How To Make A Fabric Pin Board

Make this Fabric Pin board in 4 easy steps! This DIY tutorial is super easy and inexpensive too.

Maybe you have an old bulletin board or cork board lying around that’s seen better days.

Or, maybe you just don’t like how the plain cork is throwing off the vibe of your room.

Today, I’m going to show you how to make a fabric pin board – in just 4 steps!

This project will save your bulletin board from the dumpster AND give you a refreshing new piece for your walls.

UPDATE: I’ve now added another pin board project to this post! I made my daughter another pin board but this time I used some spray paint and floral fabric. I picked up a cheap $2 thrift store bulletin board and transformed it into something cute. See how it turned out below.

I was really inspired by the pinboard looks on Decor Pad.

You can use any fabric you want for this project. I used linen for the first pin board and a cute, girly floral fabric for the thrift project bulletin board. Here are some great online fabric stores.

And this works with any size pin board as well.

You will need an inexpensive light-duty staple gun for this project. They don’t cost a lot and you can buy them at hardware stores and on Amazon.

You will also need the appropriately sized staples to go with the staple gun. The staple gun you have will specify what type of staples it needs.

Just make sure it is a light-duty staple gun. I would recommend against a pneumatic staple gun that you would use for projects such as installing a stair runner.

That would probably be a little too rough on your cork board!

I’ve also included a short guide on how to load a staple gun.

I was a bit clueless when I got mine despite the instruction booklet it came with. LOL.

Things You’ll Need

Fabric of Your Choice – I used this one (LOVE) and a floral fabric from Fabric.com
Bulletin Board/Pin Board
Staples for staple gun
Staple Gun – I used this brand
Scissors for cutting fabric
Iron – to iron out the creases in your fabric!
Spray Paint (if you want to paint the bulletin board frame)
Screwdriver – to remove your bulletin board frame and re-attach

By the way, if you love easy DIY projects like this one, you definitely have to check out my DIY Peg Rail tutorial. You don’t need anything fancy and it’s such a practical project for your rooms.

How to make a fabric pin board

Follow these steps to make your beautiful new DIY fabric bulletin board.

NOTE: For the thrift store/floral pin board – the steps are the same. The only difference is I spray painted the frame first with Krylon Spanish Moss, then removed the frame with a screwdriver (carefully) before stapling the fabric. After the fabric was attached, I reattached the frame.

Step 1: Iron your Fabric

The first thing you will want to do is iron your fabric to remove the creases.

Lay your fabric down on a table or the floor. Place your pin board upside down on top of the fabric.

Step 2: Cut your Fabric to Size

Cut your fabric so that it is slightly larger than your pin board.

You don’t want to too much excess bulky fabric to staple, however, you want to ensure you have enough fabric to overlap the frame on the back.

cut fabric to bulletin board size - how to make a fabric pin board - full tutorial in post!

Step 3: Staple the Fabric to Your Pin Board

Once you have the fabric cut, it’s time to staple it to the back frame of your pin board. You can also staple this to your pinboard, if you are going to use the frame later.

Staple the fabric to the back of your pin board while pulling it tight – you don’t want it loose or sloppy looking on the front side.

Do this all the way around, pulling the fabric taut as you go.

For the corners, neatly gather the fabric and staple it to the corner parts of the pin board frame.

Make sure to pull the fabric tight!!

Don’t worry if it looks bunchy in the back, it should look neat and tidy from the front.

The back of your pin board should look something like this when you are done.

I put my staples in pretty close together because I don’t want the fabric to have an opportunity to loosen up.

Step 4: Hang it up

The fun part! You can now hang up your new pin board and enjoy.

Since we covered the frame with our fabric, you may be wondering how in the world we are going to hang this?

There are so many ways you can do this! I’ll tell you two of the ways. 🙂 Ok, well three.

You can use these command poster strips and attach them to the back of the frame.

You want to use A LOT of them to ensure it’s securely attached to the wall.

Another way is that you can also use these eye hooks.

Screw them right into the back frame through the fabric.

Then use picture hanging wire and attach to each eye hook and hang from a nail.

The easiest way? Don’t hang it at all! Lean it up against the wall above your desk. 🙂

How to Load a Staple Gun – Good Tip to know!

Follow these simple steps to load your staple gun! Please ensure you are using the right size staples.

Flip your staple gun upside down (so the handle is on the bottom). There should be a little track release there that you can squeeze together and pull, and a track will slide out. There should now be a hollow space in the gun for where to insert your staples. My track does not come all the way out, but on some staple guns, it will.
Insert your staples into the gun part, not over the track. Make sure your staple points are facing down, as shown in the picture above.
Slide the track back inside the gun until you hear a ‘click’. Now just flip your staple gun around, so the handle is at the top.
Now you are ready to use your staple gun!