August Pinterest Project | Plaid French Memo Board

I've been wanting to do this project for probably close to a year.  And I'm so happy it's done and I can now enjoy it! (Mine is on the right).

Below is the picture that inspired me on Pinterest.  I was disappointed that it was simply just a photo on a designer blog. But thankfully there were plenty of french memo board DIY tutorials on Pinterest. I located this tutorial on Bennyville Blog that does a good job walking through the details.

I had been looking for fabric for this project for quite some time. Perhaps for over a year. Last week I finally found some fabric on Etsy that I liked. Paid more than I would have liked, but no regrets. And thankfully I have a fair amount of leftover fabric to employ for future projects. Yay!  ;)   If I could've found a similar red/black/white plaid somewhere, I certainly would have gone for that. But like I said, it took me quite a while to find fabric that I would be happy with. The photo really doesn't do the fabric justice. It's a really dark navy (almost black looking) with dark green, white and a small bit of yellow. I had thought about doing yellow ribbon but felt that it would've stood out and overpowered the board. So I went with white, which is, of course, one of the predominant colors. Also, I cut the fabric so that the plaid would lay diagonal on the board. It was challenging because the pattern is not square but more rectangle. But I was able to easily manipulate the ribbons to form squares/diamonds, so the rectangle issue is not all that noticeable.

Supplies
12" x 36" back-stapled traditional canvas by Artist's Loft (Michael's).
Basic quilt batting (I purchased by the yard- enough to wrap around the back edge of canvas).
3/8" grosgrain ribbon -- 10 yards was plenty for me (used maybe 8?)
Fabric (enough to wrap around back of edge of canvas on all 4 sides)
Staple gun, staples

I'm not going to go through my project step-by-step as the tutorial is linked above and the directions are very adequate. Certainly since my board is oblong, I did have to spend some time figuring out how I wanted to run the ribbons. I used straight pins to anchor the ribbons on the edge of the board where I wanted them (my ribbons are about 4.5 inches (mid-ribbon) apart. At the point I felt that everything was properly laid out, I stapled the ribbons to the back of the frame so that no staples would be visible. And I certainly feel that her instructions of criss-crossing the ribbons certainly helps to keep the items on the board without needing buttons or pins at the ribbon intersections.

I still have to add hardware for hanging. Currently it is just resting/sitting on my thermostat!!!

Pros:  It's a pretty simple project if you use the pre-made canvas! Very customizable in terms of colors/patterns, ribbons, board shape, etc...
Cons: None!  I love it!  Might choose to make another one!