Easy Fabric Covered Bulletin Boards - Tutorial

I know this idea has been around the crafting world for quite some time, including a tutorial from Martha herself, but I am posting a tutorial as well because, quite frankly, Martha's way didn't work for me (and ditto for the other tutorials I found on the web). So, here's one more way (and a very easy way) to make fabric covered bulletin boards.I started with a package of four cork boards from Target. They cost about $5 for the package of four. I had my daughter pick out the fabric from JoAnn's, we ended up with quilt fabric that was on sale for $1.99/yard. I bought a yard and a half (which was way too much fabric, but I wanted leftovers for other projects - and I had no idea how much I would need). You could probably get away with 3/4 of a yard, or maybe even less if you don't make any mistakes. I also bought coordinating ribbon from JoAnn's for $1.99. I can't remember how many yards of ribbon were on the spool that I bought, but it was barely enough for three. Two spools would be a better bet. I also bought a package of brads from Michaels for about $1.99 and some picture hangers for about $4.

First I cut the fabric a few inches larger than the cork board.

Then, following the instructions from other tutorials, used a staple gun to staple the fabric to the cork and stapled the whole thing right into my dining room table! Yes, the cork is really, really thin. Luckily, I have an old, pine, country-style dining room table with lots of other nicks and character, so I wasn't too freaked out. Next, I tried a regular stapler, but the edges of the staples stuck out like little razor blades. So, I finally gave in. I went and got it. Yes, the duct tape. And it worked like a charm.

Fold up opposite ends of the fabric and tape down. Fold corners as you would gift wrap and tape into place.


When placing the ribbon, the tape is really handy because you can fold the ribbon any which way you need to in back and easily tape into place in order to get a nice, taut look in front.


Tack ribbon intersections with brads, I found a huge selection of brads in the scrapbooking section of Michaels. Pierce the brads through each layer of ribbon and fabric separately before pushing it through the cork to avoid bending them.


For hangers, I used the adhesive hangers pictured below, but only the bottom, round parts.

Yes, I duct taped them to the back of the cork boards. Other tutorials say to use D-rings, but I couldn't find them in the picture hanging section of Michaels and these are working well.

One of the bulletin boards I made into a fabric pocket for my daughter to put a book or notebook in (only one, these things are very light!) I folded the fabric around the board and cut to size. I folded down the top and *sigh* duct taped the seam. This was so I could attach brads across the front of the seam as a border.