diy pinboard

While on the quest to be a better student during the summer break, I realised that I needed constant reminders regarding all the junk I had to do. I've had pin boards, cork boards and white boards before and they've sort of done this job pretty well, but they've all been about the size of an A3 sheet of paper and can be quite price-y at times. So not cool. So I decided to make one myself out of a damaged stretched art canvas, upholstery fabric and foam sheets all for much cheaper, and prettier too!

a small selection of thumbtacks, and paper on the hessian-ish upholstery fabric

MATERIALS;

• (MEASUREMENTS) thick art canvas (It was going to the clearance bin at work because it had this small tear in it for $7.50 which is a huge markdown, and then it was 50% off clearance so it was $3.75)
• 1.5m hessian-like upholstery fabric (any fabric will do I guess, but I reccomend upholstery because it's tougher)
• foam sheets to cover the front of the canvas (wadding should work fine as well)
• staple gun or really good glue (I used Helmar's Foam Glue, it's good stuff)
  
• ribbon/string/hooks (however you want to mount your pin board)

WHAT YOU DO;

• Slather the surface of the canvas with glue to stick down the foam or wadding (it's best to do this in manageable stages because you will need to apply some pressure and you don't want your glue drying on you). This gives the pins something to bite into. I haven't really figured out the logistics of using a staple gun for this so if anyone knows, please tell me =]
• I chose to let this dry overnight, face down on plastic (to protect my carpet) with books lining the inside of the canvas to add weight
• The next day, grab your material and stretch it over the canvas. Don't glue this to the front as when the glue dries it becomes hard and it makes it undesrable to pin things into.
• Securely tuck the edges into the canvas frame and use a lot of glue. Remember to snip diagonals in the corners so it fits around the frame properly.
• Leave this to dry overnight again.
• All you have to do now is decorate it

DECORATING IDEAS;

I think it's best to use what you already have on hand. I have tonnes of paper, ribbon and buttons, so I used them =]

• Adorable Thumbtacks
  Have a whole load of cute buttons you don't really have a use for? Use them to make your thumbtacks look more attractive by hot gluing them onto the heads of your pins. They look super cute and awesome. You can also use the heads of scrap booking brads or large sequins even =]

• To Do Lists or Tear Off Notes
  Use offcuts of all your scrap booking paper and notebooks creatively to make slightly more eye catching lists and reminders. After all, we are more inclined to look at prettier things =]

• Impromtu White Board
  Use a plastic sleeve (an overhead transparency works best) layered on top of a white sheet of paper and it can serve as a temporary white board until you can be bothered to lay your hands on one.

breakin' out the ol' spinning wheel

It's been forever since I've touched the ancient sewing machine that I have in my possession (circa 1999 or something like that, its a bloody decade old). Abhorrent for one who gives information about sewing and craft in general to earn their weekly wages. What brought about this sudden Martha Stewart moment in me may you ask? Well weeks ago on twitter, I announced that I was commencing a new project - the project being converting one of my numerous old schoolbags into a simple, casual envelope clutch. It wasn't such a tall order was it? Maybe not if I had bothered to go about it in the right way it would have actually worked.

The beginning: the bag in all its shapeless glory

An example of the questionably acquired illustrations

So this bag was pretty much a sack with a couple of pockets, handles, zipper and drawstring - bought only for its cute-factor as it bore Mickey Mouse sketches (most likely breaching copyright) and its price (I picked it up in a market somewhere, so it was fairly cheap). The zipper was now busted and the lining was all torn as a result of the torture I put it through in my senior years at High School - massive, heavy textbooks and lots of food sure took its toll on my bags, as well as my shoulders and back.

To start things off, I spent quite a while in the blazing heat (it was one of those 40-ish degree days in Western Sydney, and me with my air-con busted) ripping the seams apart with my nifty and ever so trusty seam picker. I never realised that so many stitches were placed in my roughly constructed bags. By the end of it, I had loose threads everywhere - figuring that it would've been wise not to undertake such a large unpicking project on my bed.

I sketched a rough pattern of all the panels I needed with some allowance for seams and such - measuring appropriately and such. Then I cut the Mickey Mouse fabric, stiff interfacing and lining to size. With all this done, I set up the machine - taking quite some time to find an empty or at least less-full bobbin. By this time, the temperature had climbed to 40 degrees and I could feel the stuffiness of the air around me even with the window open, and the perspiration set in (yuck I know). This was about the time when I stopped doing things properly and began cutting corners.

When a seam went crooked, instead of doing the smart thing and unstitching it, i just ran it through the machine again, in line with the widest part of the previous stitch. Needless to say after a while I had very little to work with. I had managed to turn something about 15cmx30cm into a 5cmx15cm scrap of nothing as shown below. The seams went crooked as I simply stopped caring if the stitches were straight and if the sides matched up, and focused on getting the task done. My back was aching (never try to sew for more than half an hour without having your machine on a table, and you appropriately seated) and I was totally over it.

I should have unstitched me thinks as opposed to running it through the machine again and chopping the rest off

EPIC FAIL.

WORDS CANNOT BEGIN TO DESCRIBE THE EPIC-NESS OF MY FAILURE.

Thinking optimistically, at least I reacquainted myself with the activity of sewing, and my sewing machine. Additionally, I was trying to do something productive. Oh well, at least it was one of my less favoured bags. I have plenty more where that came from I assure you, but maybe I should wait until its less hot, or at least when the aircon decides to become functional again to start any projects with them.