Message Board: a tutorial - part two

Here's as promised part two of the message board tutorial.

This is what you'll need:

- a cork message board framed with wood - they come in several sizes and can be found in most crafts, office supplies or hardware stores. My message board measured 40cm x 60cm.
- fabric to cover the board with: roughly 60cm x 80cm (this is the size of the board + 10cm on all four sides - it's important to have enough "excess fabric" to make the pulling and stretching easy once covering the board)
- another rectangular piece of fabric for the pockets; in my case this was about 20-25cm x 60cm; roughly you'll need:

(the desired height of the pockets + 5cm) by (the width of your board + ((the overlap of the pockets times two) times the number of pockets) + seam allowance for both sides)

I know this looks a bit like a math equation... If this is not entirely clear to you right now, don't worry and just keep on reading - I'm sure you'll get what I mean later on!
- thread, pins, sewing machine
- metal hooks + screws; I used four of them
- a stapler
- a drill
- painter's tape or any other strong but re-positionable tape
- ruler + pencil




1. Seam the pockets: On the smaller piece of fabric, fold in the seam allowance of what will be the top of your pockets and pin with needles as shown in the picture. Next, sew on your sewing machine. Iron flat.




2. Fold the strip according to the width of the board, taking into account the number of pockets you want and the desired pocket size - the size of the overlap will determine the depth of your pocket. If you don't want "deep" pockets you can skip this step (note: in that case the width of your fabric strip should equal the width of your board + seam allowance on both sides, only). I did this step quite intuitively and just folded as I went, making sure, however, that every fold had the same size. I chose to have two deeper pockets and one flat pocket (see picture of the finished board, if this is not entirely clear). Fold in the seam allowances on the sides as well. Iron everything flat.




3. Place the now folded strip on what will be the cover of your message board - right sides together (!!) and such that the top seam of your pocket strip faces down - and the unfinished side about 3-4cm above what will be the bottom line of your board - keep in mind the hooks will be coming underneath, onto the wooden frame) . Secure with pins, as shown in the picture.



Sew, about 1cm from the side over the entire length. It will look like this:





4. Flip over the pocket strip so the right side faces up and such that the sewing line is about 1cm inside the pocket (this creates depth). Secure with needles. Also, mark where the dividing lines of your pockets should come. I used painter's tape for this purpose (see picture). Sew along the sides and sew the dividing lines with your sewing machine.



Done? Congratulations! You've just finished the sewing part!


5. Drill holes: With a pencil, mark on the bottom part of the frame where you want the hooks to come. Next, drill holes in the frame, but make sure to use a smaller diameter drill than the diameter of the screws you'll use (you don't want the screws to come out).




6. Covering the message board: Place your fabric (with the pockets sewn on already) over the message board. Make sure to position it well, taking into account fabric designs and pockets seams. Flip over and, with some painter's tape, attach to the back. Note: Unfortunately, I have no picture of this step - simply forgot to take one, busy as I was with the pulling and stretching...
Turn over again, to check for the tension of the fabric, and adjust by pulling and stretching the fabric as good as you can. You don't want any ripples. Don't worry too much about the corners yet. Also, check the pocket lines again as you want them to be perfectly straight. When satisfied, start securing with the stapler (just a couple on every side, but stay clear from the corners, for now). Keep on pulling that fabric as you go! And be careful with that stapler for hands and fingers!!
When sufficiently secured for the fabric not to move any more, start "packing" the corners - just the way you would do when wrapping a present. Use tape, and when satisfied staple. Now, you can add some more staples on all four the sides and corners.

7. Adding the hooks: With a pin or needle, start searching for the holes in the frame, which are now hidden under the fabric, and mark them with pencil. This shouldn't be to difficult as you know approximately where they are. Place a hook over the mark and screw it into place (through the fabric). Repeat for all 4 (or any number) of hooks.



And that's it!!

Now, for the perfectionists among you, you can finish off the board by cutting some of the excess fabric - you could even line the back. I did trim the excess in the back but didn't add the lining, not on this one...

I'm not sure all this is clear.
I hope it is. Let me know if not!

Please note, this tutorials is intended for personal use only. Therefore, do not reproduce, sell or commercialize in any form without permission. Thanks for understanding!

Message Board: a tutorial - part one

Last Thursday, I mentioned I would write down a tutorial for the message board I made for M.'s birthday. Well, I decided not to procrastinate on this one - better to write it down while it's still fresh in my mind.
So, here is part one: getting the fabric ready - if you want to paint your own design, that is.

You will need:

- a piece of fabric, slightly bigger than the message board you want to cover (read step 1 before cutting the fabric, though). In my case, the message board measured 40cm x 60cm, so I added 10cm on all four sides. Though this might seem like wasting a lot of fabric, you'll notice this will make things a lot easier near the end when you have to pull and stretch the fabric around the board.
- if you intend on making pockets the way I did, you'll need another strip of fabric of about 20-25cm x 60cm (change the dimensions according to the size of your board and depending on the orientation of the board)
- fabric paint
- stenciling brushes
- freezer paper or stencils
- painter's tape
- small recipients for the paint (one for every color)
- water and a cloth, just in case
- something to protect your working surface (I usually cut open a big size plastic trash bag for this purpose)

1. Wash the fabric - very annoying if you're of the impatient type like me, but a very important step. I did this before cutting my fabric, to avoid having to deal with shrinkage... It's very important you wash the fabric if you want to get the best results out of your paint. You need to get rid of all the residue from the production process still in the fabric and of any loose fibers. This will allow for the paint to adhere well to the fabric and to get absorbed. I used linen for my message board, and I can tell you there sure was a lot of loose fiber in there, telling from cleaning the filter of the dryer afterward. The fabric also felt much softer (do not use fabric softener, however!).
After washing, let the fabric dry (line dry or dryer - depending on how patient you are) and next iron it - you don't want any wrinkles! And finally, cut your fabric to size, if you didn't do so already.

