Ballard Inspired Pillows

My son's teacher is getting married.  The room moms' have organized a bridal shower for her.  This gave me the perfect excuse to make my own version of these pillows from Ballard's:

I like the idea of it saying Mr. and Mrs. but just don't think burlap pillows would be all that comfortable.  So digging I went into my material stash.  I dug out some natural colored denim (much softer than burlap).  After cutting it for my pillow dimensions, I next had to consider my template for the Mr. and Mrs.  Although I like the Ballard's pillow, I am a sucker for a more script font.  After selecting a script I liked, I cut out a template with my cricut on freezer paper.  You know the rest, iron it on, paint, and sew.  I'm pretty pleased with the outcome.  I'm hoping his teacher will like it just as well.

I'm sharing over at:

Just something I whipped up at http://www.thegirlcreative.com/

 

http://todayscreativeblog.net/
 
 
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @

It's done!

This journey has been bumpy but rewarding.  I rounded the corner and finally finished the race!  I do have to admit that I did have one last hiccup but nothing that a few choice words couldn't fix.

So, I left you with the fabric stapled with only the cushion and double welting left to go.  I don't know if I've told you this before but I definitely do not enjoy making cushions.  First the cording isn't fun to put on (not hard just not fun).  Then, you have to get the zipper on.  Next is sewing it all together.  Ouch, those needles don't feel good poking into you either.  Here is a picture of all parts of the cushion before the sewing commenced. 

Sorry no pictures of the process. Did I mention I really don't care to make cushion covers?! Needless to say my lack of enthusiasm dictated no pictures of this part.  On to the cording!  Everything was going so well.  I was in the home stretch.  I sewed up the double welting and started to glue away!  That was when the last hiccup occurred and I screamed and screamed.  Okay not really but I may have hit my head against the wall a couple of times. 

 

After I got past my little mad spell, that is when I figured out what I did.  You see, when I measured out the cording, I must have stretched it tight.  Well, it is only logical that I must not have pulled it that tight when sewing the double welting because this is what I ended up with.

I dragged back out everything to sew about 4 inches of cording.  Grrr!!!!!  In case you forgot what she started out looking like, here is the before:

Now, hold on to your seat and say goodbye plaid.......

Not too shabby.

I'm sharing over at:

    @ Miss Mustard Seed's blog


I would love to know how you think I did!

Journey down the bumpy road of upholstering

That title sums up my next steps to this upholstery journey.  I left you with a fabric free settee.  I know your thinking just staple on the front and back fabric and call it a day but it just wasn't that easy.  You see this settee is curved.  The front back and back pieces of fabric were pieced together with 3 pieces sewn together.  I thought no problem.  I used the old fabric as a template and away I went.

First, when dealing with velvet remember to always consider the nap (which I forgot to check before sewing).  Mistake number one.  Lesson learned.  I resewed, stapled.  I was determined to not get any wrinkling around the seat back bottom of the settee around the curve.  I worked, cut, worked, stapled...  Took a break, then stapled on the back fabric piece for the settee.  I thought for sure I was in the final stretch of this race.  That is when my racing horse jumped off the track and headed me right for a tree!

I was utterly disgusted when I stood back to admire my work giving myself a premature pat on the back when I noticed how off the seams were on the seat back.  I tried to live with it for next two days but I knew I would not be happy.  I mean the seams were just staring at me sticking out their tongues.  Can you believe it?!   I was too mad to take a picture but here is where the seams were approximately.

Needless to say, I was not happy about removing the staples from the bottom back piece in order to remove all the staples holding on the seat back piece with the way off seams.  Let me just say that a pneumatic stapler gets the staples in pretty darn good.  After peeling away my first try with the seat back, I had learned that maybe I better make my own version instead of using the same template.  I folded the bigger portion of fabric in half and cut the edges in order to obtain the same edge on both sides.  Next, I pinned on the side portions with extra fabric to spare.  You can always cut it off not the other way around. 

After sewing the sections together, I checked, double checked, and triple checked.  Then, let the stapling begin (again).  I am pretty happy with the placement of the seams now.  I knew that I wasn't going to be recovering this again any time soon.  So, I just needed to get it right now instead of not enjoying it. 

The soap opera does not end here.  As with any good soap, I'm leaving you with a cliff hanger.  Will the settee be finished, will it be thrown off a cliff?  Tune in next time for As the Settee turns....
 

French settee reupholstering journey

I have been working hard this past week on reupholstering my french settee.  Of course, if I were a professional, it would have only taken a day but I'm not.  Let me remind you of what it looks like.  Here is a picture of the before as well as the slipcover I made until I got around to reupholstering it.

I loved the idea of bare wood verses the fruit wood look.  Enter hand sanding.  I found out pretty fast that my puny little arms couldn't hand sand the entire frame.  Here is a glimpse of what I accomplished with hand sanding.

Obviously, that method would have taken forever.  So, I busted out the stripper.  Presenting the settee with the bare wood.

On to the upholstering!  First, I've got to say I absolutely love the pneumatic stapler I got for Christmas.  It is amazing how much easier upholstering was this time around.  Anyways, as with any upholster project I've done so far I always think it won't be so bad.  It is really only three pieces of fabric, right?!  Well, this project had its hiccups too.  

As with an piece, you usually start by removing the back of the piece.  I had to be careful to save the fabric to use as a template later.  

So, far so good.  Next, I decided I wanted to be lazy and keep the decking and just replace the facing fabric only.  

Did I mention that it isn't always a good idea to be lazy?  Needless to say, my hand sewing skills are not the best.  But using the existing fabric as a template, I sewed on my first piece of brown velvet fabric.  It wasn't great but it will do.   

As you can see from the picture, I then stripped off the last piece of fabric.  You would think I would just need to attach two large pieces of fabric on the front and back and be done but it just isn't that easy.  Stay tuned while I take you on my bumpy but rewarding upholstering journey.