Pillows Galore!

I've been sewing and printint up a storm (albeit a mini-storm) for the Peterborough Handmade fair - good news, I have been accepted as a vendor! 

I'm selling pillows as I make them for now...the fair is still a while away.  So, these could be yours for $15 each!  I can also do custom pillows for between $15-$25 depending on fabric and graphic.

Huzzah!

Want to hear a little trivia about me, and the time I was a real, live elf in the North Pole?  Unlike 'Law & Order', this story totally depicts a real, live person.  Me!

My middle name is Fay (as in the 'Fay' from 'Fay Grayson Home.'  Yeah, that's me).  According to the irrefutable website The Free Dictionary, 'Fay' or 'Fey' means the following:
 

Word History: The history of the words fey and fay illustrates a rather fey coincidence. Our word fay, "fairy, elf," the descendant of Middle English faie, "a person or place possessed of magical properties," and first recorded around 1390, goes back to Old French fae, "fairy," the same word that has given us fairy.

 

So 'Fay' means elf, obviously.

 

Then you've got the 'Emily' part.  Would you believe that the Latin, French, America, German, and Teutonic (basically Germanic peoples) meaning of the name 'Emily' is 'industrious' or 'hard-working?'  No?  Check it out:

 

Teutonic Meaning: The name Emily is a Teutonic baby name. In Teutonic the meaning of the name Emily is: From the Roman family name Aemilius, meaning 'industrious.' Also a From the Old German Amalburga, meaning labour and the Latin Aemilia.

 

American Meaning:
The name Emily is an American baby name. In American the meaning of the name Emily is: Hard working.

 

French Meaning:
The name Emily is a French baby name. In French the meaning of the name Emily is: Hard working.

 

German Meaning:
The name Emily is a German baby name. In German the meaning of the name Emily is: Industrious. From the Roman family name Aemilius. Famous bearer: French writer Emile Zola.

 

Latin Meaning:
The name Emily is a Latin baby name. In Latin the meaning of the name Emily is: Industrious; striving. From the name Aemilia, the feminine form of the Roman family name Aemilius. 

 

So...let's see....

 

Emily + Fay = Industrious, hardworking elf.  
(FYI: this is the limit to which my math skills can be stretched)

 

Have I told you about the time I lived in Qikiqtarjuaq, Nunavut...which is, basically, to round up, the North Pole of Canada?

  

Oh! Oh! And check out this extra little chestnut which I have no idea how they could come up with, because it doesn't describe me at all.  Pffft.  Pop-sci (or whatever).

 

"People with this name tend to initiate events, to be leaders rather than followers, with powerful personalities. They tend to be focused on specific goals, experience a wealth of creative new ideas, and have the ability to implement these ideas with efficiency and determination. They tend to be courageous and sometimes aggressive. As unique, creative individuals, they tend to resent authority, and are sometimes stubborn, proud, and impatient."

Honestly, people, I can't make this stuff up.

True story.

Burlap Pillows

It's official: I am currently having a love affair with burlap. 

It's not that I don't see Burlap's flaws, I *do* (it's scratchy, it sheds, it doesn't clean up after itself, it hangs around even when I don't want it to, it's hard to handle and can be unpredictable)...it's just that I don't *care*. 

True love, fo sho.

I also really love NOT using a Silhouette machine to create stencils (because I can't afford one...so it's not so much a choice as a necessity) .  I can do whatever I want and make it as big (or small), as I want. 

I'm trying to put together a collection of 'smalls' for a craft show in the Spring.  Believe it or not, people, I'm a craft show virgin.  I've been waiting for just the right craft show, and I think I've found it.  Check it out: Peterborough Handmade.

I worked on these ad-or-able pillows over the weekend.  Now, I'm worried that I'm two-timing because I love pillows.  It's tough around here.

First, I measured the throw pillow I needed to cover, then I ironed and cut the burlap to size - with about an inch of seam allowance (like how I use that term, as if I really know what I'm talking about when it comes to sewing?  Yeah, me too). 

Then, I sewed the burlap together using some acrylic wool.  BY HAND.  Why?  You guessed it!  Because I don't have a sewing machine.  Yes, I need to get a sewing machine.  Anyone want to donate?

I found an image I liked and thought would be ad-or-able on a rustic looking pillow, printed it out, and cut it out of some contact paper with sewing scissors.  This is my go-to way of creating my own stencils.  Works like a charm.  They're even reuseable if you're careful! 

 

A little black latex paint, a little white-ish latex paint...et voila! 

PS: Homemade chalk paint doesn't work as well for stencil-painting.  I prefer pure latex; it creates a cleaner line and deeper pigmentation on the fabric. 

 

Cute, right? I'm planning on selling these for about $15 each. Would you buy one?
Sharing this DIY here:

 

Reproduction Coffee Sack Chair

I love reusing things and making them new.  I wish I'd actually been able to find an old coffee sack for this project.  From the hits you can get on Google when you type in 'coffee sack chair' you'd think these things are being given away at your closest DIY or thrift store.  Not so, my friends, not so.  What's a girl to do?  MAKE ONE, obviously.

