How to Make a Fabric Covered Notice Board

Loyal readers of my blog may remember that a couple of posts ago here, I left you with a bit of a teaser about a simple project that I had made.

Now that I'm back online I'd like share that project with you, and show you how I covered a notice board (or pin board) with fabric, so that I would have somewhere to pin inspirations, business cards and anything else I wanted to have to hand in my (newly tidied) sewing room.

I'd been looking around for a padded fabric-covered noticeboard for a while without any success. A year or two ago they were everywhere. The odd one I did find was either too small or too expensive, so I decided to have a go at making my own.

First I sourced a large pin board (cork covered board) from an office supplies company via Amazon - they seemed to offer the best price. I paid about £8 for a large 2' x 3' wood-edged cork board.

Other materials and equipment needed:

Fabric - enough to cover the board with several inches spare all round

Polyester wadding

Heavy Duty staple gun (that fires direct into a surface)

Staples

Scissors

Wall fittings of choice

Backing fabric (optional)

Ribbon or trim (optional) 

***

Tutorial - How to Cover a Pin Board

First, lay out your fabric and place board on top (see above). (Be sure when using geometric repeat patterns, stripes and checks that the fabric is lined up correctly, parallel to the board, otherwise you could end up with a wonky front!)

Cut around board allowing approximately 2" to 3" extra fabric (depending on depth of board) for folding over to staple at back of board. Better to allow too much than too little as you will trim away excess fabric later.

Iron fabric and set aside.

Cut out the wadding in the same way allowing plenty of extra to fold over to back of board.

Next, lay the fabric right side facing down (wrong side facing up), then place the wadding on top of the fabric, and the pin board (wrong side up) on top of the wadding (see above).

Starting in the middle of one long side, pull the fabric up taut around the side of the board to the back, and holding down firmly, staple into wooden batten surrounding cork board. Be careful not to pull too hard that you pull the fabric out from under board and away from other side.

Add a few more staples either side of the first centre staple, then repeat on opposite long side of the pin board, pulling taut so that the fabric lays flat on the right side.

Once you have a few staples in place on both sides, you can then continue evenly down each side until the corner is reached.

Staple up near the corner then make a neat mitre fold as below.

Staple corner (see below) and continue along top (or bottom) of board and repeat cornering.

 When you have finished stapling all four sides and four corners, check that the front is looking neat and taut.

Trim away excess wadding and fabric, roughly in line with edge of wooden batten.

Continue trimming all the way round until back of board is finished.

The back should look something like this (see below) when you have finished trimming

And, fingers crossed, it will look neat and taut from the front, with any pattern lined up neatly in a straight line parallel to the top and sides!

Voila!

Now, should you wish to do a "proper job" on your board, you can now cover the back so that no raw edges or back board shows. 

At this stage I just wanted to get my board up and into action, so I didn't bother, but if you did want to, then you would measure a piece of fabric the same size as the board, then turning under a hem all the way round you could glue it into place over the staples, or indeed just staple it into place.

Also, if you wanted to add the ubiquitous ribbons, useful for poking cards etc under, and for making it look more decorative, you could add criss-cross ribbons, stapling them behind the board.

You would add the ribbon before the backing if you were going to do both.

I wanted a simple board without further decoration so I put mine up as it is.

I fixed two hooks to the back of the board, one either side, pushing back the wadding and fabric to do so.

I then added picture wire (string would do) and hung my board onto a hook. 

You, of course, can fix it however you want, and whatever suits your walls best.

So there it is - a fabric-covered pin board in it's simplest form. 

But you could use any type of fabric and make it as pretty as you want with ribbons or braid.

I hope this may help anyone who fancies having a go at making their own fabric-covered notice board - it's very quick to make, probably less than an hour!

I have a few more new projects to share next time, and maybe another "How to".........here's a little sneaky peek ........

Hope you all have a good weekend - Friday tomorrow!

Better late than never........

Now, you know it's November right?

No mistaking that surely, as.............

it's wet and cold, the heating's on, we've had Hallowe'en, carved our pumpkins, dished out treats to scary Trick or Treaters, (I opened the door to see a "skeleton" lying on the doorstep this year - that kid certainly deserved his treat!), then we've had the bonfire parties and seen the pretty fireworks, and the leaves have not only turned yellow, orange and red, but they've been blown clean off the branches by the strong winds, and the garden is looking brown and dreary and sodden with wet leaves........ 

But is it???

Is that really how the garden is looking?

Now here in the land of Gillyflower, having been without the Internet and the wonderful World Wide Web and Mr Google and Co. for over a week (gasp, shock, horror !!!!! the joys and time wasted on telephone calls when you lose the internet whilst changing providers!), we have somehow managed to survive, but whilst we are still re-grouping and setting up networks and linking printers etc, the only piccies I have access to are some never-seen-before garden photos on the laptop, taken in June this year.

