posted on June 29, 2012 in
DIY with
0 Comments For about two years we have had this ottoman tucked into a vanity-turned footboard.
Partially for looks, mainly so Lilu could get on the Bed. Unfortunately it was made of vinyl, so after 2 years of corgi bounces it was ripping pretty badly. It was on the top of Nick’s list for me to reupholster for awhile, but not really on mine… Hey! I had
pants to sew and
mantles to decorate ;) Plus, I kept going back and forth about what fabric to use. But the ottoman’s day finally came when I was invited to a craft night at a friend’s house. I decided to undertake the project, packed up and officially began.
Step 1.) I started by ripping out the staples on the bottom of the ottoman
Step 2.) I cut off the old vinyl in a strip around the base (so it was a long rectangle.) The top circle part basically fell off in chunks.
Step 3.) Then I saw this underneath, not what I was expecting. Thus I knew a future step would involve buying new foam. I put the white batting that you see here around the base to make sure the straw wouldn’t poke through.
I also changed my approach to more of a slipcover technique since the bottom was the only thing that could be stapled, there was no wood in the frame. This link was very helpful.Step 4.) I used the strip of old fabric as a pattern and cut the new fabric to match, adding a little extra for seams. My fabric wasn’t long enough so I had to seam two pieces together, (But I matched up the plaid stripes! See the vertical seam below)
Step 5.) Next, I re-sewed the piping into the new orange plaid. I basically cut a long skinny piece of fabric and wrapped it around the vinyl covered piping and using a zipper foot on the sewing machine (which will allow you to sew snugly right next to the tube of piping) sewed it up
Step 6.) Then I sewed one side of the seam allowance hanging off the piping onto the rectangle of fabric.
So now the sides are done, it basically becomes a tube of fabric with piping on the top. The tricky part is the circle…
Step 7.) Measure from the middle of the ottoman (there was a hole where the old button was) to the edge, then take that measurement and cut string to match. I pinned one end in the center of my square of foam ($7.50 with my jo-ann’s coupon) tie the other end to my sharpie and drew a circle.
Step 8.) Cut out the foam into a circle, (make sure it fits the top of the ottoman nicely) and use that circle to trace another circle on the top fabric piece. Then cut out the circle out of the fabric with about .75″ to 1″ extra.
So this is the part that took me a few minutes to think though, I kept thinking I was over-simplifiing, I was so scared to sew a circle but all it ended up being was
Step 9.) I matched up the line that was drawn on the fabric with the seam line that was sewn when I stitched the fabric to the piping (the side that is showing the picture, farthest from the fabric is the side I sewed onto the circle of fabric). Making sure right (patterned) sides of the fabric are together. I sewed very slowly making sure the lines matched up and stitch by stitch we made it around the circle.
Step 10.) Once the base was sewn onto the top, the only thing left to sew was one side. I decided to do that one by hand in order to ensure a tight fit.
No my stitches aren’t discreet, I used the thickest thread I had to protect my ottoman from numerous corgi leaps, plus you don’t see half the ottoman when it is nestled in place.
Step 11.) we used the same thread to pull the same orange button through, using a hanger, it took a lot of nick’s muscle but the straw gave way and it came through, tufting the top!
Step 12.) Last step was just to pull tight and staple the fabric to the bottom, (I misjudged how much added height I would need with the new foam so I ended up sewing extra fabric on bottom so that we would have plenty to staple.)
And it’s done! I was glad to keep the pop of orange and the plaid adds another layer of texture to our space.
Lilu was happy to have it back, the 3 days it was out of commission she was a little diva about whining to get up on the bed.
That’s it! I found the fabric at Tempe Sales, I think it was $1 a yard and I got 2 yards. the foam and batting were around $15, and it took about 6 hours, two 3 hour stints :) Nick was a happy camper.
posted on June 11, 2012 in
Decor with
1 Comment One of the things I like most about finding treasures at yard sales, thrift stores or antique malls, is the ability it gives me to change things up on the fly. I would rather have a bunch of things for less rather than invest money on a few things (which, unless you are rich, means you are stuck with them.) So once Memorial day came around I decided to switch up the mantle and bookshelf and give our living room a new look.
