When you love gingham like I do, you’re always looking for ways to incorporate it into a room.  Our bathroom re-do was no different and even the flooring is in a gingham pattern but the squares are so big, I don’t think anyone really noticed.  One of the final components to finishing the bathroom was getting the shelves and drawers ready to have all of our toiletries returned to their rightful spots in the bathroom.  It was getting a little old having lotion in the office, teeth stuff in the kitchen, and hair products in the dining room.

The drawer and shelf liners needed to be replaced because even though the adhesive drawer lining product I used 13-years ago stated it wouldn’t stick to paint, it did.  When I removed it for painting, it was quite a mess.  I needed a new plan for drawer liners because I didn’t want a repeat of the mess below.

How to make shelf liners

I’m really pleased with how these gingham drawer liners turned out.  That’s the same shelf, too.  Sanding, priming, and painting happened before the cute gingham was placed on the shelf.  And, it’s not just fabric.  I applied a vinyl coating to the back of the fabric.  It was easy and looks great.

How to make drawer liners

I used a product called “Therm O Web Iron on Vinyl” that I purchased at Fabric Depot, which is my favorite local fabric store.  (Fabric Depot mails out very generous coupons which I use regularly or you can receive them by e-mail.)  Iron on vinyl is basically a laminator for fabric.  I only used it on one side of my fabric but you can apply it to both sides.

The iron on vinyl has simple instructions that are easy to follow, but I would add the following tips when working with the product:

Tips for working with “Therm O Web Iron on Vinyl”

1. Wash and dry fabric first.  I always do this because I don’t want my projects to shrink later.  (Me learning from past disasters is always good!)
2. Press the fabric first with a hot iron to get fabric smooth before attaching vinyl.
3. Use a rotary cutter to cut the fabric after you’ve applied the vinyl.  Don’t rely on the grain of the fabric/design for your cuts.  My fabric was definitely not straight when following the design and looked more like a parallelogram when I finished cutting it with scissors.

If only applying vinyl to one side, plan to use fabric side facing up.  My fabric side down (vinyl side up) curled up on the corners and it looked funny.  It was much better turned over.

As always, a test or dry run is in good order.  I love how it looks.  Of course I do – it’s gingham!

Do you ever work with adhesives?  Do you have a favorite product?

Related posts:
Our bathroom re-do project was very sustainable – good for the wallet and the environment.
I rarely use coupons but I use them from a few stores, including Fabric Depot.  Find out what other coupons I use here.