Reupholstery - Transformers, Robots in Disguise!

Once upon a time there was a reading chair, it was old and the fabric was scratchy but it rocked many babies to sleep, Once those babies grew up and fell asleep on their own (sometimes even all night) the chair was left in the dark creepy part of the basement we lovingly refer to as La Dungeon.

There it was forgotten, and our pesky cats used it as a scratching post ggggrrrrrrr, those long ago stories and cuddles in the chair were but a distant memory.

 

That poor sad chair sat and sulked for a while, until its owner had something very important to do, and really needed something meaty to dive into and get her procrastination on. She had a deadline to meet, a ton of alterations work, and a blog that had started to heal over it had been that long since she logged on. So of course one day she started ripping, and pulling the chair to pieces until it was quite nude and embarrassed.

That same owner had no idea what to dress the chair in, or even where it would live, until this crazy Transformers fabric jumped off the bargain wall (can you believe this was $2.50 a metre?) begging to be fixed up with a lonely chair that didn't get out much.

To cut a long story short, they fell in love, invited some Denim and Red Vinyl over to party and lived happily ever after <3

This cutey patootie chair now lives in my sons big boy Superhero bedroom in the exact same spot it did when it used to rock him to sleep over a story or 5 which makes me a happy Mama.

Felted Sweater Tutorial Pt 2 - Buying and Felting your Sweaters

 

So you've been itching to make a recycled sweater blanket, but where do you start? (disclaimer: expect serious puns here people!)


what you've missed -
Pt 1 - Collecting your sweater stash

Getting hold of your clothing to felt.

Free option - Ask family, friends and neighbours if they've recently had a wool washing disaster and offer to take the offending article off their hands, you could even try posting on Freecycle.org, Kijiji or Craigslist. Who hasn't shrunk something by accident.

Charitable spending - Get your thrift on, my recommendation is Salvation Army (Among the highest % of profits go straight to charitable causes in comparison to Goodwill which is minimal)

 Check out your local thrift stores sweater section (then Scarves, Skirts and Dresses too).

 

 

Depending on the size of your blanket and the felted size of your garments, 4 or 5 sweaters should be adequate for a nice single sized lap blanket, obv. larger sizes require more wool garments.

Top Tips

• Check the label for wool content, the higher the better, 75% and up, anything else is unlikely to felt.
• It Must be Wool, that covers Angora, Cashmere, Mohair, Laine (French for Wool) any of these in a mix are fine too.
• Be sure to check for moth holes, holding garment up to the light will show any holes.
• To be extra safe you can throw the wool garments into a Freezer for 3 days to kill (hopefully) any moths. Leaving them out in the daylight will also deter moths.
• Check for softness, itchy garments produce itchy felt.

Have a ton of felted sweaters already for cutting? ok overachievers, take the day off and see me at the next tutorial. everyone else stay seated.

Getting felt up! - How to felt your Wool clothing

Wool + Heat + Moisture = Felty goodness

Brace yourself for a one step process... throw them in a hot wash with detergent. That's it easy huh?

Let's take a look at them, not sure if they've been felted already? snipping into the seam will let you know, if it unravels, throw it in again with a dryer ball to agitate it. Throwing the wet article in the Dryer can also speed up the process.

Non Felted Cashmere

Felted Wool

Have a close look at the stitching, if you can easily make out the V of the stitching (or other fancy stitches) then you may need to repeat the above process, if the surface looks fluffy and stitches are hard to depict then we're in business people.


A Woolly fact = Since Wool is a protein just like Human hair, washing it in your Shampoo can help to clean it and Conditioner will work as a Fabric softener.

Next up how to Cut and piece together your Felted Sweater pieces in Pt 3.

Next instalments:

Pt 3 - Piecing together your Blanket
Pt 4 - Finishing up your Blanket

Ways with Vintage Maps - Mappy Monograms

It had to be fate that I logged on to Craftster last night to see this awesome picture, a little snooping around led me to the maker, Jessi at Cinnamon Teal.

If you're as desperate for one of these gorgeous monograms as I am, you'll be pleased to know that the lovely Jessi has posted a tutorial. Sure you need power tools, but that's what husbands and boyfriends are for right? or as I often say, you don't get a dog, and bark yourself do you ;)


Check out the tutorial and remember to say thanks if you make one yourself.  Cinnamon Teal - Map covered monogram tutorial

Tutorial: The Big Apple Giant Flashcards

I didn't set any specific New Years Resolutions this year but what I'm really focusing on is not holding back, to use it up and wear it out, to save nothing for a special occasion because what's not special about today and any day for that matter? If you put off cutting that special fabric/Paper etc, then by the time you've got around to using it, it's not as nice as you remembered and there's something else that's caught your eye.

This is just such a project, I'd had a million and one ideas for this frame I had given to me, it's enormous and needed something cute and fun to do it justice, so why had I not used it for nearly 3 YEARS? I busted it out and now I can enjoy it.

