DIY Gold Foil Map Art | How to Apply Foil to Velvet Fabric

I've been enjoying the comeback of velvets and metallics recently as it is one of my personal favourite combinations, so I thought I would create a project to display it in all its glory :)

It's a straightforward project, and I think very satisfying when you peel away the transfer sheets to reveal the gold shapes underneath. I hope you enjoy it!

Supplies

- Deco Foil Hot Melt Adhesive

- Deco Foil Gold Foil Transfer Sheets

- Velvet or other smooth non-stretch fabric; I used upholstery velvet in dark green. Bear in mind that this fabric will need to be ironed so use something that can withstand heat and isn't too delicate.

- Iron & Ironing board

- Baking/Parchment Paper

- Small Scissors & Fabric Scissors

- Ruler

- Carbon Paper & Pencil

- Masking Tape

- Printer & A4 Paper

- Magnetic Hanger or other method of display

- Rotary Cutter & Cutting Mat (optional)

Step 1: Print Out a Map

The map I printed out was a simplified world map that I made especially for this project. If you have a cutting machine you can aim for perhaps a more accurate representation, but since I'm cutting this out by hand I couldn't include every tiny detail, so this simplified version is smoothed-out at the edges.

You'll need to print this map out on an A4 sheet of regular printer paper. Feel free to make it bigger, just note that this size fits nicely onto a sheet of the Deco Foil Hot Melt Adhesive.

Simplified Map.pdf
Download

Step 2: Transfer the Image

Place one sheet of the Deco Foil Hot Melt Adhesive on your work surface with the rough/textured side facing down.

Place a sheet of carbon paper on top of this sheet, making sure it is the correct way up (carbon side down). I cut the carbon paper down to be roughly the same size as the adhesive sheet.

Cut around the outside of the map image to remove some of the excess white paper, then place this map on top of the pile.

Make sure that the entire map image lies within the adhesive sheet area, then masking tape everything together.

Use a pencil to trace the outline of the map.

Once completed, remove the tape, map & carbon paper, and you'll be left with the map outline on the smooth side of the adhesive.

Step 3: Cut Out the Map

Use small scissors to cut out the map pieces. This can be a bit fiddly!

Make sure you lay out the pieces neatly in front of you once you've cut out each shape, so you don't forget which piece went where. Use your printed map for reference.

Once all pieces have been cut out, arrange the pieces how you want them on your piece of fabric. Remember all of the pieces must be rough-side down.

Step 4: Iron on the Adhesive

Carefully place a piece of baking/parchment paper over the pieces, making sure the shapes stay where you want them. You want the parchment paper to lie flat, so if you need to you can iron it before you place it down on top of the map.

Use your iron on medium heat (no steam) to heat up the entire map for about 30 seconds.

Leave the fabric to cool completely.

Then, remove the paper backing on each of the map shapes. This should leave you with just adhesive on the fabric, as shown.

Step 5: Apply Gold Foil

Next, place a sheet of the gold transfer foil over the adhesive areas. This sheet must be colour (gold) side up.

Smooth the foil out, then place the parchment paper over the top.

Iron over the top as before, but this time heat the area for a little longer (approx. 40 seconds).

Leave to cool completely, then slowly remove the foil sheet.

If, as you are removing the sheet, there are areas where the foil hasn't fully stuck down, put the gold sheet and parchment paper down again and repeat the ironing step again.

There were a few little areas where the foil didn't stick down fully for me, which I was kind of anticipating due to using velvet which has a slight pile. The smoother the fabric, the more perfect the foil should turn out.

Step 6: Finishing Touches

I then just cut my velvet fabric to shape (around 32 x 25 cm) and attached the magnetic wooden hanger.

If you wanted, you could instead choose to make the fabric into a pennant shape or another kind of classic banner style. And if you're using a fraying fabric you will probably want to hem the edges on a sewing machine.