So today, here in Gillyflower Land, all is pretty, all is calm, and all is warm, as we stroll through my front garden in late June admiring the flowers, mug of tea in hand, and planting up a new border of roses and delphiniums, penstemons and poppies......

 This pretty pale pink fuschia is still covered in flowers as it was in June

 gorgeous pale yellow poppy, forgotten which variety, and am not sure it survived the hot dry summer when we were on holiday - it died back early, or died all together, so whether it will re-appear next year is an unknown!

 Amazing blue delphinium

 My first David Austin rose, Noble Antony, a repeat flowering rose, and still in bloom as I type

And another gorgeous new rose, now happy in its new bed and also sharing a few new flowers as late as November

Both new roses have wonderfully scented blooms, as well as being beautiful to see

 There's the new border at the end in front of the fence, awaiting all the plants in pots

Sigh!

Now wasn't that nice? A taste of early summer in November..........

Can't wait to catch up with you all after a week starved of blogging, but it has made me get on and do lots of other things, which I'll share in the next few posts, as well as enjoying a trip up to the Great Wen to visit the Country Living Fair with my good friend Jane of the flower house blog.

Jane has only just started her blog, so it would be great if you could pop over and say Hi to her, and see some of her gorgeous knitting and crochet makes.

Wishing you all a great weekend, and thank you for your lovely comments on my last post.

I have lots of new projects to share next time, and a couple of tutorials in the pipeline including the one I promised last time but can't yet deliver until I can get on to the other pc! 

Red Gingham Cushions and some vintage bargains

Now that the sewing room is neat and tidy after my recent sort out, it is both easy and a pleasure to go in there with an idea in mind and just get on with it and make it happen.

A few years ago my Mum gave me a length of vintage gingham that she had left over from many decades ago - a deep crimson red woven cotton gingham with quite large checks, and I had been hanging on to it until the right time.

Now that the weather is cooler, it seemed the perfect fabric to make into some cheerful cushions for the sitting room so on Friday afternoon I made two, and finished them with a tiny cream cotton lace trim.

They look cheerful and cosy teamed with the vintage floral linen cushion that I made last year, and are just right to perk up the sitting room and give it a warm country look.

 On Saturday we had a trip to the Kent County Showground at Detling, near Maidstone (J7 M20) for the first day of a two day Antiques and Collectors Fair. It's the first time we've been, and it won't be the last - only £4 each entry, plenty of free (but muddy!) parking and you can take your dog (we left Logan behind as we didn't realise dogs were allowed, so next time we'll take him - he would've loved it, he loves meeting other dogs and has always enjoyed wandering around boot fairs!)

It was pretty wet and windy, but we went well wrapped up and wearing wellies, and armed with plenty of cash!

First buy was this well-shaped sturdy Victorian carved chair in very good condition - just needs recovering and the hessian underneath replacing, and I think I shall leave it unpainted. I though it was not a bad buy at £20 (after a bit of bartering) with an old coffee sack thrown in to replace the bottom - I shall probably wash the sack and make something from it.

I fancy covering it in a warm wool or tartan if I'm keeping it dark wood .......or maybe cover it in the old hessian sack?  I have some antiqued brass upholstery studs that would go well with the sacking.....

Now there's a thought. What do you think???

Next I found a lovely old watering can - there were quite a few of these on various stalls in varying conditions and priced around £15. I paid £10 for this one which has a good solid bottom.

And there's the sack underneath......

My husband spotted this walnut veneered bedside cabinet - in pretty good condition, well made and solid with only the odd scratch, he thought it a bargain at £20 (once negotiations were complete!)

Most importantly, the top is in very good condition.

Too good to paint even though I'm not a great lover of brown furniture unless it is a lovely piece.

I was lucky enough to track down Heather (the lady I buy old linens from at my local flea market) inside one of the covered buildings, and after a good rummage through her stacks of vintage and antique linens and cashmeres, I found this lovely pair of pillowcases. 

So a pretty satisfying trip. Both pieces of furniture were a lot cheaper than similar items found in nearby charity shops and furniture warehouses.

Thanks for all your comments on my last post - the scarf has grown a little more since then, and is very nearly finished, but I think I have shared enough photos of it for the time being!

I've just finished another project today which I'll share with you next time, possibly in the form of a tutorial - I want to share how easy it is to make something that I was a bit wary of making, but when I couldn't find a decent one to buy but having then found the right "base" to make my own, it turned out to be quick and straightforward.

Curious?

Show you next time!