone!

Step 11: Apply hot glue to the back of your frame.  As before, I recommend doing so in segments so the hot glue doesn't cool and harden while you work.  I did the top first, 1 side at time, and then the bottom.  Take your time with this step as it's important to make the frame straight with the hearts.

Your finished framed should look something like this! 
If you have any canvas or yarn hanging off and visible from the front of your frame, carefully trim away with scissors.
You can buy little photo hangers at a home improvement store.  Simply hammer the hanger on the center top back of the frame.
You are done-zo!

I hope you enjoy this pattern and tutorial.  I would LOVE to see your finished framed art work.  Please tag #hypnotic yarn on Instagram or share your finished photo on the Hypnotic Yarn Facebook page!