You know you love it….

I’ve been meaning to do another plastic canvas post for a while now, especially since generous friends have been gifting me with some great PC books.

I know some of you think I’m insane for this, but I really do think plastic canvas has huge potential as a craft material. And I’m about to prove it to you:

This little house purse is from Erica Wilson’s excellent New World of Plastic Canvas. (Someday I’ll quote from the intro chapter, which is awesome.) I think this is cute, and well-designed. It respects the primary limitation of plastic canvas, which is: it doesn’t do curves very well. Not to mention, when you layer embroidery on top of needlepoint, you get something really pretty.

Book covers? Absolutely! Think how sturdy they’d be. (From this book.)

Erica Wilson does an amazing job of elevating plastic canvas through design. This table top is very pretty – and more so because she didn’t bother with the standard needlepoint tent stitch. Instead, she opted for a crewel-like design of longer stitches, which creates an interesting texture.

Here are a couple of what I’d consider less-successful designs, from yet another book. Again, the curved forms just don’t take well to the PC. They just come out looking too chunky and somehow . . . cheap? However, I think the shape of that vase is interesting, and could be developed with some different stitchery.

Of course I can’t resist showing you these. All I can think of is how the sand would pass right through the mesh soles. They would, however, be most effective footwear if you wanted to kick sand in someone’s face.

But, another take on the plastic canvas shoe, and Erica Wilson’s design sense at work again.

By now you’re asking, “But what the heck is that in the photo at the top of this post?” It’s a typewriter cover! I love this thing – it makes me think of the movie 9 to 5 for some reason. Couldn’t you see Dolly Parton whipping this bad boy off her Selectric to start the day?

Remember this post in fifteen years, when we’re all making things with plastic canvas. You heard it here first. :-)