I previously had the flag folded on top of the bookshelf. I am always lost about what to do on the mantle, so this seemed like a fun summery way to change it up. I had previously had a bunch of antlers and all of our nambe collection up as a halfway transition from Christmas.
I used our Nambe champagne glasses for height on one end in a grouping with a broken twin lens camera (that a co-worker gave me, score!) and a bunch of old locks, the ones that didn’t make the cut here.
In the middle “low point” I used a fish shaped nambe dish to hold two flowers that nick and I made in a glass blowing/sculpting class we took. Don’t you love Living social & groupon deals?! And in the center of each flower, I placed a bullet that Nick’s aunt gifted us with last fall. they are civil war bullets! Isn’t that unreal? I had been lost as to how to display them, this seemed fitting.
On the other side of the mantle I added height with the largest antler and also grouped our industrial “R”, a picture taken down from the gallery wall and two brass bookends we got from nick’s Dad (both which used to be on or around the bookcase.) I hung one candleholder from another and hung a bunch of keys from that. It gave some more industrial charm and also some chaos. (a component I like!)
I like the new mantle look, It feels fresh, new and a little odd. It’s not perfect and definitely not Martha Stewart but I dig it. For the bookshelf I added 3 more milk crates and rearranged for height. It used to look like this.
I scaled back the gallery surround the books and only kept the two yellow art pieces on one side and one blue & white picture grouped with a blue and white vase on the other. The previous gallery wall seemed too unintentional without pieces “going together.” I also fixed up the books, and spread them out among the new crates so they would be less crowded. I also took our ever expanding Nambe collection and put it on top of the crates using a simple 2×4 for stability.
I was happy to bring in more yellow to go with the art pieces with our new rug, that I mentioned before
here.
It was a steal, $15 dollars at a yard sale! The gal I got it from said she found it at an Antique store in Chicago, I didn’t ask how much she paid for it but it must have been $$! It’s a huge impact in this room and I am really loving it. The only down side about the rug, is that it is too big. The width is ok, but the length goes all the way across the walkway behind the couch and up the wall! I didn’t know what to do at first, but since it is a thinner rug, it folds very flat. So I decided to do a simple z-fold. Keeping the thick part of the fold (where it is 3 layers thick) underneath the couch.
I’m sure it’s not how a professional would do it but it works! And you can barely tell, I didn’t want to make it permanently smaller in case we ever needed the full size of the rug in another room.
One end of the fold is under the couch and at the other end I have a strategically placed basket of blankets, but as you can see where the fold is, is pretty flat indeed.
Overall I’m happy with this room
(at least for now) It has a good base of neutrals but the pops of color with the rug, artwork, books groupings, and the blankets on the couch. It made a good and colorful transition from fall/winter to spring/summer. It also helped tie in the black/white/yellow
office which connects to this room!
Hope everyone had a great weekend! We had a nice and relaxing one.
posted on June 4, 2012 in
DIY with
11 Comments We celebrated my mom’s birthday and 10-year cancer free party this past Friday. It was a casual bbq but a huge turnout! 75 people gathered at my parent’s home in mesa for dinner, dessert, a few tear-jerking speeches and line dancing!
My dad thought it would be fun if we girls all wore pink. I don’t own hardly any pink, so when my sisters and I went shopping at Last Chance two weekends ago I was on the lookout! The only pink dresses I found were too bridesmaidy. I looked at the skirts, no pink ones there. And then…there they were. This gem of a pair of pants for $4.95.
So I’ve been seeing floral pants all over the blogisphere {here, here, here, & here} and I didn’t really get it at first. I appreciated the quirkiness of it, but I was used to building my outfits around the same neutral pairs of jean or pants and getting creative with rockin’ tops or accessories.