And so I did. 

I was given a stack of old burlap sacks a few months ago.  I washed them, dried them, washed them, and dried them...and then hung them out on the line for ages.  They shed.  Worse than a collie.  Here's a tip for you: if you wash industrial grade burlap and then dry it in your clothes dryer, check your lint trap about every 5 seconds so your house doesn't catch on fire.  I'm not saying my house caught on fire, but it could have.  Seriously.

Here's what I started with:

It was an occasional chair (possible one of a set of dining room chairs that got lost) and it was in great shape.  There was even still plastic on it from the manufacturer.  Could I actually take this thing apart?  Was is sacrilegious?  If you think so, you should probably stop reading.  Obviously I took it apart.  With abandon. 

 

When I take things apart, I usually attack them with a combination of screwdriver, chisel, hammer, and brute strength.  Sometimes I also use pliers.   That's what I did here, too.  I started with the front - everything was in great shape, so I was able to reuse the original foam and keep the trim (welt or piping, if you will).  I even kept the old fabric on there!  Saved me time, and kept everything in line (ie: foam on the backboard).

I ironed out the burlap, cut out a piece generously larger than I would ever need and set about stapling and triming.  It's not rocket science, but, like anything, the more you do the better you get.  I'm pretty good at reupholstery these days.  A tip?  Throw a few staples in place on either the top or bottom of your piece.  Use your flat palm to smooth and stretch your fabric down to the opposite end of your seat (or whatever you are reupholstering), and staple in place.  Go back up to the top, throw down a few more staples, and repeat the process.  This gives a bit more of a 'balanced' stretch to the fabric.  Repeat this on the sides and you will avoid those awful 'over stretched' moments when the fabric has been pulled too tight - this is especially important when using fabric with stripes. 

 

 

About corners: there are lots of methods for corners.  I like mine.  I staple the top, bottom and sides most of the way, but leave a couple of inches unstapled around the corners.  I pull the corner piece over the seat corner (or whatever corner you are dealing with) and throw in one staple to keep it from moving.  Then I trim the fabric on corner, effectively cutting of a 'triangle' of material.  This gets rid of bulk.  Then I pull over and staple the two corners one at a time - I trim away the excess fabric of the first corner I staple and then the second corner usually lies nice and flat.

Update: Hey guess what?  Because this section is totally confusing, I made a separate tutorial about how to fold upholstery corners.  You can read all about that here.

 

I covered the seat and two back pieces in what felt like a few minutes.  It was probably more like half an hour.  Or maybe three.  There are no windows in the basement so who knows?

Because I didn't have a 'real' coffee sack and was using burlap to recreate the same look, I could paint on any kind of pattern I wanted.  Just my style.  I opted for a unifiying triple stripe on the front and back.  I measured a mid-point on the chair seat, sketched a line in pencil all the way up the seat and then eyeballed an about-an-inch stripe for the centre and marked with tape.   

I 'eyeball' a lot.  I'm sorry.  Not everyone can do this.  You can do the extra step of measuring an inch each side of the centre line to get an exact measurement, and then tape off. 
 

 

I used plain old latex paint in an off-white for the centre stripe.  I didn't use much paint, and applied with a daubber for stencils.  Also, since I'm too cheap to buy 'real' painter's tape (unless it will ruin a surface) I used regular old masking tape.  Easy.

 

Guess what? I eyeballed the other stripes. I'm such a baller. Just tape 'em off and paint 'em. 

 

I like making stencils out of Contact Paper (or Mac Tac).  I print off the image I want to use (in this case I made one up in Word, save it as a jpeg and blew it up using Block Posters), and I glue it to the contact paper.  Then I cut the design out with nail (or sewing) scissors.  I like them better than an exacto knife...much easier to handle and easy on curves.

 

Quick paint job...

I was able to reuse the contact paper stencil twice - for the seat and for the back.  I didn't want everything to be too matchy matchy so I staggered the stencil on the back.  Perfecto!

 

 

I did a quick paint job on the chair with homemade chalk paint.  Gave it a really gentle distressing, and then reassembled everything.  I reused the original piping as it coordinated with the large stripe on the burlap sack.   

 

Check out the makeover linked up below, plus lots of other great redos!

Update: In March 2013, I was featured on 'Better After' my favourite blog devoted to the best part of DIY - the makeovers!  Have a look and fall in love with Lindsey's website youself - click below...
 

 

 

Double Trouble: Steamer Trunk and Vintage Crate (from scratch!)

I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this Steamer Trunk project, that's for sure!  It's both time consuming and tricky - but it does look loads better when it's refinished!

 

Here are a couple of 'Before' photos of said trunk.  You can't tell from these pictures, but the top of the trunk was badly weather-damaged and the hardboard on the lid was unsalvageable.  It was like a soggy book!  I had to replace the hardboard which meant removing all of the hardware on the lid! 

