Hanging Cloth Bookshelf

or Fabric Holder or Whatever else you want to stuff in it!

I was inspired by this bookcase

I love the design but I was still afraid that my toddler would climb up the the shelf still. So I thought using something to secure it to the wall would be a great idea. Upon hanging some curtains I thought of using the double curtain brackets to secure it to the wall. I thought of just using a double curtain rod set but most of the ones I could find looked kinda dangerous with pointy ends, so I figured a piece of pvc pipe (hehe) or dowel rods would work. The dowel rods looked a lot better so I decided to use those!

You will need:

Fabric - 1 1/2 yards to be safe!
Thread
Sewing machine
Two dowel rods (I use 1 inch or 3/4 inch rods) or pvc
Two double curtain rod brackets (can be found at Lowes in the curtain rod section)
Power drill
Pencil

Step One:

Measure your dowel rods. Mine were 4ft long. So I cut my fabric length to 42 inches long and 24 inches wide.

Step Two:

Hem the short edges of your fabric (ie the 24 in sides). A half inch hem will work just fine!

Step Three:

Now create a casing for your dowel rod (the casing will be on the long side of the the fabric 42 in side). I fold about 2 inches of fabric over to create the casing. You then sew the casing! Just don't sew it closed the edges!!

See now you've made a casing!!!

Step Four:

Now make a casing for the other side! 

Step Five:

Install your double rod curtain brackets on the wall. This is where your power drill comes in handy! Use one of your dowel rods to help mark the width the brackets will be installed apart. I leave about an 1 inch or 1 1/2 inches of dowel on the side of my bracket (you will see this in the final product picture). Be sure you use the anchors that come with the brackets! This will keep your hanging bookshelf from falling off the wall!

Step Six: 

Place the dowel rods into the brackets on one side and slip the dowel rods through the casings on the fabric and then through the remaining brackets.

Step Seven: 

Tighten the securing screws on the brackets to hold the dowel rods in place.

Step Eight:

Step back and admire your awesome craftiness!!

Final Product

This is one that I completed a week or so ago. I could not hang tonight's shelf because the babies are sleeping and the power drill would wake them up! It works great for holding fabrics! You could even get SUPER! crafty and add little pockets to the front to hold your scissors, fabric marking pens, etc.

Total Costs:

4.97 for each bracket at Lowes

2.18 for each dowel rod

1.98 for the clearance table cloth that I used as fabric