Last winter, in one of my sudden craft attacks, I bought some lively patterned fabric, wrapped it around a wooden frame and stapled it in back.

It’s big –about 48 inches wide and 36 inches high –and the frame is actually the wood strips with interlocking corners that artists use to stretch canvases.

It hangs on the wall near our ping-pong table alongside several of our daughter’s ’tween posters. I bought extra fabric and made some floor pillows, too.

This fabric project was exactly the kind I did years ago in my early apartments. With staple gun in hand, I created instant art with boldly patterned fabric. It was fun to do and, even better, cheap!

The look still works today. As a variation, you can use several smaller frames and hang them together in a dazzling display.

“The fabric frames can be hung in a horizontal series of three or four, or a grid pattern of nine,” suggests the Kansas City Star.

Or scoop up some garage-sale frames and hang the fabric inside for a more vintage, feminine style.

It comes as no surprise that Margaret Jendrejzak, the in-home decorator at Calico Corners, 5501 Main St., Williamsville, also likes the idea of fabric as wall art.

It is less expensive than pricey artwork and can hide imperfections on walls, she said. In her own home, her foyer walls are padded and covered in fabric.

If you are really feeling creative, take fabric with a large graphic print, divide it into four or so sections and cut it apart. Then hang it on frames in such a way that the wall display re-creates the pattern.

“We’re also seeing a lot of people taking a piece of wood, padding it, covering it in fabric and using it as a headboard,” Jendrejzak said.

Or, she said, “People will take a beat-up coffee table and decoupage it with fabric.”

Another economical way to freshen up a home is to replace the seat fabric on your dining room or kitchen chairs.

If the seats are the wrap-and-staple type, it’s an easy do-it-yourself project.

“New fabric changes the chair dramatically,” Jendrejzak said.

Recovering chair seats is popular, and so are such do-it-yourself projects as making fabric-covered cornices, said Michele Dzikoski, owner of Fabric Warehouse, 6599 S. Transit Road, Lockport.

And these days, you don’t even have to know how to sew –or saw wood.

Dzikoski said people buy a 2-by-8- foot sheet of foam insulation, which is quite dense, from a home-improvement store and use a high-temperature glue gun to adhere the sides together. Wrapping the cornice in batting will soften the edges, she said.

Then simply attach the fabric using straight pins and install the cornice with L-brackets. With pinning, it’s so easy you can change the fabric with the season, she said.

“In this area, people like to do it themselves. Especially with the economy, people are staying home more. They are looking for ways to perk up their environment with quick, inexpensive fixes –such as sewing new pillows or recovering the ones they already own,” Dzikoski added.

Recovering pillows. Now that has me thinking