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Hands Occupied

Contemporary yarn crafts by Heidi Gustad. Knitting, crochet, latch hook and macrame.

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How-to: Hang a Giant Map

October 22, 2012 2 Comments

My husband has had this awesome map of The Essential Geography of the United States of America for several months now. It’s a map that Slate called “The Greatest Paper Map of the United States You’ll Ever See“, which immediately appealed to my husband’s appreciation for cartographically sound maps. That’s my guy!

The problem with amazing giant maps is how hard it is to hang them without dropping a huge stack of cash on custom framing. When my husband convinced me that maps should be an essential decorating element in our living room, I put my crafty skills to work.

How-to: Hang a Giant Map | HandsOccupied.com

Supplies

12 binder clips

2, 1/2″ thick x 48″ long dowels (My map was about as wide as my dowels were long, approximately 50 inches. If your poster is bigger, you might want to spend some time finding a dowel that’s the right size for your needs.)

12 eye screws

hacksaw

string that doesn’t stretch too much

a freaking giant map or poster

Directions

Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you. Hold your hacksaw, teeth side up, between your legs. Carefully saw a line through the center of each end of one dowel by moving it back and forth over the teeth. This method sounds a little crazy, but it’s a lot safer than using the saw normally. I almost messed up my thumb really bad, believe me!

Knot your string at each end and secure it to each end of the dowel as shown. I used fishing line in my finished project, but opted for bright yarn for demonstration’s sake in the photos.

How-to: Hang a Giant Map | HandsOccupied.com

Screw half of your eye screws into one dowel, evenly spaced apart. Screw the rest of your screws in a similar fashion to the other dowel.

How-to: Hang a Giant Map | HandsOccupied.com

Pop a wing off of a binder clip and hook it into an eye screw. Reattach it to the binder clip.

How-to: Hang a Giant Map | HandsOccupied.com

How-to: Hang a Giant Map | HandsOccupied.com

Attach the rest of your binder clips to all of the eye screws. When all of the clips are attached, twist the eye screws so that the binder clips all hang facing the same direction.

How-to: Hang a Giant Map | HandsOccupied.com

Clip your map to all of the binder clips and use the string to hang it up. Simple! I really like how bookish the map looks hung with school supplies. The dowels harken back to the rolled maps we used to have in my elementary school, which as a Librarian, I love.

How-to: Hang a Giant Map | HandsOccupied.com

You can visit the cartographer’s website to learn more about him or to purchase the map featured in today’s project. 

Filed Under: How-to Tagged With: binder clip, dowel, giant map, home decor, maps

About Heidi

Heidi Gustad is a craft book author & content creator in love with primary colors & vintage vibes. She specializes in knitting, crochet, latch hook and macramé, and her first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is out now!

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Comments

  1. andrew

    November 4, 2013 at 6:13 am

    Great tip guys. it’s just what I need. a simple and practical way to hang a freaking big map. thanks for being so crafty.
    A

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Home Decor Question for You! says:
    June 8, 2013 at 9:43 am

    […] some time (and as little money as possible) in improving our living room. So far, we’ve hung the map featured in yesterday’s post, I’ve worked some crafty magic*, and we bought some vintage […]

    Reply

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Heidi Gustad from Hands Occupied / Craft Book Author and Knitting, Crochet, Latch Hook and Macrame Designer

Hi! I’m Heidi, an author, yarn craft designer and content creator specializing in knitting, crochet, latch hook & macrame. My work unapologetically features primary colors and vintage-meets-modern style. My first book, Latch Hook: 12 Projects for the Modern Maker, is now available!

Professionally I’m most known for: advanced intarsia knitting design & modern latch hook design.

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A new YouTube tutorial is live today covering how A new YouTube tutorial is live today covering how to knit the Little Butterfly Stitch (aka Bowknot Stitch). It adds so much cute character to simple stockinette. Only a little funky to knit, and it packs a huge visual punch! 🦋 
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Find the video & written stitch pattern on the blog and YouTube, links are in bio. 
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Yarn: @kelbournewoolens Germantown in Baby Blue via @knit_picks. Needles: Prism Interchangeables, also from Knit Picks. 
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Pictured: a light blue swatch of Little Butterfly Stitch knitting on a pink background. A skein of yarn and a few stitches of knitting are nearby.
“You’re telling me words can be pronounced in “You’re telling me words can be pronounced in different ways and mean the same things?!” 👀 Posting this here, just to make it clear: when anyone says skayne, skeen, or skyne, it can be safely assumed we’re talking about a bundle o’ yarn,  a SKEIN. It’s not necessary to shame someone for using a word that is known to have MULTIPLE common pronunciations. 🧶
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Can you plz comment sharing how you say SKEIN and where you learned it? The OED happens to say SKAYNE, but it’s not a personal attack if someone says SKEEN and you say SKYNE or even Saskatoon. I’m legitimately curious. We don’t all knit or crochet the same way, and craft evolves a bit like language - it is passed on. There is so much value in having conversations about & embracing these variations! ✌🏻
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Do you also style your hair using vintage methods? If you have any tips for vintage hair styling or good resources to share, please do!
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The first stitch tutorial of the new year is live The first stitch tutorial of the new year is live on YouTube! Diamond Brocade is a great knit+purl only stitch for beginners or anyone wanting a classic look for their knitting project. Find the video with a written stitch pattern on the blog or head directly to the video on YouTube. Both are linked in bio. ✌🏻 
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