As I am still a stay-at-home medical school wife, I have taken it upon myself to make our little duplex feel more like a home. That being said, since we are on a budget, I have been a busy bee with various DIY projects. My goal in my quest to make our house a home is to make our large bedroom feel a little more cozy and comfortable. We have plenty of empty wall space, so I set out to make my own French Memo Board.
What You'll Need:
- 16 x 20 artist's canvas
- 2/3 yard of fabric of your choice
- Roll of quilter's batting
- Roll of ribbon to complement fabric
- 7 medium-sized buttons to complement fabric
- Spool of thread matching either the ribbon or buttons
- Staple gun (and staples!)
- Needle
Directions:
- Before you begin, ensure that your fabric is wrinkle and crease-free. You will probably need to iron these out before starting your project. Then, roll out your batting and cut it so that it is slightly larger than your canvas. The easiest way to ensure you cut the batting correctly is to lay the canvas atop the batting. You will want about 1-1.5 inches of batting surrounding the canvas, as you will wrap the batting around the canvas. Follow the same steps to cut the fabric, ensuring that you have slightly more fabric than batting.
- Prior to wrapping the canvas, you will want to cut out the corners of the batting, so that it aligns only with the canvas. You will be wrapping the fabric around the edges as you would wrap a gift, and if there is batting on the corners, they will be bulky.
- Now it's time to wrap the canvas. It is easiest to do this working with the canvas face down atop the batting and fabric on a hard surface. Make sure both the batting and fabric are smooth, then pull the batting and fabric taut in the center of one side and use the staple gun to secure it to the back of the canvas. It is easiest if you do this on each side, then double-check that the fabric is smooth across the front. This way, if it is not, you only have to remove one or two staples to fix it.
- Once you have secured the batting and fabric to the center of each side, continue to secure the fabric along each side until you are left with the corners. As I mentioned earlier, you will fold the corners as you would gift wrap, then pull them up and staple them to the back of the canvas.
- After securing all four corners, it is up to you how you deal with excess fabric on the back. You can cut the fabric or fold it and staple it to the canvas. I choose the latter option.
- Your next step is to attach the ribbon to your board. You will start by creating an "X" across the board. I simply pulled ribbon from one corner diagonally across the board to the other, gave myself a little extra and then cut two ribbons of that length. Staple the ribbon on the back of the memo board in one corner, then stretch it tight to the other corner and staple it in the back. Continue adding ribbon by stretching ribbon parallel to the first two that you attached, cutting it, and stapling it to the back.
- The final step is to sew buttons to the memo board where the ribbons attach. This helps the ribbon remain tight enough to hold photos, cards, and other important notes. I chose to use 7 buttons on my board (although you'll notice there are only six right now...I'll have to pick up another package of buttons to officially complete this project!), but you may wish to use more or less.
When you finish, you will have a beautiful, customized memo board for all those mementos piled in the corner of the kitchen counter or desk!
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