my creative space: a handy noticeboard tutorial

I've been wanting to make Amelie a noticeboard for her room for ages but I just couldn't find the right fabric to go with her blue walls..until I came across this lovely fabric called Cotton Bird Trail from Kate Fitzpatrick.  I wanted to make a noticeboard that also held all her bits and pieces that end up all over the house so I came up with the idea of adding a plastic pocket to the bottom of the noticeboard for all her hair clips, bobbles, headbands etc.   (I should add that they are still all over the house but at least they have a home now at the end of the day!) It actually didn't take much time at all- maybe an hour at the most so I thought I'd share it with you.

You'll need

* a piece of pinex cut to the size you want - I got it from ITM building supplies

* a piece of fabric big enough to cover the noticeboard

* a gun stapler

* some clear plastic (I get mine from Payless Plastics- you buy it off the roll- about $5 for half a metre)

* some bias binding

1. To work out how much fabric to cut, measure the width and length of your piece of pinex, then add about 5-10 cm to those measurements (depending on how thick your piece of pinex is- you want to cover the pinex including the sides with lots of room on the back to staple the fabric down easily) and cut out your fabric to those measurements.

2. Measure a piece of clear plastic the width of the piece of fabric and however much high you want it to be (mine was about 18 cm which includes some of the plastic going around the bottom of the noticeboard and stapled on the back- my pocket is about 15cm high finished)

3. Cut out your plastic and cut a piece of bias binding the width of the plastic

4. Sew the binding to the top of the plastic

 

5. Staple gun your fabric onto the piece of pinex

6. Place your plastic pocket on top of the fabric, fold it around the sides of the noticeboard and staple gun it to the back, sides and bottom of the noticeboard. 

A tip- when you staple the plastic let it have a bit of give instead of stapling it really tightly and flat to the noticeboard otherwise little fingers will find it tricky to get things out of the pocket! When I made mine I actually sewed three pockets into the plastic but I wouldn't do that again as it is quite tricky to get the things out of the pockets- it would be a lot easier if it was just one big pocket like in the tutorial.

7. I just stapled gunned a piece of string to the back to hang it but it isn't working very well so I'm going to get some little screws or something to attach the string to so the staples don't keep popping out when Amelie pulls on the noticeboard!

 

So there you have it- any questions just let me know! For more creative spaces head over to Kootoyoo.

Megan 

PS: Have you entered my facebook giveaway yet?

PPS: head on over to Sew Funky's blog to sign up for the kiwi christmas ornament swap!