# How do I make fabric stiff?



## Pavitti (Aug 25, 2011)

I'm using coarse fabric to cover my walls to create a rough plastered effect, but would like a little 'stiffness' to the fabric. Also there is alot of wall to cover. Anyone have any suggestions?


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## stagehand1975 (Feb 22, 2010)

Something I learned from my days in comunity theater. We built flats for wall and would strech muslin over the wall. A solution of watered down elmers glue was then applied to these wall to stiffen them up. I haven't seen it done any other way. But I would think that a thick primer may do the trick as well. The elmers glue solution however dries clear so if you want to keep the fabric color, that would be the way to go.


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## trishaanne (Aug 20, 2005)

Fabric and craft stores also sell "fabric stiffener" that may work. I don't know how much it is or if it would be cost effective though.


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Elmers or any cheap craft glue diluted to let's say 90 parts water and 10 parts glue will do or higher. It's the same chemistry as "Stiffy Glue" used to stiffen fabric. Depending how stiff you want it you can use 15-20 parts glue. Some people submerge the entire fabric in the solution, wring it out and hang to dry. If the fabric is too big I suppose you could fill a spray bottle with the diluted glue and spray it on while it's hung. Soaking the fabric works best though. I would experiment with a small piece of fabric until you get the stiffness desired. It's easy. Good luck!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

You might find starch will work - the kind used on shirt collars when ironing back when having a starched shirt collar was considered fashionable


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## Plastic Ninja (Sep 30, 2010)

For my skinned corpse I used knee-highs, and they had to be mad stiff to to hold the paint I was using. I used a few coats of modge podge, which I think is just an acrylic sealer of some kind. Don't quote me on that.

But, that most likely wont work for you, because it's 8 bucks for a 16 oz bottle. 

Some sort of generic might be better in your case.


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## Aquayne (Sep 1, 2008)

The cheapest method would be paper mâché paste made of just flour and water.


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## Pavitti (Aug 25, 2011)

Thank you all for the suggestions, I may try the powdered starch or even a papier mache paste. I'm covering most of the wall in fabric and leaving a few gaps to show the stone wall vacuform panels, by Rose Brand in the USA or Peter Evans Studio in the UK. I'll let you know what works best, and thanks again.


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