I've had this idea for a GINORMOUS flash card in my head for ages, so here it is: 70cm x 100cm Ikea Ribba Frame, some Eco Felt in Red, a few scraps in Greens and Brown (from the mystery scallop project) and a piece of Dollar store Bristol Board I had laying around.

It's perfect for Noahs play area, aka the (cue snooty voice) 'Formal' Dining room and it still fits in with our patriotic, 'Brit Kitsch' Red, White and Blue in the Lounge that it's in view from. 

Wanna Make your own?

• Keep the existing Ikea Paper in your Frame, just flip it over and use the back.
• Cover that with your Matte Frame.
• Slide your Bristol Board under your frame and tape it down to the Frame
• Use Double Sided tape and stick each layer down before moving
• Cut out your Letter A and Apple then use Double Sided tape to secure pieces
• Hot Glue Gun your Apple pieces together, using minimal Glue so it doesn't show through
• One last wipe down of the inside frame, it gets pretty staticky and Fluffy from the Felt.
• Check Positioning before putting back in frame
• Pop back in the frame and use scissors to push down all the tabs.

I repositioned this thing about 5 times, and it was a pain in the butt so following these guidelines should save you a ton of time.

Slathering for some more delicious Fruit based Home Furnishings? Check these out:

 

Jonathan Adler Needlepoint Cushions

 

Fruity Clocks

Objectify Homeware via Etsy

Enjoy, I'm just off for a Fruit Salad :)

Jean Genie! - Take that Denim scraps

Woohooo, taking a long deep sigh of relief after cutting, folding arranging, pinning and stitching the heck out of approximately 800 maybe more strips of denim so a piece of drop cloth, paint spattered and all. So glad I finished this one, I had a few meltdowns and many changes of design but in the end I came back to the old faithful, a Union Jack theme. Cheesy yup but I think it worked out, it made a great change to make a project that could fray, possibly pucker and look a bit distressed, it was the equivalent of an 18-30's boozy holiday for my sewing skills.

 

I cut out as many 5`` by 1`` pieces as I could make with my scraps, then turned them into chevrons like this.

Ironing as I went I ended up with a ton of these, the look is neater if you flip over the pieces, but they worked out smaller and obv I`d need more to finish the rug, and if you`re working with Denim surely you`ve got to work with the fray, and go deconstructed right.

 

Eh Voila! 

(excuse the grout encrusted door step, building reno work still in full swing at Ruby Murray Heights!)

With all the leftover too small pieces and seams from the jeans etc I rustled up these hot glue gun beauties.

Just a quick coaster, I would love to see a huge circular rug made up solely from seams from jeans, maybe one day I`ll get to making one. Can you believe the seams from one pair made this!

Little denim roses, it was so easy to make these with a heavier fabric, I always think mine turn out a little less like petals when I use lighter Cotton. Going to add these to some bobby pins for some fun Autumn-Winter hair accessories.

Hope it was worth the wait, I really enjoyed busting out the denim projects and have some more scrap projects coming for you next post, this time with Leather!

Ruby Murrays bid for Perfect Housewife

 

Following on from my last post, I seriously need to bust my everything stash, it's taking over my house and giving my husband serious ideas about calling Hoarders to film an episode here, or failing that some kind of serious intervention including a Hannibal Lecter strap down, wheely straight jacket and some horse tranquilizers.

On a more positive note, Bessie my beloved sewing machine has broken out of her funk and has decided to work for me, it would appear I needed to change a needle, simple!

Since baby Noah is down for a nap and for some reason I have bags of energy I whipped up this clothes peg hanger from my stash, I am no domestic goddess or perfect housewife, my friends will be nodding their heads furiously in agreeance upon reading this post. I usually have to dust off the Hoover (vacuum) and I couldn't tell one end of a Swiffer from the other, however I do like pretty things and maybe just maybe if I had some prettier householdy stuff then I may become the next Anthea Turner (oddball and anal retentive from UK's perfect Housewife). 

For enviromental reasons we've opted not to buy a Clothes Dryer so I'm feeling very 50's housewife when I hang out my smalls on our new rotary dryer. We'll see if we can last through the Winter here in Edmonton without one, and should I come knocking on your door with an Ikea bag stuffed full of wet washing you know I've cracked, but till then I will be whistling Doris Day tunes as I pin out my clothes... hmmmm maybe I need a matching pinny! (Apron) 

Here she is in action

Where did I get my inspiration for this from? why the billion beautiful flowers in my garden, isn't this a pretty picture til you realise that every one of those yellow heads is a flaming Dandelion that needs pulling up.

Maybe you guys can help me out, If you know an eco-conscious way of ridding my yard of these wee beasties, please let me know, or failing that a really good recipe for Dandelions :)