Fabric for Walls - What to Use to Stick to Walls? General decorating topics, questions and answers. find help, tips and advice on completing your decorating projects

[OldDog1947]

I have applied several coats of PVA / waterproof PVA to my (old) plaster walls, and now I want to cover the walls with a lightweight cotton fabric to give them some character before emulsioning. I must emphasise that the fabric is lightweight - you can almost see through it. What adhesive should I use? I assumed that I could use wallpaper paste intended for heavy wallpaper, but both Polycell and Solvite tell me that they do not manufacture anything suitable for what I want.

Any suggestions, please?

[DIY_girl]

You can use starch to stick fabric to walls - and you can make your own starch really easily by mixing a tablespoon of corn starch per pint of water. Make sure you mix it well to fully dissolve the starch then paint it onto the wall or use a spay gun. Press the fabric onto the wall and when it is flat and smooth pin it in place.

Start from the top of the wall and work down, and make sure you paint or spray more starch on the fabric once it is in place so it is evenly coated..

I am not sure how the pvc will react with the starch, or how paint will react if you paint it. I have only used this method on bare walls with fabric that I want to see - but if you are painting it anyway, why not just use a patterned wallpaper?