{ Anthropologie, topshop, 7 for all mankind , current/elliot, Citizens of humanity }
But pants being the “punchline” of the outfit seems here to stay…for spring/summer anyways. They do scream trend, and like all trends I knew they wouldn’t be around forever. So I was definitely not willing to shell out the dough for some pants that the top denim brands were cranking out. But lo and behold this huge pair of denim floral pants (that happened to be a great orangy pink) fell into my lap, for $5 no less!
Now, one of my goals these next few months is to refashion clothing Cotton and Curls style. So I was amped to take on the challenge! I’m not a great seamstress, by any means so I watched her video here (and rewatched) and followed her photo tutorial here. They were super helpful. So here is an outline of what I did
Step 1. Cut off elastic waistband (at first I thought about leaving it and just sewing straight up the sides but the elastic caused the pants to bunch too much)
Step 2. Turn the pants inside out, put them on and follow her “pinch and mark” method (I used a silver sharpie to make sure the marks were clear, the fabric was thick enough to allow for this)
Step 3. Pin up the line of marks and try on. I used safety pins, mainly because I thought I would poke myself if I didn’t, straight pins are easier to move around however
Step 4. Adjustments will probably be needed, I originally pinned the ankle too close and had to move the pins to get my foot through
Step 5. Sew along the lines you have made (two outer lines and a U shaped line that goes along the inner part of the pant legs
Step 6. Again, adjustments may be needed, I sewed some parts a little loose and others too tight, I just seam ripped the ones that were too tight out and sewed new lines. I didn’t bother seam ripping the too loose ones, I just sewed on the inside. There was definitely a lot of turning these pants inside out and right-side again
Step 7. The ankles were still a little too tight getting them on over my heel so I made a little slit that was the width of the bottom hem. Luckily the length didn’t need adjusting!
Step 8. Once the legs are good, cut off the extra fabric. I left about a half inch seam.
Step 9. Now to focus on the waist. I left a little room in the waist because I needed to get them on! I sewed the front seam a little tighter and folded the raw front of the pant over to make a seam.
First I sewed the front straight and smooth, then for the back I sewed in part of the elastic waistband that I originally cut off. I followed what C&C did for the back of the pants
here. So I stretched the elastic it as far as it would stretch and cut it to the same width as the pants. I then pinned each end to each side seam along the back of the pants under the fold of fabric that was becoming the back waistband. (the pants are inside out this whole step) I sewed each side seam first, securing the elastic in there then finished sewing the back waistband, make sure that it is streteched super tight as you sew.
Step 10. Iron the seams flat, again C&C will show you how it’s done! At about 5:16 on the video
here.
Step 11. Go over all the raw edges with a zigzap stitch to prevent fraying. I need to do this still, but the party was on friday and it was 10:30 at night on thursday when I did this! Definitely do before the first wash!
And thats it! The top seam looks a little funny so I probably won’t wear any crop tops or tuck in my shirts but I love love how they turned out
I kept it simple with the rest of the outfit. Taupe
boots found at LC, lightweight vest (with tank underneath), and the Tanita Necklace (our japanese family crest or “Mon” as we call it)
The fit is pretty good, the pants don’t have any stretch but I like them. See the slit by the ankle? that was key to getting them on!
I love being tall in these boots, a friend remarked “your hairstyle makes you look taller” I cracked up as I pointed to my shoes, the 5″ heels help too! I really like this top as well, it’s flowy and simple but interesting with the lace detail and the racerback. I was worried about how the back of these pants would look after I used the elastic but with this longer shirt you cant even tell there is elastic!
Well my first refashioned pants are a success! So happy, from a large pair of elderly woman’s capris to floral ankle-cut skinnies!
It was funny how colorful pants seem to be a trend women love and men hate. Nick is definitely not a fan. He said “good job on the fit, I just don’t like patterned pants, they look like curtains” so all the guys called them my curtain pants, whatever I’ll take it! I love the sound of music. Maria was the original re-fashionista!
image via
here. Happy Tuesday!