 

The inside of the trunk does look like it may have been the site of a body-haul...but I assure you, it's just some sort of pink dye.  Obviously something leaked!  I have yet to tackle the body of the trunk, but it will have to be stripped down inside...I'm now debating about whether I should take it apart entirely.  It's quite difficult to put back together!  We shall see...

After spending hours yanking out the original nails and hardware, I de-rusted them (everything, everything, everything was rusty).  Instead of using that pink chemical stuff to remove the rust, I decided to be cheap environmentally friendly and try a more natural approach.  I boiled up a brew of vinegar (my favourite - good for everything!), salt, dish soap and some water.  I boiled the hardware in this for...not long, maybe 10 mins, making sure all the hardware was under the water.  Then I used a stainless steel scrubbing pad (you know, the kind that look like silver balls - to begin with - and you can get at the Dollar Store).  I rinsed them and dried them well.  Rust be gone!  At least mostly, and good enough to be sprayed with some Rustoleum Black Semi-Gloss spraypaint. 
 

I removed the misshapen hardboard and dismantled the wooden frame of the lid so that I could strip off the old paper lining and refurbish some of the wood.  I filled in any holes I could find with wood filler and put carpenter's glue in any splits that had formed from the old nails.  When it was dry, I give it a really quick sanding (like, I practically just brushed the sanding sponge over the wood three times) and then the wood also received the same Rustoleum paint treatment. 

I had the good people at Home Depot cut my new piece of 1/4" hardboard to size and I covered the inside with a turquoise leopard print paper - no pictures of that yet.  You will just have to wait in anticipation! 

At an auction recently, I picked up 4 burlap sheets for FREE (they belonged to the auction client, who I knew personally, and she was happy to get rid of them.  I'll take your garbage anyday!).  I washed the burlap and dried it in our dyer.  FYI, check burlap frequently if you're going to dry it.  It would have been good for me to frequently change the lint tray.  Burlap is messy stuff!  I also hung it outside for days to let the wind blow off as much fluff as I could.  When I was ready to use it, it was in pretty good shape and only needed a bit of a brush down before gluing - I used an old dried out paintbrush. 

I used plain old white glue (again) mixed with a little water to glue down the burlap.  I used a lot of glue, both on the hardboard and then over top of the burlap.  I tried to be even with my application on the top and really get the glue into the weave of the burlap.  It took a while to dry, and when it did it was nice and stiff - and durable. 

I had a bit of an internal debate about whether I should have spray painted the hardware silver or gold rather than black, but in the end I stuck with the black...because I didn't have gold (or bronze) spray paint, and that's what I thought might look best.  I like the black on black. You can't see them in the pictures, but the nails I used to put the hardware back on are pewter and make a nice contrast - not too severe.  If I decide to stencil on the top of the trunk (a shipping company name or some such thing) I think the black on black is a good choice. 

The top is mostly finished except for a few places I need to add some nails (I ran out).  As I said I'm trying to decide how best to tackle the body of the trunk now...so it's just sitting in the workshop until I figure it out.

On Friday afternoon I came how with these in my trunk.  I'd been waiting to find a good reno somewhere in town and it turned out that a restuarant was gutting its insides - just for me!  A very lovely labourer pulled all of these lath and plaster slats off of their wood frames, with his bare hands no less!  Very impressive!  I loaded them up in the car and then let them sit out in the awesome rain storms we had on Saturday.  No need to wash them by hand when you can just leave them out in the rain, right?  I am soooo lazy resourceful!

The idea is to turn these slats and wood pieces into a Vintage Crate, or a series of crates, really...a la this: 

 

{In other news, I was asked to coordinate a friend's daughter's wedding on the day of the wedding as well as help pull together some of the 'artsy' details.  So let me get this straight:  I get to make things and boss people around?  And you'll pay me?  All my dreams have come true!!}

 

*ahem*

 

So, I thought, how hard can this be?  Not that hard, really.  This project was quite simple and rewarding as I was able to finish the making of the box in just a couple of goes.  I couldn't find the above picture until just now (who knows why?) and my subsequent crates will look a bit different (and use fewer slats), but it will all work out in the end.

 

First I had to knock all of the old nails out of the slats and figure out what sizes I had to work with.  I wanted to keep the cutting I would need to do to a minimum.  

I ended up using the original nails I knocked out from the slats to hammer into the pine boards I was using from the frame.  I had these boards cut to size at Home Depot, too. 

Some of the nails needed straightening out, a task easily accomplished by knocking them against the cement floor with my hammer. 

I hammered the slats onto the frames, and then cut slats for the ends and hammered those in, too.  I threw together a haphazard box in (what felt like) no time (but was actually a couple of hours...what with the nail hammering, wood sizing, cutting, and all). 

Of course, I haven't taken a picture of the completed box - that's next on the list.  Stay tuned!