DIY Memo Board Tutorial

Materials:

canvas of desired size for completed memo board
fabric*
batting**
narrow ribbon***
staple gun
staples
5 buttons
needle
thread

*at least 6 inches wider and longer than your canvas
**at least 2 inches wider and longer than your canvas
***long enough to stretch across your canvas diagonally about 7 times—I measure & cut mine as I work

Directions:

Preparing the Materials

1. If necessary, trim your fabric and batting. I usually use my canvas as a template, making sure to leave about 3” of fabric on any side of the canvas and about 1” of batting.

2. Working on a hard surface, lay out your fabric, then your batting, and finally your canvas. Make sure the fabric is smooth, and the batting and canvas are centered on it. You should see a narrow border of batting around the canvas, and then a much wider border of fabric behind that.

Attaching the Fabric

3. Working on one side at a time, you are going to wrap the fabric and batting around to the back of the canvas and then staple it to the canvas’s frame. Start with one of the long sides, starting in the middle, and then working your way out. Make sure you smooth the fabric as you go to prevent any wrinkles from forming on the front. It is best to place your staples about two inches apart. Stop a few inches from the end—the corners are tricky, so you’ll do that part last.

4. Once you have one side stapled, repeat this process on the opposite side. Make sure you smooth out the fabric first, and try to keep the tension consistent as you move across. You don’t want the fabric to be able to bunch or shift, but if you pull it too tight, it will become distorted. Once you have the long sides stapled, move to the short sides. Again, smooth the fabric in the front first, pulling any extra fabric towards the unstapled sides.

Finishing the Corners

5. Once you have all of the sides stapled, you are ready to finish the corners. This part can be tricky, so refer to the pictures. Pull the extra fabric at one corner straight up, forming a triangular-like shape. Next, pull it down and towards the center of the canvas, so it forms a small triangle on the side of the canvas, as seen in the picture. On one side of the extra fabric that is still sticking up, secure the fold with a staple. Next, smooth the extra fabric down flat and secure it with a second staple, this one going perpendicular to the first. Repeat this process with the other three corners.

6. Trim any excess fabric from the back of the canvas.

Attaching the Ribbon

7. Now, for the ribbon. Just like before, all of the stapling for this step will be done on the back, and you will want to make sure you keep the ribbons nice and tight. Always leave a tail of an inch or two when you staple & cut the ribbons.

8. The first two ribbons will create an X on the front of the canvas. On one of the long sides, staple the end of the ribbon about one inch from the corner. Stretch it across the front, then wrap it behind the opposite corner and staple it about one inch from that corner. Repeat this process with the other two corners to form an X.

9. The next set of ribbons will form two Vs across the front. Fold a long length of ribbon in half, then staple the center point at the middle of one of the short sides. Take one end and stretch it across the front of the canvas to the center of one of the long sides. Wrap it around the back and secure it with a staple. Repeat this with the other end and the opposite long side.

10. Repeat step 9 with a second long length of ribbon, starting at the middle of the opposite short side. When you stretch each end of the ribbon across, you will be stapling it in basically the same spot as the ends in step 9. This will complete the ribbon pattern the front of the board.

Attaching the Buttons

11. If you’ve attached your ribbon correctly, they will criss-cross in five different places on the front of the canvas. As the final step, you will sew a button at each of these intersections, securing the ribbon. Make sure you sew the buttons firmly in place.

 The Finished Product

12. At this point, your board is complete. If you like, you can add hanging hardware to the back, but I usually just hang it from the frame of the canvas. Your memo board is ready to be enjoyed!