Palatial Living: Drab to Fab...Gorgeous Office Pinboard*

31 January, 2011

Drab to Fab...Gorgeous Office Pinboard*

The finished 'Fab-ric Pinboard' - no more boring drab here!

I recently purchased an over sized cork board/ pin board for our [home] office....when looking to hang it on one of our office walls it looked terribly boring & plain. So I decided to spruce it up with some colourful bird & foliage printed fabric and black / white ribbon that I had in my fabric stash, and also made some coordinating floor cushions [for my little girl Isabelle to play when she's in the office] too! I have just a few finishing touches on our accompanying personalised desk chair cushions to do - so will post pics shortly once I finish a little applique!

So take a look at this little afternoon project - all in the name of colour & design!

Choose colourful printed fabric in stripes, checks, geometric, paisley or a botanical design from your local fabric store [Spotlight or Ikea in Australia are great places to visit] with an inexpensive ready made cork/ pin board from your local variety or craft store [such as the Reject Store, or Hot Dollar discount stores in Australia].

May be you'd like to spruce up a boring old pin board into something gorgeous?

Enjoy,

1. Choosing fabrics, layout & ribbon combinations....playing with your
fabric & trims is important so that you can work out & feel good
about your colour combination choice.

2. Use polyester wadding to create a soft layer between the cork side/ pin board
& the fabric, this also acts as a stabiliser and creates a better cushion for
the pins when putting something up. Cut the wadding a little larger than the
board size - this will allow you to fold & stretch back around
the board with fabric

3. Apply craft glue or adhesive spray onto the cork side - and lay the wadding on top
of this glue and press lightly down so wadding is attached

4. Cut fabric to the same size as your wadding. I have used an over locker to finish
& trim my fabric edges to keep it a bit neater as I go.Check that if you are using a
print and it is not multi directional that the 'direction' is going the correct way.
You don't want to look at your pin board print upside down or across ways!

5. Layer fabric on top of wadding - matching up the cut sides - now staple!

6. Using a heavy duty staple gun, or a cordless staple gun - take the longest sides first
and stretch to pull over and secure the first 2 sides with a couple of staples. then stretch
to pull the two bottom ends and staple to secure. Once this is done you can go
back over the 'gaps' on all four sides ensuring to stretch taut as you go to
staple the fabric edges. If you want cover the back of the pin board with some
black or white card - to cover the edges.

7. Using a combination of black & white ribbon I staple the
ribbon ends to the back of the board and begin a lattice effect - with
equidistant space between each one - with weaving alternate ribbons under
& over. this will allow me to also place notes and cards onto the
pin board without tacking them on.

Nearly finished weaving - worth the effort - it gives
the fabric another graphic dimension and is functional!
Once done I pin pearl pins into the centre of each 'X'