2: Design your stencil. Since you have to wait anyway for the fabric in the washer/dryer to be ready, you can start on your design. I made a rough sketch on a piece of paper first. Transfer you design onto the freezer paper, which you cut to the size of your message board. If you don't want to waste your precious - and here, hard to find - freezer paper you can work with smaller pieces (but make sure you leave a big enough margin around your design to avoid unwanted spilling onto the fabric). In this case, however, use painter's tape to outline the size of your message board on the fabric. I'm an absolute beginner in terms of fabric design, so I kept the design really simple: ovals and circles. When out of inspiration for a design, I highly recommend Lotta Jansdotter's book, where you can not only find fun projects, but also some really cool yet simple designs in the back. When happy with your design cut out your shapes.


3. Iron the freezer paper onto the washed, dried and ironed fabric. Make sure the freezer paper adheres well at the edges of your design as you don't want the paint to leak underneath. This is exactly what happened with the striped fabric. For that one, I used Scotch-Blue painter's tape, which wasn't the best choice for this purpose (but it has proven to be a very useful product in many other projects of mine).

4. Painting your design: You're about ready to start painting! First, however, with some painter's tape, tape your fabric to your working surface - paint will leak through the fabric no matter what, and if you move your fabric around, you might end up with some nasty surprises - read: some unintended "designs" on your fabric. So, make sure your fabric stays put! Also, to avoid any disappointment, read the manufacturer's instructions on your paint first! Most fabric paints need to get heat set. I used Raphaël - Iden'ko fabric paint, and I'm actually very pleased with how it turned out. I know Dharma Trading Co. has a huge selection of fabric paint - I used to order Dyna-flow silk paint from them, but for this particular project I believe Jacquard would be a very good brand (we've used this one with M.'s preschool class, to make handprinted aprons for the teachers as an end-of-year gift, picture here)
Unlike when painting on paper, dab the paint onto the fabric, using small amounts of paint at a time - do not rub as this will loosen up the fibers (especially when painting on linen). Also, make sure the paint is well spread at the edges, in order to get a clear outline. When done painting, allow the paint to dry, leaving the freezer paper on the fabric until completely dry. (Note:I added this last sentence mainly for myself, as I wasn't patient enough to wait and so peeled the paper off way before the paint being dry - nothing happened, but anyway, waiting is better!!). If your paint needs to be heat set, iron the fabric on both sides or throw it in the dryer (check the instructions on your paint first, though!!).

And that's it for part one!
I'll have part two - assembling the message board - up hopefully by tomorrow!
Please, let me know if something's not clear or if you have questions or suggestions!

Painting on fabric... Yes!

Yesterday, I wrote about how I finally got to experiment with freezer paper and stenciling on fabric. Well, here's the result!



Of course I couldn't wait until the paint was dry - I peeled of the freezer paper way before the recommended two hours of drying time were over and there... my first fabric design ever! I must say, I was (and still am) quite happy with the result. Not bad for a first attempt! The striped fabric is not as "clean" as the other one, but that's mainly because I used blue painter's tape (another thing I can't seem to find around here) and not freezer paper. I thought it would save me some time, which it certainly did, but the paint leaked underneath a bit. I know better now, for next time. But it still looks OK, I believe. The colors in the picture are slightly misleading - the orange being a bit softer in reality than shown here (saturation!! so hard to get it right - didn't feel like doing Photoshop, though).

Now, what did I do with it, you're wondering? Well, I used it to make a message board for M.'s birthday, next Sunday. (I need to make sure she doesn't check in on my blog - not until Sunday, M.!)



I think it turned out pretty well. She'd been asking for something like that a couple of times recently, as she's trying to get her room organized a bit more to her own taste - little girls growing up... I hope she won't mind the bold colors I chose... But I'm pretty sure she'll like the pockets and the little hooks...

As I found this a really fun project to do, I might come back to it into more detail later (tutorial, maybe?).
But for now, I leave you with just a picture...

Have a good one!
P.

Trying something new...

When my friend L. asked me if there was anything she could bring for me from the U.S., I didn't need to think for too long: freezer paper. "Freezer what?" Yes, freezer paper! And Trader Joe's Mac'n cheese - a special request from the girls!

I've been on the outlook for it for quite a while, but there's no such thing as freezer paper to be found around here! I tried to order it from the U.S. - but to no avail: neither Amazon, nor Dharma Trading would ship it to Europe. So, my guess is that there must be a regulation issue...

Anyway, L. brought me a big roll of freezer paper (thank you so much!) and I used it for the first time today! Ever since I laid my hands on Lotta Jansdotter's book, I've been wanting to experiment with paint on fabric - I've painted on fabric before, but never used stencils. So, that's exactly what I did today! I'm not sure about my "design" - drawing being not exactly my best skill, I find it not quite balanced. I hope it will turn out OK enough, though, as I need it for M.'s birthday present I'm planning to make.

The fabric is still drying and I'm not supposed to peel off the freezer paper until completely dry, but I can tell you my fingers are itching, if you know what I mean. Note added: I just peeled of a teeny tiny piece - couldn't wait...

So, here's a sneak preview - the end result will be as much of a surprise to you as it will be to me... I'll keep you posted!