Pimp your notice board

I sat in bed this morning with my cup of coffee, don't think I lounge in bed the whole morning, I don't. If I wake early and don't want to go back to sleep I make a coffee and bring it back to bed, anyway, that's bye the bye. My extra half hour in bed is thinking time. I wanted a quick and easy project which I could whip up in no time and write about it here. 

I was thinking about picture frames, there are hundreds of different ways to make them and I quite fancy having a go at some of them, but I haven't any pictures that need framing, except the latest big one.  I have some wood sanded but I am thinking I want to get on with something else, so I went to The Range yesterday (big department store), to see if I could buy an off the shelf frame to save a bit of time. Well no. I can't. My picture is a none standard size and the frame will have to be made. Next time I make a picture I will choose the frame first. Anyway, don't want to drag this story out too long, I don't have the right woodworking tools for the job, but I have found a friend who has and he said I could take the picture and wood to his house and he would help me with it. That's good, it will save me a bit of time. 

In the meantime, back to this morning's idea. Not a picture frame, but I have a piece of cork covered pin board, which I removed from it's frame to use for something else. I bet most people have got one of these, but I got to thinking they are pretty ugly. So, what to do to make it more attractive. Most people I think would chuck it away. 

Cover it, what a brainwave eh, ha ha. I looked for a piece of fabric. It needs to be loosely woven to take multiple pins sticking into it and not leaving lots of holes. Something with a simple pattern, preferably not multicoloured. This blue one will do just fine.

I ironed it flat and put it face down with the board on top. Using a ruler I marked it on three sides adding half an inch all round for the seam. My piece of fabric is long so I was able to cut the two sides in one piece. Then I sewed it together on two sides, right sides in, leaving one end open to turn it the right way.

The board slides in the pocket. It needs to be a tight-ish fit, if the pocket is too big redo one of the seams taking it in a bit.

Then take a short piece of fabric a few inches long, fold the edges to the middle and fold again and stitch.

At the open end tuck one side tightly around the board.

Then turn it over and fold the other selvage edge over and pin it in place.

Tuck the ends of the loop inside and pin.

Neatly hand stitch together.

And there you have a new notice board that looks a whole lot better than a boring brown one. 

If you use plain fabric you could use buttons or ribbon to embellish it. Or you could add a latticework of ribbon to slot your notes into. If you are making curtains you could make a notice board to match. I think it  looks pretty neat. Have a go, you can hand sew it if you don't have a machine.

Thank you for your comments on yesterdays post, they are very interesting.
Toodle pip